There are many ways of measuring success - Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou does so by looking to the future, even as he reflects on the past.Tuesday nights World Cup qualifier against Thailand falls three years, nearly to the day, since the former Brisbane and Melbourne Victory A-League coach took charge of Australia for the first time.For those who watched the Socceroos 1-0 win over Costa Rica in Sydney on November 19, 2013, Postecoglous vision was unambiguous from the outset.His unapologetic demand for possession-based, attacking football was the key to Australias competitive 2014 World Cup display and delivered the historic 2015 Asian Cup when the nations playing stocks were purportedly near an all-time low.Without the so-called golden generation the Socceroos progressed to the final phase of Russia 2018 qualifying via seven wins in eight matches.Now, on the brink of making a fourth consecutive World Cup, Postecoglou is satisfied and also driven to continue his evolution.It was hard for me to envisage anything at the time of taking over, knowing the immediacy of the World Cup and Asian Cup within the first 12 months of my tenure, he said.You try and project and hope to be in a certain space by the time we have the opportunity to qualify for the next World Cup.That meant weeding out the ageing old guard, and Postecoglou showed he wasnt afraid to do what his predecessor Holger Osieck didnt by controversially calling time on the international careers of many of those aged 30 and over from Germany 2006.In their place came less-experienced youth carrying long-term promise - all part of a grand plan to add much-needed depth.Were now in that bracket I wanted the bulk of the squad to be in terms of age and relevant caps at international level, Postecoglou said.Because you know if you qualify for a World Cup those kinds of things certainly help to have more of an impact.And in terms of the way were playing ... I think were just about there.The best is certainly yet to come, because a lot of these guys will be key players in the next World Cup cycle as well.Many of those faces are the fruits of a global talent sweep early in Postecoglous incumbency.No future star was missed, including those with dual nationality who could choose which country to play for.In the squad to face Thailand are five who played youth international football for other countries in Brad Smith (England), Apo Giannou (Greece), Milos Degenek (Serbia), Jamie Maclaren (Scotland) and Jackson Irvine (Scotland), while Jimmy Jeggo is also still eligible to play for Austria.Its not about convincing them, Postecoglou said.I think all of them wanted to but sometimes, particularly for guys who leave Australia at a young age and go halfway around the world, if we dont show them a little bit of care and attention they could get lost. 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Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. CHICAGO -- Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins. Ron Santo and Ryne Sandberg, too. Hall of Famers for the Chicago Cubs, but no championship rings.They all tried. Some got closer than others, but the famed drought got the best of them all. And decades of empty Octobers eventually took on a life of their own.Now, as a new group of Cubs prepares to take aim at a lifetime of free drinks on the North Side, Sandberg, for one, believes this team might be uniquely positioned to succeed where so many others failed.I think when its talked about in that regard and you dont have a game plan for that, you know, that that can be talked about on a daily basis, Sandberg said, addressing the elephant in the room -- the 108 years since the Cubs last won the World Series. It can be brought to the players attentions, but I think this team here focuses on other things.They focus on their teammates, themselves, winning the game, having fun, somebody come up big and lets celebrate in the room in there, and I think thats their mentality. It seems to work.While the rest of baseballs postseason picture is being sorted out, the Cubs are closing in on home-field advantage for the NL playoffs and making sure they are as ready as they can be for what they hope will be the franchises first World Series since its seven-game loss to Detroit in 1945. The NL Central champions completed a three-game sweep of Cincinnati with a 9-2 victory Wednesday night and lead Washington by eight games for the best record in the National League.Playing to electric crowds all summer at a giddy Wrigley Field, the Cubs have spent most of the season looking down at the rest of the majors. And with the playoffs on the horizon, it seems as if they are only embracing the escalating pressure coming their way.I think pressure is what you make of it, said Jon Lester, one of the front-runners for the NL Cy Young Award. I mean we all know what the deal is around here. You cant run from it. All you can do is show up and play.The Cubs made it to the postseason last year as the second NL wild card and then eliminated Pittsburgh and St. Louis before they were swept by the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series. That feel-good run by a team that appeared to be coming into its own turned into a runaway division title in 2016, boosted by offseason deals for free agents Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and John Lackey.Perrhaps sensing what was coming, manager Joe Maddon told his pitchers and catchers to embrace the target when they arrived at spring training in February.dddddddddddd That slogan quickly went on a T-shirt and then Maddon poked fun at himself with Try Not To Suck, a carry-over from last year that turned into a popular shirt around Chicago this summer.Those slogans could serve the Cubs well next month.Why would you ever want to work somewhere where theres no expectations? Maddon said. I dont understand that. Theres that comfortable component of society that maybe they want to live in that moment where there are no expectations or any kind of pressure, and that to me would be absolutely no fun whatsoever.I think all of our guys, where youre trained coming up as an athlete, you want to play in the championship game. You want to be the champion.But ahead of them is one unique challenge, beyond the obvious difficulty of winning three series against baseballs best teams. One misstep in the playoffs, one bad bounce, and the Cubs twisted history -- everything from the infamous billy goat curse to the black cat that taunted Leo Durocher in 1969 and Steve Bartmans misplayed foul ball 13 years ago -- all comes roaring back to the forefront.The only comparable situation is Bostons World Series title in 2004, stopping an 86-year drought. Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein was the general manager of the Red Sox at the time, and Lester was a minor leaguer in the Boston system.Those guys wanted to be the team that won it, Lester said.That same attitude resides in Chicagos clubhouse at the moment. Lester signed with the Cubs in December 2014, and Heyward, Zobrist and Lackey arrived last winter -- each hoping to be on the team that put another banner on top of Wrigley Field. To do it in this city, its a no-brainer that it would be making history, Heyward said at his introductory news conference last December.So, Lester said, bring on the pressure that goes along with every Cubs postseason run.I mean its there, he said. You cant run from it. You cant worry about it. You just have to worry about what your team can control and really just try to win it. Thats all you can really do.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '