Reporter Wang Wei reports On the evening of May 11, the Chinese Football Association announced on its official website the appointment of Ante Milicic as head coach of the Chinese National Women's Football Team.
Milicic, 50, is a professional coach of the Asian Football Association. He played in the top leagues of Australia, the Netherlands and Croatia during his playing time. He was elected to the Australian men's football team. After becoming a coach, he has coached the Australian U23, U19 men's football team and the Australian women's football team. He once led the team to play against the Chinese Super League team and the national team of Chinese men's and women's football. He worked with the newly appointed Chinese U17 women's football coach Van Egmond in the Australian women's football team for more than four months.
Milicic advocates offensive football, has a strong personality but does not lose affinity, and is a famous detail controller. Whether in the Australian men's football team or women's football team, many of the new players he focuses on cultivating will grow into the main force of the national team later.
Milicic once served as assistant coach of the Australian men's football U20 national youth team in the 2009 and 2011 U20 World Youth Championships. He assisted Dutch coach Wesley in the U20 World Youth Championships. When he served as assistant coach, he trained many Australian players who had served in the Chinese Super League, including guard Mullen (Dalian Albin), McGovern (Shandong Luneng), Sainsbury (Jiangsu Suning) Midfielders Horan (Liaoning Hongyun) and Mui (Shanghai Port).
From 2012 to 2014, Milicic served as assistant teacher in the Western Sydney Rangers of the Australian Super League team, won the Australian Super League championship in the 2013/14 season with the team, and beat Guizhou Renhe in the group match of the Asian Championships. In the second half of 2014, the Western Sydney Rangers beat Guangzhou Hengda and won the Asian Championships. Milicic missed the highest moment in the history of the Western Sydney Rangers because he arrived at the Australian National Team in May 2014, Served as the assistant of coach Postkoglu.
Milicic, as a coach, once led the team to play with the national team of Chinese men's and women's soccer teams, and also visited China. At the beginning of 2015, the Australian men's football team won the Asian Cup in China, and the Australian team eliminated the Chinese team 2-0 in the quarter final. At that time, the Australian team's defender Wilkinson and midfielder Milligan had the experience of the Chinese Super League. The forwards Cahill and Kruse, and the defender Sainsbury joined the Chinese Super League successively. The Chinese team includes Zheng Zhi, Wang Dalei, Zhang Linpeng, Wu Xi and Wu Lei.
The 2018 U23 Asian Cup was held in China, and the Australian U23 team, coached by Milici ć, was defeated by Vietnam and South Korea in the group match in Kunshan, Jiangsu, without the opportunity to compete with the host Chinese U23 team.
In February 2019, when Milicic was the head coach of the Australian women's football team, Van Egmund, who had served as the assistant teacher of the Australian women's football team for nearly four years, stayed until the end of the French women's football World Cup in the summer. The two worked together for nearly five months. In February 2020, the Asian preliminaries of the Olympic women's football team were held in Australia. The Australian women's football team coached by Milici ć was in the same group as the Chinese women's football team. The two teams joined hands in a 1-1 draw. The second minute of extra time, Emily, the daughter of the current Chinese U17 women's football coach Van Egmond, was the main backer of the Australian women's football team. Emily was wearing a No. 10 jersey at that time. At the beginning of this year, Van Egmund became the coach of the Chinese U17 women's football team. Now Milicic has become the coach of the Chinese women's football team. The two reunited after five years.
In February 2019, Australian women's football coach Stasic was suddenly dismissed. At that time, only half a year before the Women's World Cup opened, some Australian women's football international players had strained relations with Stasic. When Milicic took office, he said: "I am not interested in the past. I only care about the present and the future." Milicic admitted that 80% - 90% of his friends were opposed to taking over the Australian women's football team, but he insisted: "I am a bit stubborn. The more people oppose it, the more I want to fight against it."
Milicic is a descendant of Croatian immigrants. His mother died when he was 17 years old. Curina, his coach in the player era, thought that the death of his mother might have affected Milicic's character: "He wanted to prove himself as much as possible. He was very easygoing and joking, but he was particularly persistent in matters related to football."
Milicic grew up in Australia, but he has deep feelings for Croatia, which is of blood and cultural origin. When he was a player, he played in the Croatian League and was a fan of Split Free Warriors, a powerful team in the south of Croatia. In 2014, when he served as the assistant teacher of the Australian men's football national team, he had settled in Croatia for the convenience of investigating Australian players in Europe. In the summer of 2022, Milicic resigned as coach of MacArthur, the Australian Super League team, because he had to take care of his family in Croatia.
After retirement, Milicic was very interested in developing the maximum potential of players. From 2014 to 2019, he assisted Postkoglu, the famous Dutch coach Van Marwijk and the current coach Arnold in the Australian national team, and participated in the 2014 and 2018 World Cup with the team. Milicic's football philosophy was greatly influenced by the current Tottenham coach Postkoglu. He mainly played an offensive 433 and liked to use a single back waist. The main means of attacking is to break through the side, and the scoring is basically achieved by the center.
Milicic, known by many insiders as a detail oriented person, showed his high requirements to the players with a laptop full of tactical intelligence, notes and videos in his first training session since he became the head coach of the Australian women's football team in February 2019. Former Australian women's football player Sarah Walsh was impressed with him: "He is a very keen thinker, always thinking in training and competition, trying to find more possibilities." People often see him shouting loudly in training, correcting players' technical movements and running positions. To some extent, Milicic is a perfectionist.
Milicic started his official coaching career as an assistant of the Australian U20 National Youth Team, and he paid special attention to young players. In the 2009 and 2011 U20 World Youth Championships, Milicic was the assistant teacher of the Australian men's football U20 national youth team. In the 2014 Brazil World Cup, there were 8 Australian men's football players under the age of 23. Defender McGovern, midfielder Holland, Aoer and striker Lecky all came from the Australian Youth Team he taught five years ago.
In 2018, he led the team to participate in the China U23 Asian Cup. The goalkeeper of the Australian U23 team, Grover, defender Thomas Deng, midfielder Herusich, McGring, Bakus and O'Neill, all became regular visitors of the Australian national team. Some of the young players he focused on, including Yedinak, Besiher, Luango and Mui, eventually became the backbone of the Australian national team.
The young Luango never participated in the Asian Games with the Australian Youth Team, but he was discovered by Milicic and brought to the 2018 World Cup. Although he did not play in the World Cup for a minute, he became the best player in the Asian Cup six months later. When he settled in Croatia, Milicic also found the young Croatian central defender Karasic and persuaded him to naturalize in Australia in 2018 to play for the Kangaroo Corps.
When Milicic coached the Australian women's football team in February 2019, there were five new players under the age of 23 in the team. The youngest attacker Mary Fowler is only 16 years old, and the main right back Ellie Carpenter is only 19 years old. Veteran Laura Bullock withdrew due to injury, and Milicic chose 18-year-old Norwegian teenager Carly Rostbacken as his replacement. Although the Australian team for the 2019 Women's World Cup ended up in the top 16, the main team consisted of six people under the age of 24, the youngest being 19-year-old right back Ali Carpenter.
In the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2023 Australia New Zealand Women's World Cup, the Australian women's football team entered the top four in a row. Forward Mary Fowler, winger Hailey Lasso, and right back Alice Carpenter are all the main talents Milici cultivated. Mary Fowler, a talented girl of mixed blood between Ireland and Papua New Guinea, has joined Manchester City in the Women's Premier League.
Milicic, who is good at promoting new players, may help the Chinese women's football team realize the transition between old and new players and cultivate more young players.
