During a more proletarian past for Australian football lies a World Cup journey few expected Australia to undertake, and all hoped it wouldn't take another 32 years to relive.

As we enter our second consecutive World Cup finals in South Africa with a star studded line-up of millionaires and celebrity players looking to at least make the knock-out stages, how coach Rale Rasic led us to our first finals some 36 years ago is a sobering reminder of just how far we've come.

Now residing in Sydney's Cecil Hills, the 75-year old former Yugoslavian orphan has lost none of his enthusiasm for football or the Socceroos. During our series of lengthy interviews over coffee in Leichardt, Sydney (our first meeting clocked-up over three hours on the voice recorder!), we discussed everything from 1974 to the current Socceroos, former administrations to the FFA, managing the late great Johnny Warren and seemingly every topics of world football you can imagine. Here is the condensed version...

Rale's story starts back in the former Yugoslavia, where he plied his trade as a modest footballer in the domestic league. "I played for three great clubs in the old Yugoslavia and I became youth international," says Rasic. "I was playing in the top division of a country known as the ‘Brazilians of Europe'. So I was a good footballer, but not one to be compared with some of the true idols or superstars of the game."

In July 1962, Rasic arrived in Australia to undertake a new challenge playing at Victorian side, Footscray JUST. Despite a brief stint back in his native Yugoslavia for national service, Rasic settled in Melbourne in 1966. After injury cut his playing career short Rasic moved into coaching and by the time he was 34, younger than current Socceroos Scott Chipperfield and Mark Schwarzer, Rasic was appointed Socceroos coach.

"Being in charge of the Australian national team had never crossed my mind," claimed Rasic who had started his coaching career at former club Footscray. Despite suffering a 7-1 defeat to Melbourne Hungaria on his coaching debut, Rasic first guided Footscray into the play-offs and then to the title in 1969.

After joining his coaching debut tormentors Melbourne Hungaria the following year, Rasic then moved on again to coach NSW side St George, alongside taking on the Socceroos role at the same time.

"At no point was I the full-time coach of the Socceroos, only ever part-time," says Rasic. "34 is still very young, but I believe you are as old as your performance. Fortunately for me the previous Socceroos coach hadn't had much success and he was getting on. Plus my results with the state teams had created something new and refreshing. I never actually applied for a job with the national team. Victorian Soccer applied on my behalf."

On stepping into the Socceroos fray in August 1970, Rasic set about his four year plan with an ultimate goal - qualifying for the 1974 World Cup in Germany.

"I worked for the Socceroos for four years and my complete salary for the whole time was $10,000," says Rasic. "On starting the job I assessed everything the previous coach did and spoke to the players. I introduced a more professional approach. We started eating cooked meals. We trained not three times a week, but three times a day.

"The Soccer Australia chairman Arthur George was naïve, he was new in the job and gave me everything. He said of me ‘give that bastard everything he wants!'.

"I didn't do it alone; I contacted a lot of people and got a lot of support. In football you never claim you're too smart for help."

During qualification for Germany 1974, the Socceroos twice found themselves on the brink of failing short against New Zealand and Iran in the group stages, but progressed to a final hurdle two-legged play-off against South Korea.

In the first leg in Sydney, the Socceroos were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw, "we were shocking and outplayed in every department," admits Rasic. For the second leg in Seoul, the Koreans raced into an early 2-0 lead. The wait for the Socceroos' first World Cup finals appearance seemed destine to continue.

"Team manager John Barclay was sitting on the bench and he turned to me and whispered, ‘we are gone'. I couldn't believe my ears. I grabbed him by both arms and threw him off the bench."

Goals from Branko Buljevic and Jimmy Rooney either side of half-time got the Socceroos level and so it finished. In the days before the away goal rule, it meant they would meet in a third match, this time at Hong Kong Stadium.

A Jimmy Mackay long-distance strike 15 minutes from the end granted the Socceroos their passage to Germany 1974. "The scenes following the game were truly remarkable. Grown men were crying. Australian soccer was now on the world sporting map."

When the draw for the finals in Germany was made, it could not have been much tougher for the debutants from Down Under, but Rasic reflects on the perilous pot with joy.

"If I wrote the script and you asked me who I wanted to meet at the World Cup, I would have said East and West Germany. East Germany were unbeaten in 80 games in Europe, the robots of world football, and West Germany - European champions. We also had Chile, a nation steeped in World Cup tradition who also finished third at the 1962 finals."

