The appointment of Joe Montemurro as Tony Gustavsson’s full-time successor on Monday ended a protracted, near year-long search that began when the Swede’s contract expired following the Paris Olympics. Eventually, Football Australia got their man. And given the contradictory task that awaits the incoming coach, they probably couldn’t have done better.
As inevitable as it is to be forgotten in the hullabaloo as next year’s Asian Cup approaches, Montemurro’s tenure will be defined by significantly different expectations and circumstances than those faced by his predecessor. While Gustavsson was, in the words of outgoing chief executive James Johnson, a “tournament coach” recruited to guide a golden generation to tournament success, the landscape greeting Montemurro has shifted. He inherits a team that has simultaneously had base expectations elevated by gilded heroes, many of whom are still in place but with the soil of generational change needing to be tilled. It’s a role in which judgment will be immediate, but a true picture of his tenure won’t emerge for years.
