If Ante Milicic harbours any self-doubt, it is buried down. Deep, deep, down.

He's not a man inclined to look backwards.

"The best way is what's happened in the past, leave it," Milicic told the ABC in an exclusive interview.

This, after stepping into one of the most-high profile and yet fraught jobs in Australian sport coaching the Australian women's soccer team, the Matildas.

The previous coach, Alan Stajcic, was suddenly sacked in January — less than six months out from the World Cup. The players were in shock, openly questioning the decision and reportedly divided over their loyalties to Stajcic and each other.

And yet, Milicic said he has never brought up the subject of Stajcic's sacking.

"You know I'm not interested in 'she did that' or 'he said that'. I don't care," Milicic said with a dismissive shrug that invited no more questions on the matter.

Milicic has a clear game plan he wants the Matildas to follow at the 2019 World Cup. ( ABC News: Lucy Murray )

And therein lies a clue to the make-up of the man — he's not one to be put off by obstacles, not one prone to self-doubt. Rather, he keeps his eyes on the prize.

In this case, the prize is leading the Matildas at the 2019 World Cup, in France.

If they win — and they have never had a better chance — it would arguably be the greatest triumph of any Australian sporting side in history.

It would also be vindication for those who told Milicic that he was mad to take on the job after the Stajcic sacking.

"Eighty, 90 per cent of my friends — or people who would just have an opinion — would say, 'Don't take it, why would you want the risk?'" Milicic said.

"And I've got a little bit of … stubbornness in me, but when I get those kinds of messages, I actually want to do the opposite."

Now, he's calling on those reservoirs of self-belief to shape the sixth-best team in the world to his vision to win the World Cup.

Milicic has been on the front foot since taking up the job as the Maltidas' coach. ( ABC News: Lucy Murray )

Witness him imprinting himself on the team: pacing the sideline back and forth like a caged lion, barking out incessant instructions in his first games with the Matildas.

Or his first press conference, announcing the team's best player and highest profile star, Sam Kerr will be captain. The message is, it's his team, he'll call the shots.

That Ante Milicic is making his mark on one of Australia's most-loved sporting teams would have seemed bizarre, even to the man himself, as he was plying his wares as a player throughout Australia and the world.

Milicic is the son of Croatian immigrants. He grew up in Strathfield in Sydney's west and was largely brought up by his father after his mother died when he was just 17.

Sport was his passion, but a special place was reserved for football.

"I just liked to kick a ball with the kids and that's sort of where my love came from for football," he said.

"A lot of migrants had kids who were playing football and that was basically our weekends and during-the-week training."

At 16, he was selected to train at the Australian Institute of Sport, which at that time was virtually a factory for what became Australian soccer's so-called golden generation.

He was then selected as a striker for the Under-20s youth World Cup where the Australian team made the semi-finals.

Milicic (left) and current Perth Glory coach, Tony Popovic, (right) as teammates for Sydney United. ( Supplied: Sydney United FC )

Branko Culina was one of his first senior coaches at his old National Soccer League club, Sydney United.

"You could see then that he had this class about him. He had an X-factor as a player," he said.

"His mother passed away quite young. I think Ante was a probably hit hard by that and needed a bit of assurance about him and what he was doing.

"He's a lovely person — he's an easy-going person — you can't say there's a person out there that has anything bad to say about him. He's a bit of a joker, you can have fun with him."

Milicic's career included stints overseas and he also featured in the early days of the A-League.

The 45-year-old represented his country on six occasions but was cursed with playing at the same time as some of Australia's best Socceroos, such as Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell.

"I don't have so many regrets, but I thought definitely for the talent I had … I probably should have made a little bit more of my career," he said.

With limited opportunities at the top, he found a new passion — and almost entirely by chance.

Milicic eventually got a job coaching his old club, Sydney United, and discovered his inner-analyst now had an outlet as he became a ferocious student of the game.

"It really became an obsession of mine to get the most out of my side but also to exploit opposition teams," Milicic explained.

Milicic during his time as an assistant coach of the Socceroos in 2018. ( AAP: Brendan Esposito )

After that first winning season with United, Milicic went on to become an assistant coach at two A-League clubs, Melbourne Heart and Western Sydney Wanderers, before getting a job as the Socceroos assistant.

Ask him what he learned from the Australian men's coach and his mentor, Ange Postecoglou, and a smile creeps across his face.

"Where do I start, honestly? When I first started to work with him, then I first saw how much I didn't know," he said.

"[Postecoglou] just gave me a whole different perspective of the game and how strong his philosophy was in football, and his belief in his playing style and in Australian footballers was incredible."

Ange Postecoglou (right) has had a major influence on Milicic (right) as a senior coach. ( AAP: Brendan Esposito )

He went with Postecoglou to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, then coached his own Australian under-20 and under-23 teams before going to another World Cup under interim head Socceroos' coach, Bert Van Marwijk.

Those experiences explain why he took on the job as head coach of the Matildas.

"I'm prepared … I'm ready," Milicic said.

The new women's mentor has already impressed former Matilda and veteran of 70 games Sarah Walsh, who is now Football Federation Australia's general manager of participation.

"Ante is a really astute thinker on the game," Walsh said.

In many ways, the 2019 Matildas resemble the 2006 Socceroos that Guus Hiddink took to the World Cup in Germany after 32 years away from football's biggest stage.

Like that golden generation of Socceroos, this Matildas team contains a blend of veterans, including goal scorer Lisa De Vanna, as well as players at the very peak of their powers, not least one of the best players in the world.

Then there are the exciting youngsters like 18-year-old Ellie Carpenter and Mary Fowler, who's just 16.

The Matildas start the 2019 FIFA women's World Cup as the sixth-ranked nation. ( AAP: Brendon Thorne )

"I think they're pretty good chances," said Walsh.

"I'm not just saying that I'm holding a lot of hope with this squad. I think this is our best chance to lift the trophy."

As for the coach himself, he knows what he wants and what his side is capable of.

"I don't want to place a certain place we want to finish in the tournament," Milicic said.

"But I'm very confident in this group of players and this coaching staff that we're really going to go to this World Cup to make an impact and make Australia proud of these girls."