Results at the finals ensured an honourable participation, as the Socceroos went down 2-0 to East Germany, 3-0 to West Germany and drew 0-0 with Chile. It was a short-lived experience, but created a legacy that took 32 years to emulate.

Rasic's time in the Socceroos' dugout overlapped with that of a certain national team player whose influence on the state of the game in Australia is hard to fully quantify - Johnny Warren.

Rasic describes the late great Warren as a symbol of the game in Australia, "John's biggest asset was his personality," remarked Rasic. But on one such occasion, as you might expect from such hugely driven personalities, the two Socceroo firebrands clashed.

During a 1970 friendly with Greece in Athens, a game the Socceroos were largely expected to lose, Warren was left furious at half-time over the performance of his team-mates. Rasic saw it differently.

"At half-time he [Warren] was moaning about a lack of marking. I told him he was the one not marking and that he had 10 minutes to sort out his opponent or he was off. John was like a bull to a red rag heading out for the second half.

"He went out and eliminated and dismantled his opponent in the second half and we won 3-1. I said after the game ‘I should criticise you more often Johnny'. He was still not happy. I said to Johnny he had two options: go home or do as I tell you. It was unheard of that anyone would have the courage to say that to Johnny Warren. He said he'd do as I say."

However the two were both left jilted by Soccer Australia in the wake of the 1974 finals, where both Rasic and Warren created a pact when going for the Socceroos job. If Rasic was reappointed to continue his work with the Socceroos, Warren would have a role with the team. If Warren was successful, he would become technical director and Rasic would continue as coach. The decision was made in the now infamous interview process at the old McLeay Travelodge in Sydney's Kings Cross.

"We were meeting in a seedy haven for prostitutes - a fitting setting for the occasion," says Rasic. "My interview lasted three minutes after an official asked me not to play defensive football and then they would consider reappointing me.

I threw a pen at them and walked out. John was outside and couldn't believe how short my interview was.

"Incredibly John's interview lasted less than mine! When he got inside they asked him ‘Tell us about yourself?'. After all he's done in football, they asked him that! John stormed out and all he could say was ‘F**king bastards' over and over again."

In the end, Englishman Brian Green was appointed as the next Socceroos coach, but lasted two games before leaving the country in shame after being convicted for shoplifting two LP records.

"The fact they then appointed Jimmy Shoulder - that was the greatest comedy in the history of Australian football. These were anti-football people making these decisions," concludes Rasic.

The 29-year old Shoulder oversaw a failed World Cup qualification in 1977 and the wait to see Australia on the world's biggest stage continued once more.

"You can't compare 1974 with the current Socceroos," says Rasic. "But some people think football was born in 2005." Rasic talks with great affection for the current Socceroos, the Golden Generation that has spoilt many of us.

"Even if the likes of Neill, Cahill, Kewell or Schwarzer were playing for nothing or a million dollars the Australian team has always been the same - it's about getting to play for the Green and Gold. The power of the Green and Gold is that we can lift 300 per cent when we play the top teams.

"Tim Cahill is one quarter of the Australian team. He is the greatest Australian player ever by miles. He carries Everton on his back, a team near the top of the strongest league in the world, that's not easy. His attitude towards Green and Gold is unrivalled too. I have respect for his personality too."

While Rasic stood for over three decades as the only man to lead the Socceroos to the finals, he displays only joy, not resentment, towards the consecutive Dutchmen who got them there in 2006 and 2010.

"Guss Hiddink is amongst the most popular coaches in world football today. But Pim ended up being compared with Guus and that is difficult as Guus is a media man - the press love him.

"The objective of an international coach is to make the World Cup. A manager who does that for Australia should not be criticised for the style of play if they manage to do that. I congratulate Pim, he qualified, that is what he was bought in for. If he plays attractive football or not, his objective was getting to South Africa 2010.

"Pim is defensively oriented and he had his mind set on something he wanted to achieve. Coaches are based on only one yardstick - results. However when you have the gift of Cahill, Neill, Kewell, Schwarzer, Emerton, Bresiciano and Grella, then you have to be silly not to be a good coach!"

This article appeared in the World Cup 2010 issue of FourFourTwo magazine. To buy back copies of this issue call 03-8317-8121 with a credit card to hand.