In the grand scheme of things, coach Ange Postecoglou isn’t sure how his Socceroos are going.

Postecoglou and his players started this campaign not just wanting to win the Asian Cup but also the hearts of the nation’s sporting public.

Postecoglou is pleased with the progress on the pitch of the Australians, who meet China on Thursday night in a knockout quarter-final in Brisbane.

South Korea confront Uzbekistan in Melbourne in Thursday’s other sudden-death fixture, with quarter-finals between Iran and Iraq in Canberra, and Japan against the United Arab Emirates in Sydney, to follow on Friday.

Postecoglou is adamant he has made significant progress in his mission to rebuild the Socceroos.

But building new support among the Aussie public? He’s not sure.

“We try and focus on the job at hand,” he said.

“To try and gather where public opinion sits is a little bit difficult from my perspective.

“But I think the reaction we have had from people at the ground is that they have all been very encouraging of the players’ performances.

“And I think they have been excited by them, which is part of our evolution as a team – to continue to improve the style of football we want to play and hopefully give Australian football followers the kind of football they want to see.

“But in terms of how we’re going, I think I’ll leave that to others to judge.”

Judgment will come as soon as Thursday night when Australia carry heavy favouritism into their Suncorp Stadium encounter with China.

Bluntly, the Socceroos are expected to win. And Postecoglou hasn’t imagined what will happen if they don’t.

“I don’t have a great imagination,” he said.

“I am pretty boring in that way. All I see is what is in front of us.

“And it’s a difficult opponent, a great challenge. A packed stadium and hopefully an exciting game and everyone is up off their seat.

“Hopefully that means we continue on in the tournament.”

In Melbourne, South Korea also take favouritism into their encounter with the Uzbeks.

South Korean coach Uli Stielike hoped his star-studded side are just midway into their tournament.

“We want to stay here if it’s possible to the 31st of January,” he said, referring to the date of the final.

“In our thinking we are halfway. We don’t want to stop at halfway.”

– AAP