Eyes on the prize: Socceroo Mark Milligan and coach Ange Postecoglou with the Asian Cup. Photo: Greg Briggs

When you are trying to rebuild a team, regenerate its playing style and reboot its off-field organisation, it's hard to set immediate goals and priorities.

For Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou everything is important and success needs to be achieved as soon as possible. That is unless, of course, the headlong drive to remake and remodel the Australian national team compromises the ultimate goal, which is a competitive, sustainable side that can compete at the highest levels in the next four and eight-year World Cup cycles.

The Asian Cup is the challenge that looms now, and with critics starting to circle following a run of disappointing results, Postecoglou knows he needs to do well in the premier continental competition on home soil next month.

But, he says, planning for a medium to long-term future does not mean that a serious challenge for the Asian Cup cannot be made.

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"I don't think they are mutually exclusive. We have been working towards those goals from the moment I have been appointed," he told a news conference on Monday as he unveiled his squad of 46 candidates for a place in the final 23-man party.

"It's a big tournament, we are at home and everything we have done post-World Cup is to make sure we are ready for January 9th [when the Socceroos open the tournament against Kuwait at AAMI Park] and we will be. Hopefully that will create a strong foundation for what goes on in the next four years as the World Cup cycle  begins in the middle of next year [2015]."

The Asian Cup has rather crept up unheralded, but with the A-League due to shut down in January to accommodate the competition, attention will gradually focus on the tournament.

It  features leading Asian nations such as Japan, South Korea and Iran, as well as the Socceroos and a number of less-well-known countries. There the teams are rapidly improving as money is invested in the game and foreign expertise is brought in to accelerate development in places such as the Gulf states and China.

For better or worse, the Socceroos' performances in the tournament will have a major impact on the perception of the sport in this country, certainly among the mainstream population who are only casual followers of the game.

"It's helpful when you have success, [but] nothing has really changed. We want to be ready to try and win it," Postecoglou says.

Australia's results under his stewardship have been poor, with the team winning only two out of 12 games and its ranking plunging to a low of 102 in the FIFA standings. But the coach has always maintained that he has chosen difficult opposition to expedite the development of his inexperienced squad, and that he should be judged on the progress they make in the Asian Cup.

"Everything has been about building a squad of players who, to be fair to them, I have given them some really tough challenges in the past 12 months. Many of them are only just finding their feet [at international level]. We have thrown them some unbelievable challenges, but that's been for a purpose, so that when this tournament comes along, we would like to think they are battle-hardened enough to be able to handle whatever pressure is put upon them.

"But it's not just about this tournament. If we are successful in this tournament, it doesn't mean it all stops, we need to build on it. I still think in the next four years we will keep improving ... we have obviously changed things very radically in the last 12 months.

"I reckon if we win the Asia Cup our ranking will improve. I am doing what needed to be done [and] that's affected results. I will take responsibility for that. I will not shy away from the fact.

"But I would rather be constantly reiterating  what this mission was about than sitting here having people ask me why aren't I doing what we said we would do as an organisation in October and November last year [when he took charge], which was to regenerate the team and rejuvenate the way we play our football. I have ultimate faith and confidence we will get to where we want to and that will begin in January."