Pim cautious about Culina’s homecoming

Roar Guru

By dasilva, 21 Jan 2009 dasilva is a Roar Guru

Tagged:: football, Gold Coast United, Guus Hiddink, Jason Culina, Nick Carle, Pim Verbeek, Socceroos

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Jason Culina has now signed up to Gold Coast United. This has been reported as great news for Australian Football, as we have a regular Socceroo at his peak returning home to the A-League.

This will raise the profile of the league, improve the standards, and we may even see the attacking side of his game that was coached away by Guus Hiddink.

However, what’s great for the A-league may not be great for the Socceroos.

Jason Culina plays regularly for PSV Eindhoven, one of the top clubs in the world and in an excellent league. Playing in pressure situations in Europe has ensured that whenever he plays for the Socceroos, he retains his match sharpness.

As a result, Pim Verbeek’s response to Jason Culina’s homecoming has been cautious, at best.

He said that if returning home makes Jason happy, and that happiness makes him play well, then he can accept the move. However, Pim did say that he preferred to have Jason moving back a year later, when the World Cup is finished and jokingly said, “I should have preferred him to go to Chelsea and play every game. That’s not possible.”

By returning to the A-league, he will play at lower standards. The training sessions will be less intense. It’s well documented that when Pim implemented European style training sessions to the A-league boys, they ended up tiring themselves out.

Also, there’s a situation where when the A-league finishes, there is a three month break before the World Cup starts. This is one of many reasons why A-league player aren’t selected, as they will be out of season when important matches come up.

Having a key Socceroos with zero competitive matches for three matches is an unacceptable situation for Pim Verbeek.

This can partly be solved through a loan deal. However, this loan deal can’t be to a European club as that could only happen in the January transfer window, which would mean him missing out the last few matches of the season and a potential final series, which would be unacceptable to Gold Coast United.

So the only option is to loan him out to an Asian club, preferably the J-league or the K-league when the A-league is finished.

There’s been talk that this is the first of many moves of returning Socceroos and that it will give a message that playing in the A-league is not a bad career move for Socceroos.

But that really depends on how successful Culina is next year.

This move can only really be considered a success if he stars in the A-league, has a very good World Cup and then keeps his place for a lengthy period afterwards, showing that returning to the A-league is not going to affect your international selection.

If Pim decides that Culina has lost his match fitness or sharpness due to playing in the A-league, and then loses his place in the team to someone playing regularly in Europe, like a Nick Carle, then I believe his move will be a disaster and have the opposite effect.

It will act as a deterrent for future returning Socceroos and send a message to A-league players to move out of A-league as soon as possible if you want to play for Socceroos.

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The Crowd Says (19) | Page 1 of Comments

Paddy Higgs said | January 21st 2009 @ 8:52am | Report comment

Let’s hope that the move doesn’t hamper his international ambitions. As you pointed out dasilva, if it did it would stop any other high-profile Roos from returning home earlier. Then we’d be left with aging ex-stars again and promising youngsters leaving our shores too early, and the league would get nowhere.

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Towser said | January 21st 2009 @ 9:26am | Report comment

Can somebody explain why Jason Culina will suddenly become a “Pub” player by playing in the A-League,whilst 90% or more of the Japanese national team play in the J-League & it doesnt seem to have hampered their quality?
It seems even less likely that Jason will have forgot how to “Step up” to International Football than his Japanese /J-League counterparts,considering he has spent the last 10 years in Europe.
I watch Craig Moore every Roar home game. The guy is a quality defender. He didn’t stop being so because he is playing in the A-League. Peice of piss to switch from A-League to International Football.
Furthermore for those following football at the time NSL players “stepped up” against the likes of Argentina back in 93.
If the ability is there given the right coaching you will ‘Step up”.
This sort of thinking smacks of Euro-cringe to me. A malady affecting football fans in Australia. Jason Culina is a product of Australia, not Europe as Clive Palmer said why should we (if we can afford it as in his case-Yes) not showcase our best players. After all its seems to me to have been a constant criticism of the A-League -it doesnt have the best Australian players competing in it. Hers a club prepared to reverse the trend & the football fraternity in Australia still finds a whinge.
Sure theres going to be a quality gap for a few years ie players like Zullo, Jamieson will not be the polished article like Culina if they continued to ply their trade at home at this stage of the A-Leagues development,so we have to wait until Europe polishes our players for the moment. However if we keep bringing back the finished article at the right age, their sparkle will uplift the A-League slowly raising the standard.
I’m just off to see if I can find a few more Clives,wont be long.

