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Socceroos captain Mat Ryan says Australia must surf the momentum of its World Cup deeds and look to win the next Asian Cup.
Many of the squad that represented Australia in Qatar returned on Monday evening, less than two days after their 2-1 loss to Argentina in the last 16 round.
Goalkeeper Ryan said he wanted to make amends for the costly blunder that gifted Argentina a crucial second goal, but he was looking forward rather than back.
He stressed the need for stability and trying to retain coach Graham Arnold, if he wanted to stay in the job with his contact is expiring. The coach himself has been non-committal about his intentions.
“We want to be having success at this level as often as we possibly can,” Ryan said at Sydney Airport.
“I think it’s important now we take this momentum and run with it and that’s definitely the ambition of the group and what we want to do.
“There’s a bit of uncertainty around the organisation in terms of who’s going to be leading us. We don’t know what’s happening there.
“It will obviously be nice if Arnie continues given the momentum that he’s built up and what we’ve been doing.
“The next big thing is the Asian Cup. We want to go ahead and win that, and before that comes along I think the qualifiers start for the next World Cup, so there’s plenty to look forward to.”
He was philosophical about his poor control which ended in Julian Alvarez knocking the ball into an empty net.
“Life experience has taught me it’s what you do, how you respond afterwards, and I was pretty happy with how I responded in the game, making a couple of good saves later on to try and help the team get back into it,” Ryan said.
“I’ve got to take from it and learn from it so it doesn’t happen again.
“I’ll be looking to make amends for that from here on out and be better for it. It still hurts, but on to bigger and better things now.”
Out of favour at his club side FC Copenhagen before the World Cup, 30-year-old Ryan suggested a move might be on the cards during the impending transfer window.
“My circumstances recently have been a little bit frustrating so we’ll see what happens on the back of a World Cup as well,” Ryan said.
“I’ve got my agent working and trying to look for options and we’ll see how it all works out.”
Ryan hoped the Socceroos success in Qatar would boost the A League Men competition and said images of Australians celebrating their heroics “gives you a shiver down the back of your spine and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.”
-AAP
