Mexico coach's special praise for Socceroos

Mexico might have produced the result which has made the biggest impact at the FIFA World Cup™ - beating world champions Germany – but their coach has been impressed by the performances of the Socceroos.

Juan Carlos Osorio – who masterminded El Tri’s shock 1-0 win of the Germans – showered praise on the Socceroos ahead of his nation’s second match against South Korea.

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Asked his overall thoughts of the tournament so far, Osorio singled out the Socceroos for the manner of their performances so far.

The Mexico boss spoke about the likes of Mile Jedinak, Aaron Mooy and Mathew Leckie, as well as describing Australia’s style as “very appealing”.

“We respect and admire all the teams at the World Cup, especially the ones from Latin and South America, and the Spanish speaking teams,” Osorio told reporters.

“If you’d like me to share a thought with you, let me say that the 4-2 formation has been ever present in most of the best teams, central midfielders are also dominant, especially to control the game thanks to their ability to make lots of passes and how they execute those passes.

“Let’s think about (Croatia’s) Rakitic and Modric…and other squads like Brazil, Casemeiro and his teammate, sometimes Paulinho.

“But, personally, I’ve been favourably impressed by Australia.

The Socceroos get around skipper Mile Jedinak after his penalty.
The Socceroos get around skipper Mile Jedinak after his penalty against Denmark.

“I really like Jedinak and Mooy, two central players very competitive in the midfield.

“I profoundly admire Australia as a country – what they do in order to recover their players and how they compete honestly and transparently.

“In some cases they seem like rugby players playing football: they are gentlemanly, they don’t go into personal fights, they fight every single ball with all they’ve got.

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“Then if we think about [Mathew] Leckie, for example, they play a very appealing, attractive football.

“Not only to control a ball and the game but to attack on the wings. I think they are one of the great surprises of the Cup.”

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