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There is a time for building confidence in your FFA and there is a time for accountability to be the cornerstone of that confidence. After the Olyroos’ performance at the Olympics, this is one of those times.
Bonita Mersiades, Public Affairs of the FFA has said, “people are entitled to their view and for every person who thinks that the team played poorly at the Olympics, there will be another who says that it played well.”
“We did not say that we are champions of the world. All we said was that we would like our teams to win, which is not unreasonable. Why else would we go there?”
Well, Bonita, and the FFA, many of us saw these Olympics as a chance to put on our best performance and best team in a very tough group.
None of this was attained.
Even by your own standards for this tournament, by failing to get a medal, you have failed. And now you are back-peddling.
Football Federation Australia, as your employers, the Australian Public, we would like to arrange an appointment with you. We would like a report as to how our Olympic team failed to win a medal, not even clearing the group phase.
We were told confidently how we had a good chance for a medal. However, many of us noticed that some great talent was left out, and the eventual team had very little semblance to the team that got us into the Olympics in the first place.
I even recall the strut and nonchalance of the FFA’s manager in the pre-Olympic press conference. It was a serious medal assault, not a development luxury, so we were told.
You looked us straight in the eyes and said that a medal was the benchmark for success. You assured us that the best team had been assembled. It is only fitting, then, that your appointed coach be present to explain these details.
Many of us saw the warning signs.
We started noticing that our captain was being played out of position in the lead-up games, and that another notable defensive player seemed destined to be sitting on the bench, replaced by a new recruit.
We actually had a wealth of talent, defensively, in the squad already, and then we had been told that the over-age North was to be joining the lads in China as well.
We could have been building our own Great Wall, it seemed, if required.
There were many head scratching moments with the forward line, as well.
A player freshly drafted in from the Perth Glory started in two of our three group games, despite being told he was earmarked for a bench role and to be used only in cases where a game needed something different up front.
A lot could be said of the tactics, but I feel it would be unjust to ask questions before your manager, Graham Arnold, had the opportunity to be present himself to face the music.
The selections, alone, imply a manager not up to the task.
It is only fitting that we arrange this appointment soon as we all have much work to do. We have a World Cup in South Africa to prepare for, and another Asian Cup (we want a much better effort and result, then last time) ready to kick off in the New Year.
And I think you shall find that these words are not unduly harsh, nor unrepresentative of the majority of Australian football fans.
We are not interested in repeating the mistakes of the past, so let’s hear it.
Give us all something to be confident about. The credibility of Australian Football is at stake.
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