By The Crowd
May 17th 2008 @ 5:36am
Super June looms for Socceroos
It shapes as Australian soccer’s most important month since the 2006 World Cup - and will play a huge part in whether the Socceroos get to the next one.
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“Super June”, as it has been dubbed, will feature the Socceroos playing in four 2010 World Cup qualifiers as they attempt to progress to the next stage of Asian World Cup qualification later this year.
Matches against Iraq in Brisbane on June 1 and China in Sydney on June 22 book-end a two-week tour-of-duty in the Middle East, in which the Socceroos play Iraq in neutral Dubai on June 7 and Qatar in Doha on June 14.
Those two matches - set to be played in similar searing heat to that which helped sink the Socceroos at last year’s Asian Cup - are the ones likely to decide their fate.
Finish top two in their group of four, and the Socceroos will advance to the last 10 Asian teams and another group stage in which four teams gain automatic qualification.
Already the Socceroos top their current group with four points following a thumping 3-0 win over Qatar and an impressive 0-0 draw against China in China earlier this year.
The way the group is panning out, a win in Brisbane and a win in either of their Middle East games should be enough to ensure qualification.
But much will depend how the team handle their Middle East jaunt.
Under previous coach Graham Arnold, the heat in Thailand and Vietnam was blamed in large part by the Socceroos players for their lack-lustre Asian Cup showing.
Fast forward 12 months, and Pim Verbeek’s challenge will be to have a squad capable of handling temperatures which are set to soar past 40 degrees celsius.
Verbeek made it clear before the China match there’ll be no such excuses this time around when it comes to the conditions.
“I have faith that this is a team ready to compete in any circumstances. I certainly don’t want any excuses,” he said.
Verbeek has already sailed through his first two logistic tests.
A squad assembled barely 48 hours previously overcame jet-lag and lack of preparation to give Qatar a clinic in February in Melbourne.
Then Verbeek had his Australian team play an assured, composed, confident style of football at altitude to draw 0-0 with China - a performance which perhaps heralded of an Asian coming-of-age.
Verbeek had been to the venue for the that game - Kunming in southern China - previously with the Korean Olympic team and skilfully applied the lessons learned there to the Socceroos.
When the 51-year-old Dutchman was appointed, chairman Frank Lowy cited his experience with Asian conditions as a former South Korean assistant coach and his club work in Japan.
The next month will show just what a difference knowing your enemy can make.
“Everyone knows Australia have a good team but Asian football is totally different to what they have been used to, and it would be a little naive to expect them to come in and adjust without any problems,” Verbeek said of the Socceroos’ Asian Cup failure.
“Because most Australian players spend their careers in Europe, issues like the Asian climate and the different styles of football are completely alien to them.
“The unfortunate thing for them was that expectations were so high after the World Cup, probably unfairly so as it was their first time after all.
“Going forward, it should definitely help that I know a lot about Asian football - the players, the conditions, the difficulties - but there will still be some adjustment, I’m sure.”
World football’s eyes will also be on Australia ahead of the World Cup qualifiers, with Sydney set to host the FIFA Congress on May 29 and 30.
The FIFA Congress, effectively world football’s parliament, will discuss important matters and vote on proposals on the game’s future.
The most contentious involves national quotas in club football, with FIFA boss Sepp Blatter keen to introduce a rule that no club team can start a match with more than five foreign players.
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