Holger Osieck has been sacked by Australia following their 6-0 humiliation by France on Friday night. The defeat occurred at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
He was informed that the decision to end his tenure as the coach of Australia shortly after the defeat. Frank Lowy, the FFA chairman said, “The decision is taken, keeping in mind the long term issues of the betterment of Socceroos team and their preparations for the World Cup and the Asian cups. FFA has set an objective of being a highly competitive team in Brazil and handing over a strong team which is capable of winning the Asian Cup on home turf in January 2015. We believe that change is necessary to meet the objectives. I am thankful to Holger for his contribution to Australian football and I wish him good luck in his future endeavours”.
Australia has already booked their berth at next year’s World Cup in Brazil, but Osieck came under the scanner following a nervous campaign in the qualification stages.
Osieck and the players were informed of the decision hours after the final whistle in Paris. Socceroos midfielder, Tim Cahill, tweeted, “Want to say Thank You to Holger for ensuring that we get to our 3rd World Cup. Sad day for soccer in Oz.”
It was announced almost 9 months before the World Cup finals. However, the news wasn’t completely unexpected. There were heavy speculations in Australia that FFA had started looking for a new manager. One of the names which were doing the rounds was ‘Guss Hiddink’. He had led the Aussie side in the 2006 World Cup, where they reached the knockouts.
Hiddink is a favourite among the fans in Australia after he resigned as the coach of Russian side, Anzhi Makhachkala in July.