Speaking to the press ahead of tonight’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Iraq in Tehran, Australia head coach Ange Postecoglou remains confident in his team’s ability to do the job.
“No, I don’t think they can beat Australia, because I’m the Australian coach. If I thought that, I wouldn’t be in my job.
“We’re expecting a tough game and we expect a tough game every time we play, but when we’re in camp we talk about Australia.
“We talk about our team, we talk about our football,” he said.
“We’re Asian champions, we’ve qualified for the last three World Cups, we want to qualify for our fourth World Cup and we’re going to a Confederations Cup.
“We concentrate on ourselves and if we play our football, we don’t fear anybody.”
When asked about the opponent’s gameplan, Postecoglou replied:
“What we saw when we played them in the first game in Perth is that they tend to sit pretty defensive and not open up too much.
“We’ve seen that with just about all the teams we’ve played against. “Whether because they have nothing to lose they become a little bit more attacking, either way, we’ll be prepared.
“From our perspective, it’s always great if a team does open up a little bit against us because it gives us a chance to play our football. “But if they decide to sit back, we’ve got plenty of practise against that as well.”
“But if they decide to sit back, we’ve got plenty of practice against that as well.”