Jedinak began his coaching career with the academy at Aston Villa, the final club he played for before retiring in 2020. When Postecoglou moved to Spurs, he linked with his former Socceroos coach in north London, sharing with fellow assistant Nick Montgomery the controversial portfolio of set pieces – one of the aspects of Postecoglou’s game model that was most heavily criticised.
Still, Jedinak played a vital behind-the-scenes role as Tottenham broke a 17-year trophy drought with victory in the Europa League final over Manchester United – but he left the club just days later as the axe brutally swung on the “Angeball″ era.
Mile Jedinak and Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham.Credit: Getty Images
Spurs may be living to regret that decision given the dismal failures of replacement manager Thomas Frank, who is reportedly on the cusp of being sacked.
Jedinak then followed Postecoglou to Nottingham Forest for his ill-fated 39-day stint in charge, where Forest went winless in eight games before chairman Evangelos Marinakis withdrew his support and dumped his largely Australian coaching panel.
Now 41, Jedinak is considered a rising star in Australian coaching, but any ambitions to branch out on his own as a manager will have to wait until after the World Cup, where the Socceroos will face host nation the United States, Paraguay and a European qualifier.
Football Australia is close to unveiling the location for the team’s pre-World Cup camp and its tournament base camp, where players will train before and between their fixtures in Group D, all of which will take place on North America’s west coast.
Details surrounding their final friendlies are yet to be officially announced, but reports indicate the Socceroos will play Cameroon and Curaçao in Sydney and Melbourne as part of double-header events also involving China, who will play the other team on each night, in March’s “FIFA Series”.
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Popovic’s squad for those matches is unlikely to include FC St. Pauli’s Jackson Irvine or Heart of Midlothian’s Cameron Devlin, who have both picked up long-term injuries for their clubs.