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Koala Bear said | January 21st 2009 @ 10:39am | Report comment

Towser,
very well put! ! ! ! It’s about time we stop viewing the HAL as a second rate league .. Players like Moore and Culina are not going to suddenly lose their mitre touch; just because they come home to play in the HAL .. Pimbo is saying that Culina should go and play for the Chelsea reserves or sit on the bench at Chelsea.. Boy that smacks a lot of arrogance.. Sure the HAL has a long way to go, but qualification for Australia should be sorted out by February .. Jason will end his career in Europe in May.. What is the problem.?. To add; this could very well be his last world cup and may want to retire straight after.. Culina has made a very intelligent decision to come home at the top of his career to carve out his future at home in Australia for the remainder of his playing years.. Which will include a lot of sponsorship product endorsements that were not available to him in Holland.. Pimbo please keep your mouth shut, when someone asks you about the HAL .. You sure are not helping ..

~~~~~~~~
KB

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Paddy Higgs said | January 21st 2009 @ 11:42am | Report comment

I agree Towser. Verbeek obviously rates Culina’s ability given his constant selection for the Roos. But while Pim’s contempt for the domestic league is well-known, how does he expect it to improve when he questions when players the calibre of Culina actually return home still in their prime?

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Ben of Phnom Penh said | January 21st 2009 @ 12:46pm | Report comment

It doesn’t seem to affect Craig Moore, Jade North nor, should the crystal ball be working correctly, Scott Jameison. The time off is an issue however the quality of the players less so. With the expanded competition and the possibility of a cup competition coming into the fold the length of the season is also set to increase.

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dasilva said | January 21st 2009 @ 1:20pm | Report comment

Towser

With all due respect – i didn’t say that he will become a crap player. I say he may lose some of his match sharpness playing in Australia. Of course this all depends on the way he does thing. THe ball is in his court in determining how successful this is.

This move could be a great success or it may not be. Most people agree that this move is a risk for Culina. However I certainly don’t think it’s guaranteed to be a failure just giving a worst case scenario. I think he is a pioneer that will determine whether future socceroos at their peak will make a return or not

Also the 3 month break is a legitimate issue and the major problem with this move. There’s no talk about plans for a loan deal when the A-league is finish. One of the reason why Craig Moore retired initially was the long break and the possibility of playing out of season for the socceroos. He came back and played well but that was when the A-league was still on.

Now if Palmer or Bleiberg starts talking about what is Culina going to do between the end of the A-league and the World Cup then it would certainly ease the mind of me and many fans who have concerns about this move.

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dasilva said | January 21st 2009 @ 1:44pm | Report comment

KB
Pim was just joking that he preferred Culina to be playing regular football for Chelsea – not to sit on the bench or play in reserves. Although saying he may actually believe that’s true as well.

The whole training in europe vs playing in A-league debate

No doubt playing in A-league regular will do more to put you in the shop window, advance your career and get yourself notice and is certainly more likely to get yourself cap for the socceroos then being a bench player in europe.

However when it comes to developing as a player. It’s quite possible that training in europe does haves it’s benefit depending on the standard of coaching at a club. There was a story about Dean Heffernan when he was loan to Nurnberg – he didn’t play a single match there. After the loan deal finish he went back to Central Coast and the coaches back at the mariners was amaze who much he improve his defensive positioning since his short stint at Nurnberg.

So with guys like Leijer. If they want to fight it out for a regular spot and stay there as a reserve player it’s really should be up to them to see what they are getting out of their time for the club instead of just saying return home to the A-league.

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dasilva said | January 21st 2009 @ 2:22pm | Report comment

I’ll also clarify some comments

A-league is a lower standard of europe. No doubt about it. The standard of play does impact on performance. It’s not an insurmountable position. Players do and will step up from the A-league but to say it will have no impact on performance is quite wrong.

