Is South Africa 2010 a road to nowhere?

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By Jesse Fink, 13 Feb 2009 Jesse Fink is a Roar Pro

Tagged:: 2010 World Cup, Craig Moore, football, Lucas Neill, Pim Verbeek, Socceroos

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That was one of the most disappointing Socceroos performances in recent memory. Far from being a result we can take some comfort from (in that it’s getting Australia a step closer to South Africa 2010), it’s actually highlighted how dangerous the gambit of what I would call containment is becoming for our national team looking ahead to the World Cup.

For the second match in succession Australia created barely anything made up of more than three passes. There was one real shot on goal, but it was hardly something for the highlights reels.

For the entire match the Socceroos were on the back foot, flummoxed by Japan’s silky repertoire of short passes and their extraordinary positional acumen.

How many times a Japanese player would skirt the sideline, looking for all money like he was fighting a lost cause for possession of the ball, only to come up with it and scamper away from his opposite number.

The only thing the Japanese lacked in their game was a striker of the ilk of Bare or Lucas to finish off their wonderful lead-up play – no wonder they import so many Brazilians into the J-League.

Had they a Brazilian up front, we would have been destroyed.

The Socceroos for their part looked lethargic, devoid of ideas and singularly incapable of constructing an attack worthy of the name.

Defensively we were fine, Craig Moore and Lucas Neill standing tall yet again, but defence is just one part of what a football team needs to do. Defence plus attack is what makes it whole. The Japanese could do it. We could not.

It’s all well and good to have players who can fit into a “system”, though what is that system’s efficacy if it involves just pushing the ball to one another in midfield and never pushing into an area on the field that permits a shot on goal?

At least Pim Verbeek had the honour to say after the match that he was “pleased with the result but not always with the performance”.

But is that good enough?

What is the purpose of World Cup qualification if we are to play so one-dimensionally when we get there? A good team will cut us to pieces. We will not last long if performances like Wednesday night’s are tolerated as acceptable.

I’m not about to relaunch the argument for the inclusion of Nick Carle, but Australia is badly missing a playmaker. It desperately needs one. Mark Bresciano is not cutting it and Brett Holman – well, his charmed run must surely be up?

This is not an exercise in bashing the Australian team or excoriating Verbeek. I have all the time in the world for both of them. As many pundits have exclaimed, “they did their job”.

Rather what I want to see, even if only in short bursts, is simply a national side that plays with the same attacking and technical brio of which it is capable. The current one is playing to a level far less than the sum of it parts and arguably not laying the foundation for the kind of “total football” it will need to play in South Africa to be successful.

The Socceroos might be getting results, but they’re not winning any new fans.

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The Crowd Says (76) | Page 1 of Comments

Tifosi FC said | February 13th 2009 @ 4:46am | Report comment

Although i agree the performance was pretty average, we must not forget that this is a team the beat the Netherlands not to long ago. I also agree that Brett Holman has surely played his last game starting off for the socceroos. I think they really missed Brett Emerton as well.

It seems that every time Australia plays with little to no preparation, ( Bahrain, Indonesia, Japan) they really do seem to struggle. Verbeek is pretty predictable and was clearly going for the draw from minute one.

Lucas Neill said it right i believe, we will have to wait until the game against Uzbekistan before we should make any judgements. They will have a 8 days preparation for that game and not 2 days.

If they really struggle in that game, then we should have cause for concern.

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Football_wunderkind said | February 13th 2009 @ 5:28am | Report comment

I totally agree with this article Jesse. Before everyone leaps up to the defence of Pim Verbeek, this is not an attack on him. I have faith in Pim and I am going to wait until the final whistle blows at the MCG against Japan in our final group game before I make any of my own ‘final’ conclusions. However I have to say that my faith is starting to wane in him.

The reference points for every Socceroo performance should be brought back to 3 games. The first of these games is the 1st leg of the 2005 WCQ against Uruguay in Montivideo. Lets put it all into context. Brazil have never won a competitive fixture in Centenario. BRAZIL. Yet Australia went there and for the first 25 minutes attacked Uruguay. We went on the offence against a technically superior and more experienced South American team. We did not send out a defense orientated team with a lone (non) striker. We sent out Archie Thompson and Viduka.

The 2nd match I use as a reference point is the 2006 WC match against Brazil. We fought pound for pound against the most technically gifted side in the world. We attacked as much we were attacked. We didn’t lose 2-0 in a hold on for your life, 4-5-1 formation, ultra conservative tactics, play for the draw and hope for the best.

The 3rd match is the infamous Italy match. Again… A more experienced and technicalled superior team that has won 4 world cups (3 when we played them). We had more possession than them, we held the ball against them for long periods and probed and looked to attack. Many people blame a diving italian for that loss. Sure it wasn’t the most convincing penalty ever awarded but we didn’t ‘lose’ that match so to speak… We just couldn’t find a way to win against a 10 – man italy. Now that is an argument about technical development that is for another blog. But my point is we looked to attack.

Fast Forward to the 11th of Feb 2009 against Japan, not Uruguay, not Brazil and not Italy but humble Japan. Yes they are technically superior but so are the rest of those mighty teams. To quote the Joker in the recent Dark Knight Batman movie … “What happened to you people… Did ya balls drop off?”… Seriously why are our tactics so pussy. Why were we allowed to be dominated to that extent against a team we outpunched in 2006 at the WC. Well before we scored those 3 late goals… we were creating scoring opportunities in 2006 against Japan. I can see the counter arguments now … “Japan was at home”…. well so was Uruguay, we attacked them at least and only conceded from a free kick… and playing Brazil anywhere is like playing as the away team. “Australia had limited preparation” … I don’t buy that anymore… we have been a core team since Feb 2008 under Pim. Almost like a club team now, everyone is well versed in the methods of Pim. Was anyone fooled by Pim himself… Right up until kick off the other night, Pim was telling anyone who would listen “My players are well rested, and prepared” … Straight after the game he comes out with “sure the preparation wasn’t the best”… Which is it Pim.. were we prepared or not?

