ANGE Postecoglou, the Australia manager, insised he knew the"outstanding" Tom Rogic would star in Sydney as the Celtic midfielder inspired his country to World Cup qualification.
The mercurial playmaker dazzled in front of a capacity 77,000 crowd, winning the free-kick which led to Mile Jedinak’s opening goal with a trademark jinking surge forward.
Australia’s captain Jedinak went on to complete an unlikely hat-trick with two penalties to send the hosts to Russia 2018, thus rendering Alberth Elis’ slate strike meaningless.
Rogic had been frustratingly limited to a 15-minute cameo during a fraught first leg away to Honduras which ended 0-0, however Postecoglou had already assured him that he was going to be pivotal in the return game. So it proved.
“I said to him before the first game, I knew the game in Sydney was going to be his night,” said Postecoglou.
“He wants it so badly and part of the problem with him is he wants it so badly that he gets really frustrated.
“But he’s a fantastic young player and he’s going to become more and more important with the more games he plays.
“He was the one who provided that spark. We needed him to, because it was going to be tight, and we needed like someone like him, or an Aaron [Mooy], to break it open - Tommy was just outstanding.”
Postecoglou, meanwhile, refused to confirm he would be the man to take Australia to the World Cup amid suggestions he is in the running to become the new Rangers boss.
The 52-year-old found himself under pressure during a tumultuous qualification campaign, with critics lambasting him for being too cautious, overlooking several in-form players and failing to beat Jordan, Iraq, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.
He also oversaw a winless Confederations Cup campaign in the summer.
Describing the qualification process as “the hardest thing I’ve ever done”, Postecoglou will now weigh up his future in the coming days.
He said: “I’m going to enjoy it. I owe it to myself. I owe it to my beautiful wife, my boys, my friends and family. They’ve been on this journey too.
"I’ve got a pretty thick skin but they’ve had to carry a bit of the load as well with me being charge of the national team and I’m just going to enjoy my time with them.
“I’ll sit down with the powers that be over the next few days and we’ll discuss everything, and we’ll bring it to a head and make a decision.”
The likes of Kevin Muscat and Mark Bosnich have tipped Postecoglou as the perfect man to succeed Pedro Caixinha at Ibrox and he admits to still feeling like an outsider in Australia following a modest playing career largely spent in the amateur ranks.
"I can coach for another 20 years and I’ll always be an outsider in Australian football," said Postecoglou.
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