By Jesse Fink
May 23rd 2008 @ 7:20am
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So much for Schwarzer’s Italian job
The Roar had a bit of a flap a few weeks ago about the likely club destination of Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who was having his usual standoff with Middlesbrough.
All the talk for months had been Bayern Munich, about as laughable as all the talk connecting David Carney with the same club. The supporting actors in all the speculation were also fanciful: Fiorentina, Celtic, and, most conspicuously, Juventus.
But the Juventus rumour seemed to have some weight. I first heard it from a well-placed agent who put forward the hypothesis that Gianluigi Buffon had a bad back and the Italian club was looking to stagger his appearances in-between the sticks. It seemed plausible, but why would a guy looking to cement his No. 1 spot in the national squad in a World Cup campaign agree to become back-up to another goalkeeper at his club, even if it was Buffon? It didn’t seem right.
(The fortunes of Zeljko Kalac at AC Milan, of course, had set an interesting precedent and shown what could happen to a No. 2 with a bit of luck. But unlike Schwarzer Kalac had already retired from Socceroos duty and was quite happy collecting his pay cheques when Dida fell out of favour with Carlo Ancelotti. I’m sure it was never part of Spider’s realistic plan to supplant the Brazilian No. 1.)
However Pim Verbeek told me his mail was Juventus was really in the hunt for the Australian and he had no ideological objection to his national No. 1 being No. 2 at his club. Juventus was Juventus. Buffon was Buffon. Good enough for Pim. Schwarzer had his national gaffer’s blessing. The plot thickened.
Yet I was still dubious. Schwarzer was a very good goalkeeper, but he was 35, had no more than two seasons left in him, was prone to clumsy gaffes and had never really performed at the highest level in Europe. A club such as Juventus was a notch above anything he’d experienced before.
And so that hunch has been proven right. Two years at Fulham, cellar dwellers who just escaped the drop in the Premiership but are almost certain to go down in 2009. It’s hardly an exclamation mark to Schwarzer’s career, though his press release for Fulham attempted to persuade doubters that it really was the best move available to him.
“Although I had other offers from some great clubs throughout Europe, it didn’t take long to make a decision about joining Fulham,” said Schwarzer. “I’m now looking forward to joining up with the Australian national team for our World Cup qualifiers and then of course to meeting up with the rest of the lads for pre-season at Fulham in July.”
Hoo bloody rah. We’re supposed to believe this crap? That despite offers from some of the biggest clubs in Europe, Schwarzer chose Fulham? As far as club transfers go, it’s about as big a comedown as Lucas Neill moving to West Ham and not Liverpool or Barcelona.
It will be interesting to see how much faith Verbeek has in Schwarzer should Fulham drop down to the Championship in 2009 and another Australian steps up in the Premiership. (Could Brad Jones cement a starting spot at Boro?) He’s also going to have his work cut out displacing current Cottagers No. 1, American Kasey Keller, and No. 2, Finn Antti Niemi. Like Schwarzer, both are in the twilight of their careers.
So a very strange move for Schwarzer and a very disappointing one for Australian fans, who, like me, will be getting tired of all these half-baked stories linking Socceroos to European superclubs. None of them ever prove solid. The latest is the clubless Harry Kewell to Juventus. Portsmouth, a Premiership middleweight, seems far more realistic a port of call.
Sadly it seems the glory days of Aussies playing for Europe’s big clubs may be over, though Scott McDonald must surely be in with a shot to be our next G14-calibre player when he inevitably moves on from Celtic. After that, it really is slim pickings.
Verbeek’s gonna have to get us to the World Cup with only one Australian (Tim Cahill) regularly playing in the first XI of the top six clubs in England. A far cry from 2006 when Guus Hiddink had the services of a relatively functional Kewell at Liverpool and Neill and Brett Emerton at UEFA Cup-qualifiers Blackburn.
How times change.
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Dickroo of Blacktown said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:23am | Report comment
You’re right, Jesse.
The 2010 Socceroos squad in South Africa could well be the players from less glamour clubs.