The most concerning aspect of this campaign is not the latest set of defensive tactics that completely mystify due to above mentioned reasons. Sure you could mount some sort of argument to justify the latest game against Japan and the conservative tactics. E.g. “We had no Kewell or Viduka this time”… “They are one of the best Asian sides”…. etc etc. The most concerning aspect is the other away tactics and performances we have displayed. I mean… the same non-sense we pulled against Japan on wed night we saw against China in Kunming and against Iraq in Dubai and who can forget, even though we try to, the display against Bahrain. I challenge anyone to mount a serious counter argument but keep those 3 matches in mind… Uruguay, Brazil and Italy and then try and tell me that its ok that we think playing for a point in China can be justified. For fark’s sake…. Iraq and Qatar both went to China and WON!!… but we went there and play for a 0-0 draw and somehow we are lead to believe it was a ‘heroic’ performance.

What happened to the Aussies that went to the Netherlands and attacked and won??? Bring them back anyday.

Please Pim…. show us a real attacking and creative performance at home to Uzbek on April 1 and not some April fools joke performance….

Also to agree with Jesse Fink on the other issue…. Pim please drop Brett Holman… don’t play him anymore… he has the delicate touch of an African elephant when it comes to his technique. Whatever Nick Carle’s failings are… surely he is a better option in that position than Holman… Carle can at least control the ball with his 1st touch…. If you don’t want Carle…. then play Kennedy in the lone striker and drop Cahill back to his normal position… What a disaster that was… playing Cahill in that position …. What a waste of talent.

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Slippery Jim said | February 13th 2009 @ 6:36am | Report comment

I agree with the sentiment behind your article Jesse. There was very little of the calm precise possession football from the last world cup performance on display. This, however, was not the world cup.

It is worth asking, however, would an open attacking tactic away against Japan really have been worth it if we lost the game? To play attacking football and not qualify for South Africa is clearly not what any of us want. The world is hardly going to say of the Socceroos “sure, Australia didn’t qualify for the world cup, but those silky skills in qualifying were breathtaking”…

Once Pim qualifies, by any means at hand, we can start thinking about the style of our football at the world cup. Lets not get ahead of ourselves until then. If things go to plan, we will have several dead rubbers in which to hone the Socceroo’s entertainment quotient. I’m sure all of us are happy to even have the luxury of worrying about the style of our display at South Africa, rather than whether we will manage to qualify at all in the next couple of decades or so…

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md said | February 13th 2009 @ 7:01am | Report comment

I hear that too much dutch causes memory loss.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/socceroos/pim-goes-dutch-again-133228/

Cheers
md

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Slippery Jim said | February 13th 2009 @ 7:13am | Report comment

Football_wunderkind, I love your passion, but you come across as naive in the extreme.

Playing defensively away from home is standard stuff managers all over the world follow every week in football.

You praise matches against Brazil and Italy in which we lost, yet have ‘lost confidence’ and have a ‘waning faith’ in Pim who has not lost in this round of qualifying, not even conceded a goal, has more points than any other team left in qualifying and sits top of the group. He has also guided us to our highest ever position in the FIFA rankings – 27th – ten points ahead of our closest Asian rival Japan. He is also stastically the most successful Australian football manager of all time. It defies belief that people would seriously criticise his ability.

A large part of the misconception about Pims pragmatic tactics stem from the calm, steady approach to qualifying, as opposed to the panic-stricken edge of the seat knife edge suspense that came from Guus Hiddinks tenure – remember, we qualified on penalties, more or less a coin toss last time round.

This time Pim is steering a rock steady course to South Africa. Guus’ ride down the rapids was fun, but it could have ended very badly – I’ll take Pims tranquil P&O cruise any day.

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Slippery Jim said | February 13th 2009 @ 7:27am | Report comment

For those saying we should have steamrolled over Japan away from home, since we are the mighty conquerors of the Netherlands, a team ranked 24 places above us, might I remind you that it was a friendly. “Not so long ago” in an actual World Cup Qualifier, at home in front of tens of thousands of Australians we lost to China, a team ranked 77 places below us at 104th in the FIFA rankings. What a shame Australia’s footballing demi-god, Nicky Carle didn’t want to play in that match to help us play creative attacking winning football. I hope he enjoyed his holiday.

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sledgeross said | February 13th 2009 @ 8:09am | Report comment

I am somewhat surprised by the naivity of Jesse and some posters here. Its a whole different kettle of fish this qualification. Its not a blood and guts, winner take all home and away series in Montevideo and Sydney, its not a two round slug fest. The WC qualification is a 12 rounder win on points……..
How about we actually qualify first, and then work on the substance. Theers no point hiring a tux if you dont go to the dance.

Assuming we win the next game and our qualification is assured, I would be very disappointed if Pim doesnt play a more expansive game. But only then. Jesse and Wunderkind make good points that you need to be more than a one trick pony to succeed in the WC. We all know that.

As a coach, you usually play to your strengths, so Pim didnt have too many choices even if he wanted to run and gun. