The Greek born 48-year-old manager, Ange Postecoglou is going to be unveiled officially on Wednesday by Football Federation Australia (FFA) as the new Soceroos manager. This will enable the Melbourne Victory coach to take over and make his debut, in the next friendly match of Australian football team against Costa Rica on November 15 and guide the team in 2014 Brazil World Cup.
The FFA decided to fire German coach Holger Osieck two weeks ago after Socceroos suffered two consecutive defeats by a 6-0 margin, first against Brazil and then against France. A number of high-profile managers were pegged as Osieck’s possible replacement such as Guus Hiddink and Sir Alex Ferguson.
But those rumors were rapidly backed away by FFA which opted for a more affordable option, as they recently blew 40 million dollars on a failed bid to land the 2022 FIFA World Cup. FFA has made clear that they prefer a local replacement for German Osieck, and Postecoglou hit the top of the list of possible choices, as he is believed to have what it takes to get Australian national team back on track. Postecoglou is considered by many as “the cream of the crop” of managers in the Australian league.
Postecoglou did not hesitate even for a moment to accept the job as he coveted the managerial spot in the senior squad since he was national youth team coach.
Postecoglou has signed a contract that would have kept him in Melbourne Victory until the middle of 2015, and the team is reportedly demanding $964,000 from the FFA in order to release him.
Postecoglou was born in Athens, Greece and immigrated to Australia when he was five years old. He grew up in Melbourne in the city of Victoria.
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