Jason Culina is probably professional enough to make this a non-issue but it’s still a concern.

After all most of the A-league players step up playing against other Asian opponents in the WCQ or Asia cup. However will you trust them to step up at the World cup itself. Maybe – maybe not, but I’m quite sure it’s very reasonable to have your doubts whether they will or not.

J-league
Well most of their national players play in the J-leagues and this makes them the best league in Asia. However how much does that help their national team. Japan by no means are a superpower at national levels and their achievement internationally is only equal to Australia (or only slightly above). Remember that Australia success at the world cup was credited because our players were experience playing in Europe. There’s a tricky balance between how much do you want to improve your domestic league and your national team. One of the criticism of Japanese players are not many are willing to take the plunge and go to Europe due to cultural reasons.

A-league
We also want a lot of our players returning home to improve the standards of the league. Yes I agree with that. It’s also a problem that our players are getting poached. However our players are getting poached by 2nd to 3rd tier leagues in football (e.g the likes of Turkey, Scotland, Russia etc). We want to improve the standards so that our best players are poached by the best clubs or the best leagues in the world because when that’s happen you are actually improving Australian players by being poached.

How this relates to Culina -Culina is playing at PSV – they are regular champions league and always a regular contender for the knockout stages of europe. One year Culina was playing quarter final football against liverpool. These are the type of clubs you want Australian players to be poached to. You do want to see players moving to these clubs not really moving back.

Now if the likes of Djite, Burns are still playing in the same league in the next 4-5 years and they come back to Australia at their prime they won’t be many people having the same concerns.

Finally
My feelings about culina is of cautious optimism. I hope that this will be a catalyst of future great things for the A-league and that 20 years in the future people look back and see this move as a defining moment.

However there are many articles out there that points out the potential benefits of this move. I was hoping to write an article with a more cautious view and pointing out the risk involves. I hope people can appreciate that.

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jub jub said | January 21st 2009 @ 4:56pm | Report comment

1. Jason Culina is 29. He will be playing in a “lower standard” league, yes, but it’s not that much different. A good player still plays good no matter who is around him. He has already experienced Football at it’s highest peak, so you think that playing in the A-League means he is somehow going to forget all that? No.. I imaging his performances will be exactly the same, perhaps evern better (assuming a leadership role at GCU makes him a more effective player IMO). If Pim does not select him, then Pim is an absolute dickhead. Jason will be able to participate in both the A-League Socceroos team and Euro Socceroo team and provide some consistancy between the two.. so how on earth this is a bad idea? Also, GCU intend to play some pretty high profile teams in the next year or so!

Besides, the prime motive behind his move is that he feels he can have a bigger impact on Austalian football if he comes back early. Not only does he set a precedent (which I think he will as we’ll see a lot more socceroos after 2010) but he also raises the profile and standard of the league.

Bad move? Never. Pim’s cautiousness is over the top and perhaps he hasn’t seen just how beneficial it will be having a player like Culina in Australia ready to go for any WCQ or AC match.

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james said | January 21st 2009 @ 10:19pm | Report comment

Firstly, dasilva i read in an article that Gold Coast is already looking at K-league and J-league clubs about a possible loan for Culina http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/socceroos/verbeek-culinas-spot-safe-163547/ so he would be playin at a reasonably high level leading into the world cup. I would say if its Korea or Japan it would be equivalent of the championship in England which is where a fair few of our players will come from.

Second one thing we are forgetting is he will be featuring in alot more Socceroos matches than he would if he was in europe. And then there is the realistic chance of the ACL,

And finally in terms of skills/sharpness Cullina has learnt all he can in Europe, its just a matter of keeping him fit for the world cup, which as stated in the article is the only conern Pim has.

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