Newcastle Jets coach Branko Culina has had a few run ins with new Australian national team coach Holger Osieck.

Back in 2007, when Culina was at the helm of Sydney FC, he met Osieck in the Asian Champions League when the German was coaching Japanese club Urawa Reds.

On one occasion, Culina's Sky Blues had the Reds under control at 2-0 but Osieck's men rallied for a 2-2 draw and the current Jets boss was impressed by the German's tactics.

''Tactically, as a coach, I always look to see what other coaches do when they're down a goal or two to see how they respond - I think that's a great test,'' Culina told SMH. ''And to be honest, the way he responded [when Urawa were 2-0 down] was superb. He knew what he had to do, he had to work out what was going wrong and fix it, which he did, and I always remembered that.

"If anything, he outcoached me and I don't mind admitting that.''