But the 2014 will be different. Something hopefully look like these:
Dean Bouzanis (Liverpool)
©Mark Milligan (Arsenal)
Matthew Spiranovic (Bayern Munich)
Ruben Zadkovic (Blackburn)
Adrian Leijer (Everton)
Carl Valeri (Inter Milan)
Kristrian Sarkies (Celtic)
Neil Kilkenny (Arsenal)
Kaz Patafta (Benfica)
Nick Carle (Valencia)
Nathan Burns (Liverpool)
James Troisi (PSV Eindhoven)
Scott McDonald (Newcastle)
David Williams (Man United)
Bruce Djite (Galatasaray)
Sammy C of Brisbane said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:38am | Report comment
Bit of a shock Jesse. I honestly thought he’d resign with Borough and see out his career. I just saw him as beating himself up to get a higher offer from Southgate and the suits. Step down for sure - I’d love to be in the shoes of Jones, Federici, Coe, Vukovic etc at the moment.
sledgeross said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:39am | Report comment
Kilkenny will stay at Leeds and be the lynchpin that gets United back into the Premiership!!!
Also, does anyone know of a pub that will be showing the Div 1 playoff final betweenLeeds and Doncaster on Sunday night?
Mick of Newie said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:45am | Report comment
Dickroo
this is the kind of crap Jesse is talking about. Where do I start. Leijer 22 can’t get a game at Fulham but Everton will pick him up, mmm. Kilkenny to Arsenal, tell me the last 22 y.o. journeyman midfielder Arsene Wenger plucked from the English Third division. Same for Millgan. Valeri is 24 and playing Serie B he better get on with it if he is going to end up at Inter.
I hope Carle is playing at Valencia when he is 33 and I am a big fan but I think you are dreaming.
Sammy C of Brisbane said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:47am | Report comment
Here here Mick.
Dickroo of Blacktown said | May 23rd 2008 @ 9:56am | Report comment
HaHa, Mick, it is my dream as an Aussie soccer fan.
But I really hope the future Socceroo No. 10 is a midfield magician playing at the highest club level. That what we really lack of, not No.1 or No.9.
So far there’s no sign of him.
Maybe Rhain Davis in 2018, just maybe.
Mick of Newie said | May 23rd 2008 @ 1:20pm | Report comment
Dickroo, I am not a cynic. Our 2006 team was tradesmanlike. Our 2010 team looks like more of the same as I suspect our 2014 team will be. But we will still support them. I also hope one day for a great no 10.
Rob Humphreys said | May 23rd 2008 @ 2:08pm | Report comment
I agree that the rumours are annoying. However, I think they serve some benefit in getting the ‘casual’ Australian football fan talking about the game, clicking on Fox Sports News stories etc etc.
I’m sure the media outlets don’t mind it either, as they sell a few more papers/get a few more hits.
Cahill is the next logical player to move on to bigger and better things, but I’m not even sure about that. He will be the KEY player for Aus through to 2010 in my opinion, but a club move is reliant on him stringing a few seasons together for once. Also I am not convinced he has that extra touch of quality to take the big leap from 5th in the Premiership to a bigger club.
Macdonald is another possibility too, but how many times have players chopped up in the SPL, only to come back to earth when they move to a stronger league? Although his Champions League goals might allay this fear somewhat.
Looking to the future - who knows? Djite, Burns, Patafta etc are all possibilities to do something special, but whether it happens or not remains to be seen.
Rob Humphreys said | May 23rd 2008 @ 2:11pm | Report comment
PS - I am not incapable of forming paragraphs, the site did that to my text!
[Our error - fixed now. Zac - The Roar]
Kazama said | May 23rd 2008 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
I’d worry less about Schwarzer and more about Brad Jones stepping up to be the No. 1 keeper at Middlesbrough. Jones could very well be our No.1 by 2010 (assuming we make it) if he can put together a couple of good seasons in the EPL for Boro.
I agree with Mick, I think it will be a very, very long time before we see any Aussies in the first team of clubs like Man United. Until we get our youth development system up to international standards we needn’t be thinking about producing any Messis or Cristiano Ronaldos. Then again, as Johnny Warren said, champion teams can beat teams of champion players. And I’d much rather have Nicky Carle driving the midfield at Bristol than getting 10 minutes a season at Valencia.
