Postecoglou praise for defeated Australia as China loom large

Australia controlled nearly 65 per cent of possession and produced more shots on target but Korea Republic, behind resilient defending, walked away with the three points.

The result means the hosts stay in Brisbane for Thursday’s quarter-final tie against Group B winners China. 

“In terms of the performance I can’t fault the players,” said Postecoglou to www.afc.com. “They gave it absolutely everything right to the end. We still created enough chances to get the result we wanted but it wasn’t meant to be. 

“I think the players did fantastically well. It’s going to be a challenge for us on Thursday.” 

Postecoglou said it did not matter to him who he faced in the second round, be it China, Uzbekistan or Saudi Arabia. 

“The route to the final will be difficult whichever way you went,” he said. “I wasn’t even thinking about the China game to be honest. We start thinking about the China game now.” 

A day earlier, Postecoglou said he had been tracking Korea Republic closely since the 2014 FIFA World Cup and saw nothing that surprised him from Uli Stielike’s men on Saturday. The only complaint he had from the match was the goal Australia conceded. 

“They sat back pretty deep, which is all right. They wanted the result tonight. There was nothing surprising in what they did,” said the former Melbourne Victory boss. 

“Anyone who watched the game, whilst the result didn’t go our way, would say that we kind of dominated the game for major parts and created good opportunities. 

“We obviously conceded a pretty poor goal. We switched off and from our perspective it’s very disappointing because we defended well aside from that. We had plenty of chances. Sometimes in football, the opposition defend well and the goalkeeper makes some great saves and we can’t get the result we want. 

“The biggest negative tonight is the result.”