Thanks (I've never heard of him, but that's me!)
...Good luck to Australia! (and New Zealand)
ABC Sport
German Osieck named Socceroos coach German Holger Osieck has been named the new head coach of the Socceroos, replacing Pim Verbeek.
Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy made the announcement this afternoon.
Osieck's most recent coaching appointment was with Japanese club side Urawa Red Diamonds.
He was assistant to Franz Beckenbauer with Germany's World Cup-winning side in 1990 and was also the national coach of Canada.
The 61-year-old will watch tomorrow morning's (AEST) clash against Slovenia before taking charge of the team.
Technical director Han Berger is acting as assistant coach for the match.
Osieck played in Germany and Canada before winning the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup as Canada coach and the 2007 Asian Champions League with Urawa.
He has been working with the FIFA Technical Department for the last two years.
He said he would base himself in Australia and was confident of leading a Socceroos generational change ahead of the 2011 Asian Cup and the 2014 World Cup.
"I feel very much honoured to be your choice," Osieck said in a teleconference.
"It's a very big challenge for me, it's a great challenge.
"We're not starting from scratch. Australia has done very well in recent years and made the past two World Cups and our first target should be to establish our team on that level on a permanent basis."
Osieck said the system and tactics he will implement will vary from game to game.
"It depends on the situation, it depends on the players available for a particular game, it depends on the opponent," he said.
"Your game must be based on a certain structure where everybody knows what to do.
"Based on the basic structure everybody has to follow, then there's a freedom of expression."
Osieck will begin work after the Slovenia friendly and is expected to oversee the team for the first time in the September 3 friendly away to Switzerland.
Lowy said Osieck's credentials spoke for themselves.
"Holger ... comes highly recommended as he has worked at all levels of the game and will combine his coaching expertise and experience with an ability to contribute to the future development of young players," he said.
"In particular [he] will act as mentor to Australian coaches as we develop our own national coaches for the future.
"This is a legacy that we believe Holger will leave for football in Australia. To that end we will be appointing a second Australian assistant coach who can work alongside Holger and Aurelio Vidmar."
"Holger has extensive knowledge of Asian Football having won the AFC Champions League with Urawa Red Diamonds.
He has experienced what it takes to traverse Asia and win tournaments and this will be invaluable experience as he leads our team into the AFC Asian Cup in January 2011 and as we prepare for another challenging campaign to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
"Holger has also worked in a nation where football is not the number one sport and proved that he can win a major Championship against nations who have football in their veins."
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/11/2980200.htm
