‘Get the f*** out of here’: Insult Ange couldn’t cop in ‘disaster’ showdown with Fergie’s United

Ange Postecoglou’s South Melbourne Hellas side trained before Manchester United at the Maracana on the eve of playing one another in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship of 2000.

As superstars like David Beckham and Roy Keane arrived on the fabled pitch in Brazil, the South Melbourne players fawned, more like fans than opponents.

Postecoglou was filthy.

“Ange said, ‘Get the f*** out of here. Go inside’. He took it as an insult,” Elias Donoudis, there covering the tournament for Greek newspaper Neos Kosmos, said in the Postecoglou biography Angeball.

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South Melbourne’s involvement in that tournament, and Ange’s refusal to play the pitiable underdog, was a remarkable early chapter in the Postecoglou story.

Having taken an unfancied team to one of football’s great cathedrals to play the biggest club in the world, the Australian manager walked away knowing that anything was possible.

“I stared down the beast,” he told the ABC in 2015, the same year he led the Socceroos to Asian Cup glory. “After that, I had nothing to fear.”

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Ange Postecoglou talks to his players, Con Boutsianis and John Anastasiadis, at South Melbourne training. Source: News Limited

*****

South Melbourne’s path to the tournament was rather more humble, coming via the 1999 OFC Club Championship in Fiji.

The back-to-back NSL champions beat Malaita Eagles of the Solomon Islands (2-1) and Konica FC of American Samoa (10-0) in Group A, then breezed by AS Venus of Tahiti 3-0 in the semi-finals.

Local hope Nadi was beaten 5-1 in the final, thanks to goals from Steve Iosifidis, David Clarkson, Michael Curcija, Vaughan Coveny and Steve Panopoulos. It was a tougher game than the scoreline indicated.

“Just to qualify for the tournament was surreal,” Hellas winger Goran Lozanovski said, per Football Nation Radio.

“We had to play this local Fijian side to qualify and it was the toughest game we had played in. The grass was thick and there were toads jumping on the ground.

“But we wanted that win badly because we knew what the end result would be.”

Afterwards, the players sang Peter Allen’s I go to Rio in their dressing room. Qualification for the Club World Championship meant the trip of a lifetime, plus a $4 million participation windfall for South Melbourne.

The FIFA Club World Championship 2000 Brazil logo. Source: News Limited

And for Postecoglou, it was about respect after Hellas’ championships were given limited recognition within Australian football, let alone the broader public.

“When are we going to get the recognition we deserve, because this team has been on top for two years,” he told reporters before attending the draw.

“I am flying to Brazil tomorrow because we are one of the eight teams in the world playing in this world club competition. This tournament is the most important thing in club football in this country for years, if ever, and these young men are setting new standards out there, but they don’t get the recognition.”

Manchester United captain Roy Keane (L) with manager Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester Airport, ready for their flight to Brazil for the FIFA Club World Championship. Source: AP

They were drawn in Group B against United, fresh from their iconic 1999 treble, plus a hometown Vasco da Gama side boasting Romario, and Mexican club Necaxa; the South American and North American continental champions respectively. Real Madrid (UEFA), Al-Nassr (AFC) and Raja Casablanca (CAF) were in Group A along with Corinthians, the host and reigning Brazilian champion.

Far from the delirium of the Aussies, United were there under duress and had to forfeit their FA Cup defence in the name of currying favour (in vain) with FIFA.

“It turned out to be a disaster for us,” manager Sir Alex Ferguson told club magazine Inside United.

“We did it to help England’s World Cup bid and that was the political situation.

“I regretted it because we got nothing but stick and terrible criticism for not being in the FA Cup when really, it wasn’t our fault at all. The Football Association and the government felt that playing in this tournament would help England’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

“There was a lot of undue criticism — but it was a great two-week break.”

Nearly everyone of note in England gave their two pence, accusing United of “disrespecting” or even “killing” the FA Cup.

“If they don’t play this year, they should never play again,” cricket great Ian Botham declared.

Manchester United's Mark Bosnich and David Beckham at training in 2000. Source: AP

Beckham also remembers the misgivings over United’s participation.

