Postecoglou, who resigned as Australia coach last month following 2018 World Cup qualification, spoke one-on-one to Daniel Garb on FoxSports following his appointment as Yokohama F. Marinos boss this week.

The 52-year-old was appointed Socceroos coach in October 2013 on a five-year deal, leading the already-qualified side at the 2014 World Cup where they lost all three games but played encouraging football.

Six months later, despite poor results in the lead-up, Postecoglou guided Australia to the 2015 Asian Cup title on home soil for the first time.

Postecoglou also helped Australia reach the 2018 World Cup via the play-offs after an oft criticised campaign where they missed automatic qualification.

“I got to the point where I thought I’d done all I wanted to do from where we started, which was a pretty base line point,” he told Fox Sports.

“Going to the last World Cup, taking a real untried group against the best teams in the world at the time.

“Coming out of that with real belief but no results and winning the Asian Cup and qualifying for another World Cup.

“For me, that was what was driving me constantly and we achieved it.”

Postecoglou had long maintained Australia should aim to one day win a World Cup, although that appears well out of reach at Russia.

He added it was a tough decision to walk away with another World Cup around the corner.

“There was always going to be an end date,” he said. “I pre-empted it fairly early.

“Bringing it forward six months and giving up a World Cup wasn’t an easy decision.

“My whole career I’ve done things I’ve felt were right. It’s not an exact science but I felt the time was right then.”

The former Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory coach also revealed there was no offer on the table from Yokohama F. Marinos prior to his Socceroos exit.

“There was nothing on the table,” he said.

“The plan was a bit different in my mind. It was going to take a bit longer.

“It happened swiftly after we qualified because I didn’t want the speculation to continue.

“I wanted them to move on and start planning for the next phase.

“I wanted to see what was out there and explore it.

“In the end, the timing of this felt really good. I decided to take the job.”