Since Asian Cup success, the former South Melbourne defender has taken his team to the next level. The Socceroos qualified for the final phase of 2018 World Cup qualifying with seven wins in eight matches, scoring 29 goals and conceding only four. Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou. Credit:Getty Images All achieved with a squad lacking in superstars - with the exception of ex-Everton star Tim Cahill who will turn 37 before the end of the year. Postecoglou has won admiration for doing more with less: For sticking to an attacking philosophy, even though some might argue he simply doesn't have the players. For pressing high and demanding attractive, passing football from a young and pacy side when his predecessors Holger Osieck and Pim Verbeek seemed satisfied to pick veterans, sit deep and grind out results. It was a massive gamble to select an inexperienced squad at the 2014 World Cup and go all out. When Australia trailed 2-0 to Chile within 15 minutes in the opening game in Cuiaba, images of Saudi Arabia's 8-0 defeat to Germany in the 2002 tournament came flooding into the consciousness of pessimistic Aussie fans.

But after Cahill pulled a goal back before half-time, the Socceroos went close to equalising before the South American giants added a third in the 92nd minute. In the following match, Australia led the Netherlands before falling to a 3-2 defeat and while they went off the boil in a 3-0 loss to Spain to complete their campaign, the unheralded squad had performed a lot better than expected. Their combative and competitive display was in stark contrast to humiliating 6-0 defeats to Brazil and France the previous year that forced Osieck's departure and flushed out some of the old guard who'd been hanging on in hope of a third consecutive World Cup appearance. "Osieck would stick with the older guys over those players who were performing week in, week out," a squad member from the 2013 Brazil friendly told ESPN FC. "Young boys and A-League players were overlooked a lot of the time. The training wasn't done very well and it wasn't enjoyable." Postecoglou was appointed in October 2013, given a five-year contract on the back of winning two A-League titles in three seasons.

Compared to his predecessors, Postecoglou's Australia stats aren't particularly impressive. A winning rate of 50 per cent is below Osieck (52 per cent), Verbeek (55 per cent) and Guus Hiddink (58 per cent), who took charge of Australia's most successful World Cup campaign at Germany 2006. But it is what Postecoglou has built that puts him on the way to becoming Australia's greatest ever national soccer coach. When he took over two and half years ago, the Socceroos had virtually no depth, with only a handful of players plying their trade in Europe's top leagues. That is why Osieck continued to turn to the 30-somethings from Germany 2006 who had helped the nation make the 2011 Asian Cup final in Doha. But, somehow, Postecoglou has built two, if not three, senior sides who can do the job for him. For every position, there are now several players who can seamlessly slot into the system. Even at the troublesome left-back spot – a position that Postecoglou filled during his own playing days – he can call on Liverpool's Brad Smith, Bradford City's James Meredith, or his trusted Asian Cup selections, Jason Davidson and Aziz Behich. Even Cahill, his country's record-scorer with 47 goals in 89 internationals, is no longer a guaranteed starter. That's thanks to Ange's masterstroke of getting Melbourne-raised striker Apostolos Giannou to pledge his allegiance to Australia, even though he'd played a senior friendly for 2004 European champions Greece.

After he was left out of last month's 7-0 thrashing of Tajikistan in Adelaide in favour of Giannou, Cahill looked like he had a point to prove five days later as he scored twice in the first half as the Socceroos crushed Harry Redknapp's Jordan 5-1 in Sydney. Known for his sometimes-aloof style in contrast to the more matey manner of previous Aussie-raised national coaches Graham Arnold and Frank Farina, Postecoglou keeps everyone on their toes. It has become clear that he won't play favourites. He shows supreme confidence in his understudies, giving Mark Milligan the captain's armband against Jordan, in place of Crystal Palace's Mile Jedinak, who was rested after a hamstring twinge against Tajikistan. But halfway through his five-year contract, Postecoglou seems nowhere near contented. He's declared that only by making a big statement at the 2018 World Cup – presumably a second-round or quarter-final appearance – would satisfy him. After suffering defeat in six of his first eight games in charge, and going winless in 2014, he has now lost only two of his last 14 games. The 2-1 Asian Cup final victory over South Korea in extra-time, and a 2-2 draw away to reigning world champions Germany, are among the highlights. But his next challenge will be to regularly defeat Asia's best, including Australia's nemesis Japan, plus Iran, the UAE, and the Koreans: all of whom the Socceroos may face next after the World Cup qualifying third-round draw is made at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur next Tuesday.

If he can ensure qualification for Russia 2018 in the same attractive style, audacious Ange is likely to overtake 'Aussie' Guus in the hearts of the Australian public. Already, he's done enough to prove that a home-grown coach can be a lot better than an imported one. * Former Herald journalist Jason Dasey is Singapore-based senior editor of global football website: www.espnfc.com