NickoD said | May 23rd 2008 @ 3:13pm | Report comment
Perhaps it came down to the length of the contract that Schwarzer was offered. From what I’ve read Middlesbourgh were only offering a one year contract. A two year contract will take him up to the 2010 world cup which will give him 2 years to at least fight for the number 1 jersey as opposed to say getting let go by Middlesbourgh after 1 year and then only having 1 year to force himself into another side or move to a lower division - just throwing out a suggestion.
Also Middlesbourgh are not that far off Fulham when it comes to league standings.
No player should be locked into the world cup squad (let alone the final 11) two years out from the world cup. I’d hope that Schwarzer was looking over his shoulder at the up and coming keepers. I liked Pim’s comment from a couple of days (taken from the 442 website):
Roos coach Verbeek today admitted he was spoiled for choice when it came to goalkeepers for the national team with no clear contender for Schwarzer’s understudy.
“They’re all good keepers,” said Verbeek. “I would only have a problem if there were no good keepers - but they are all good.
“That makes it their problem, not mine.”
Dickroo of Blacktown said | May 23rd 2008 @ 3:30pm | Report comment
So, realistically, the 2010 WC squad would look like this?
Mark Schwarzer, 37, (Fulham, Championship)
Brad Jones, 28, (Middlesbrough)
Lucas Neil, 31, (West Ham)
Brett Emerton, 31, (Blackburn)
Mark Milligan, 25, (RC Lens)
David Carney, 27, (Sheffield United, Championship)
Jade North, 28, (Newcastle Jets)
Michael Beauchamp, 29, (Nuremberg, Bundesliga team 1)
Jason Culina, 30, (PSV Eindhoven)
Vince Grella, 31, (Torino)
Carl Valeri, 26, (Grosseto Serie B)
Luke Wilkshire, 29, (FC Twente)
Nick Carle, 29, (Bristol City, Championship)
Mark Bresciano, 30, (Palermo)
Tim Cahill, 31, (Everton)
Brett Holman, 26, (NEC Nijmegen)
Harry Kewell, 31, (Portsmouth)
Mark Viduka, 34, (Newcastle United)
Scott McDonald, 27, (Celtic)
Joshua Kennedy, 28, (Karlsruher)
Bruce Djite, 23, (Gençlerbirligi)
not bad, I would say. The golden generation will all be just over 30 yo.
Salvation said | May 23rd 2008 @ 3:48pm | Report comment
Glory days? ???
These are the glory days…days of being able to watch football teams that _originate_ from your own backyard. Australian teams knocking it around with our Asian neighbours.
And who knows, the EPL may not be the _powerhouse_ it is now, in the near future. Once the trend for domestic leagues continue and interest in “peripheral” comps increase over the years to come.
Finally, it’s mainly about the quality of coach. As long as our youngsters play their way into good form, everything will be peachy for WC games, imo.
SammyC said | May 23rd 2008 @ 4:12pm | Report comment
NickD
FYI
“Boro chief executive Keith Lamb said: ‘I think Mark and Middlesbrough could probably do with a change.
‘We did offer him a new two-year deal, but he has chosen to go elsewhere, which is obviously his prerogative.
‘We wish Mark well in his new career at Fulham, but his move creates a fantastic opportunity for either Brad Jones or Ross Turnbull to succeed him as our new first-choice goalkeeper.’ “
Stoffy said | May 25th 2008 @ 6:27pm | Report comment
As a Fulham supporter through and through I’m stoked to see Mark join the whites, all be it a little surprised. He joins experienced keepers Kasey Keller and Antti Niemi with Tony Warner and Ricardo Batista also capable of the job in goal. Hodgson (Roy) has impressed me since arriving at Craven Cottage, and further gained my respect by capturing the Aussie shot-stopper
Interesting to see if we turn to Schwarzer for the entire season, or will Keller maintain his first team status.
Big season next year for Fulham
I hope
Mick of Newie said | May 26th 2008 @ 9:57am | Report comment
Dickroo
Now you have gone too far the other way. The prospects of Kewell and Viduka (and maybe Schwartzer) being effective in 2010 are low.
Otherwise I would agree with the squad with the hope that one or two of the olyroos you mentioned earlier have a sharp upward trajedectory (say one or two of Spiranovic, Zullo, Holand or Burns (Nathan not Jacob)).