Mark van Bommel Socceroos 2018Getty

Mark van Bommel's praise for 'improving' Socceroos

As a player turned coach that knows a thing or two about quality football, Socceroos assistant Mark van Bommel is liking what he's seeing from Australia ahead of the 2018 World Cup. 

Working alongside Bert van Marwijk, van Bommel has taken on a more hands on role with the Socceroos during a training camp in Turkey, regularly getting involved in drills as the former Dutch international shows he hasn't lost any of his skill.

After overseeing a disappointing 4-1 loss to Norway first up and then a patchy 0-0 draw with Colombia, van Bommel believes the squad is shaping up strongly for Russia. 

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"I tell you, we are really improving," Van Bommel told Optus Sport.

"They are willing to do everything because they want to have success, that’s nice to see as a coach.

"We are working on several things: defending part, attacking part.

"We want to do it as quick as possible but that’s not easy because if I want to teach you how to drive a car, you teach that and you don’t learn everything in one hour."

The Socceroos will be out to show just how much they have been able to learn over the past week when they face Czech Republic in a friendly on June 1 in Austria.

Though ranked lower in the world rankings and not going to the World Cup, the Czechs will prove a good challenge for Australia having won four of their last five games. 

After that, the green and gold will take on Hungary on June 10 before kicking off their World Cup campaign against France on June 16 with games against Denmark and Peru to follow. 

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