“To be honest, it was something we talked about in the dressing room as much as everyone else did outside Old Trafford,” Beckham wrote in Inside United.

“We were looking forward to going to Brazil, looking forward to playing clubs from all over the world. But nobody was happy about missing out on the FA Cup.

“It didn’t feel right not to defend the trophy. Perhaps we could have been given a bye through to the fourth round while we were away and joined when we came back, I don’t know. That was for the FA and the club to sort out.”

But an experience that were trifling to United’s highly-paid stars was unforgettable for the South Melbourne boys.

They travelled business class, took a large entourage of family and friends, dined with controversial FIFA president Sepp Blatter and stayed in a glitzy mountaintop hotel in Rio.

“We were like kings. We couldn’t believe it,” striker John Anastasiadis said in Angeball.

Ange Postecoglou took on the world long before taking Tottenham to a European trophy. Source: News Limited

*****

Postecoglou’s side were decent but also outmatched. Their opening game against Vasco da Gama drew 66,000 people to the Maracana and they were in full voice as South Melbourne sat terrified in their dressing room, where the ceiling was visibly shaking.

“We’re pretty much shitting ourselves,” Hellas defender Steve Iosifidis recalled in Angeball.

Postecoglou played the Hunters and Collectors anthem Holy Grail to snap them out of it. In a manner that would later become world famous, he told them to be proud and enjoy the game.

Still, the semi-pros of South Melbourne were facing Brazilian heroes who had graced their bedroom walls.

“We were ready to go to war,” Iosifidis said. “As soon as we walked out there though, reality hit, mate. It was pretty funny.

“One of my best mates at the time was Steve Panopoulos, and I remember we were setting up for a corner. He goes to me, ‘You mark Romario, I’ll mark Edmundo’. I looked away and then I glanced back at him and said, ‘You realise, we’re from the suburbs? And all of a sudden we’re marking these world-class players?’

“I had a poster of Romario on my bedroom wall. It was so surreal.”

South Melbourne held firm for nearly an hour and Vacso da Gama’s fans booed their side off at half-time. They eventually beat the Aussie underdogs 2-0.

Edmundo and Romario celebrate a goal during Vasco da Gama v Manchester United at the FIFA Club World Championship. Source: AFP

United, meanwhile had drawn 1-1 beforehand against Necaxa, with Australian goalkeeper Mark Bosnich between the posts. Bozza wasn’t happy when Beckham was sent off for a high challenge on Jose Milian, claiming the opposition player had feigned injury to get the megastar dismissed.

“It was pathetic from the Mexican player,” Bosnich said.

United were already on the back foot and their campaign went to hell with a 3-1 loss to Vasco da Gama, in which Romario scored a brace.

Hellas, meanwhile, got a flash of glory in their match against Necaxa. Anastasiadis walked on to the Maracana with a simple pre-game message from Postecoglou: “Go out and score today.”

He did.

“When I scored, I pointed to him. It was an unbelievable moment, to see your name on the Maracana scoreboard,” Anastasiadis said in Angeball.

It was a 3-1 loss for South Melbourne also and with the top team of each group progressing to the final, both Hellas and United were out of contention before playing their last match.

Ferguson was by then clutching for niceties.

“It’s been fantastic here - what a chance for us to come out and get some sun,” he told the BBC.

“Back home we would have been freezing our toes off. Playing in the Maracana stadium - that’s an experience that probably 90 per cent of the top players in the world don’t get.

“It’s been well organised, the Brazilian people have looked after us very well. On the playing side, we wish we had been better.”

David Beckham during a Manchester United training session in Fla-Barra, Rio de Janeiro. Source: AP

*****

Criticism of the Red Devils’ presence in Rio reached fever pitch back in England as the Hellas showdown approached.

The Daily Mirror branded it “the most meaningless football game in history … the result is irrelevant, as neither team can make the final of this absurd tournament anyway. Nobody will turn up to watch it, nobody will tune in to see it and nobody cares what happens.”

Yet for Postecoglou, it was invaluable. He got to spend about 15 minutes with Ferguson.

“He was kind with his time when he didn’t have to be, and there are plenty I’ve come across that aren’t kind with their time,“ Postecoglou told Football.London.

