Hiddink has no thoughts of failure

AUSTRALIA coach Guus Hiddink is not considering the possibility their World Cup dream could end at the hands of Croatia in Stuttgart tonight.

The two teams square off at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium for the right to join Brazil as the second qualifier from Group F, with the Australians only needing a draw to progress to the knockout phase of the world’s biggest sporting event for the first time.

However, a Croatian victory would mean the Socceroos packing their bags and heading for home.

“We are not even thinking the end is near,” Hiddink said. “We have had a wonderful preparation and the boys are so committed. So let’s not say goodbye after this game, let’s have some more.”

Hiddink said that even if the Australians were eliminated by Croatia, their World Cup campaign should not be seen as a failure.

“Of course we want to go further, but the big winner out of all of this has been Australian football,” he said.

“In a few months, a sport, which was the number four sport (football) in Australia (behind Australian Rules Football and the two rugby codes) has levelled up with the other sports to almost become number one.

“And people are already thinking ‘how do we build on this for the future, for the upcoming generation who must be the future?’”

Hiddink will again tell his team to attack Croatia and not rely on a draw to progress to the last 16.

“It’s impossible, especially with this team who like to attack, to sit back and say ‘we go for a 0-0 draw’,” he said.

“It’s the opposite to the character of this team. This team will be trying to go for a win, don’t underestimate that.”

Hiddink said Australia had a full list to choose from for the match, with the exception of defender Tony Popovic – who will miss the rest of the tournament with a calf strain sustained against Brazil.