Soccer: Socceroos' search for coach heats up

NELSPRUIT - The Socceroos' search for a new coach is set to heat up as teams begin exiting the World Cup, freeing up more potential replacements for Pim Verbeek.

Football Federation Australia hope to have their man locked in before the first post-World Cup friendly in August.

They have lined up an away match against Slovenia, and hope to have the new head coach take charge of the Socceroos - alongside new assistant Aurelio Vidmar - for that game.

Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy has indicated the new coach is "most likely" to come from one of the 31 other coaches involved at the World Cup in South Africa.

While the tournament is the world's biggest coaching shop-window, the problem has been that coaches do not become officially available, nor do many want to talk about post-World Cup jobs, while they are still taking care of business in the tournament.

The coach most heavily linked with Australia is Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen - whose team are already out of World Cup contention.

The most high-profile coach is Sven Goran Eriksson, whose Ivory Coast team are in danger of joining the African exodus from the tournament later this week.

Others who have indicated their interest in the job are former star players Osvaldo Ardiles, Ruud Gullit and Dutchman Phillip Cocu.

Present Dutch assistant coach Ronald de Boer is another who has been linked with the role.

Frenchman Le Guen, who would break the Dutch stranglehold on the Australian game, shapes as a big risk should he be given the job - boasting a mixed track record.

His Cameroon team were the first team out of the running at the World Cup, delivering arguably the tournament's most benign performance in a 1-0 loss to Japan, then losing to Denmark 2-1 to bow out before their third match.

- AAP