“That leaves an impression on you as well, because you go, ‘I don’t want to be like that’. You realise that and think, I don’t want anyone to think that about me. So the fact that he spent 10, 15 minutes talking to a young manager, I was 34 at the time, it was significant.

“We were walking to a press conference, and he said, ‘You’re never going to like this stuff, I hate it’. So I hung on his every word, but more important was the impression he made on me that if you can do that to a person, that person then leaves thinking or feeling like you’ve given them that time of day, and that that has an unbelievable effect, because you’re not just representing yourself. He’s representing his football club at the time and all these other things. So yeah, those kinds of things leave a mark on you.”

Empty stands during South Melbourne v Manchester United at the Maracana. Source: AP

Ferguson wasn’t so generous as to field a full-strength team, with his tournament effectively over. Jonathan Greening, Danny Higginbotham and Ronnie Wallwork were a few of the names on the team sheet for a fixture that United’s yearbook later deemed to have “an unmistakable aura of anticlimax”. The game drew 25,000 fans, allegedly.

Yet it was a big moment for Postecoglou and an early nod to his philosophy. He refused to be conservative and though Hellas fell to 2-0 via a Quinton Fortune brace inside 20 minutes, his side played attacking football throughout and created chances.

Coveny and Curcija very nearly scored in the second half. Coveny lobbed United goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw, only for his shot to inexplicably hit both posts.

Ferguson noticed.

“He said to me that we did very well,” Postecoglou said, per the Herald Sun. “He also said, ‘I bet you I get a question about Beckham, even though he was only on for 14 minutes’.”

Manchester United's Andy Cole, left, backheels the ball past South Melbourne's goalkeeper Chris Jones to set up Quinton Fortune, right, for his team's first goal. Source: AP

Having given a good account of themselves, South Melbourne’s players marched to the United dressing room to swap jerseys. They weren’t met entirely well by the big-money stars, until hard-nosed captain Roy Keane told them to pull their heads in.

“There was a bit of sarcasm from the United players when we came in,” Lozanovski said.

“Would you believe the current coach Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] and Andy Cole were giggling, going, ‘Look at these amateurs’.

“But Roy Keane walks in and really put them in their place, telling them to be respectful. I have the utmost respect for Roy, he was a complete gentleman.”

Michael Curcija (L) vies for the ball with Phil Neville during Manchester United v South Melbourne. Source: AFP

Panopoulos got Beckham’s jersey. Becks and his United teammates were by then sick of their Brazilian holiday. The tournament ended with a scoreless draw between Vasco da Gama and Corinthians; Vasco da Gama won 4-3 on penalties to become the inaugural champion.

“I couldn’t wait to get back to some mud, wind and rain, to get on with the rest of the season,” Beckham said.

“We might not have had the FA Cup to look forward to but while we’d been away, no other team had been able to catch up: the premiership was there to be won.”

And it was. United defended their Premier League crown in a canter, despite being second at the turn of the new year, finishing 18 points ahead of Arsenal. South Melbourne, meanwhile, weren’t able to go on to a hat-trick of NSL titles. Postecoglou remembers the season being a write-off around the excitement of the Brazil adventure.

Ange Postecoglou with Basil Scarsella, chairman of Soccer Australia, after being appointed Australian Joeys coach in April 2000. Source: News Limited

“There was a fair bit of prize money at stake for a club like ours,” Postecoglou said earlier this year ahead of an FA Cup clash against Tamworth.

“Qualifying for that tournament probably destroyed our domestic season because from the moment we qualified our players just didn’t want to risk getting injured and were just not interested in our league season. We had a disaster that season, they just didn’t want to miss out on playing.

“We ended up losing 2-0 on the day [against Manchester United] but we gave a decent account of ourselves considering the difference. Some of my players, who were semi-pro but good footballers, probably played the games of their lives that day.”

And Postecoglou tasted the big time. So began his remarkable ascent in the world game.

It was remarkable symmetry that his finest moment in club football came against United, 25 years later, when he led Tottenham Hotspur past the Red Devils in the Europa League final.

Ferguson was there watching.

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