Australia coach Ange Postecoglu saluted his players for their fantastic performance despite losing 3-2 to the Netherlands in Porto Alegre this afternoon.
The Aussies fell behind early thanks to an Arjen Robben goal, but equalised through a Tim Cahill volley.
The Socceroos then took a shock second half lead as they scored through a Mile Jedinak penalty.
The Netherlands fought back and drew level thanks to Robin Van Persie’s strike before taking the lead for good through a Memphis Depay long range effort that went through the hands of Australia goalkeeper Mat Ryan.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Postecoglu looked at the positives despite the Aussies being eliminated from the World Cup with one game to play.
“I can’t fault the players,” said Postecoglu to SBS in his post-match comments.
“I really want us to be an exciting team”
“The players were magnificent today.
“Full credit to them.
“They took it to a world-class team.
“It’s easy for me to talk about going forward and having self-belief.
“But they’re the ones that have to do it.
“But I just feel bitterly disappointed they weren’t able to get some reward out of it today.”
Australia will wrap-up their World Cup appearance versus Spain on Monday.
