Mike Tuckerman is the the Asian correspondent for Australian Football Weekly and lived in Japan when Holger Osieck coached there.

As is so often the case in Australian soccer, the appointment of Holger Osieck as Socceroos coach has split fans right down the middle.

On the one hand are those who highlight Osieck's impressive track record in youth development, while others point out that his last spell in charge of Urawa Reds ended in disappointment.

Osieck's second spell as Urawa coach ended just two games into the 2008 J. League season, with the German coach shown the door following consecutive defeats to Yokohama F. Marinos and Nagoya Grampus.

The consensus in Japan was that Osieck favoured an overly defensive brand of football, and the writing was on the wall when Urawa failed to lift the 2007 J. League title after failing to win any of their final five league games, handing the championship to arch-rivals Kashima Antlers on the last day of the season.

It was only the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup that persuaded Urawa to keep Osieck in charge, but the Reds barely advanced beyond the halfway line in a narrow 1-0 semi-final defeat to AC Milan, leaving some Urawa fans to dream of a more adventurous style of football.

But if caution is the watchword under Osieck, he may just find the Socceroos to his liking.

After all, his predecessor Pim Verbeek moulded a defensively solid unit, and the combative style of Carl Valeri and counter attacking instincts of 2010 World Cup revelation Brett Holman may just suit Osieck's tactics.

Football Federation Australian chief Frank Lowy seemed suitably impressed by Osieck's credentials as a developer of young talent, and surely the former Canada coach is charged with blooding some new talent into a rapidly ageing Socceroos line-up.

Indeed, the much-travelled German has experience as a former FIFA technical director, and with many critics disappointed by former coach Verbeek's failure to unveil a new generation of Australian stars, Osieck surely has a mandate to introduce players likely to feature at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

For now, Osieck is charged with turning in a credible performance at the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar, and by winning the Asian Champions League with Urawa Reds in 2007, the highly technical tactician has proved that he has what it takes to win Asian titles.

He'll be lauded as a hero by Socceroos fans should he lift the Asian Cup, but for now the jury is still out on the appointment of a coach who remains a mystery man to many in Australian soccer circles.

His close links to Franz Beckenbauer are a plus in terms of our World Cup bid, but ultimately Holger Osieck will be judged on performances on the pitch - and that's exactly as it should be.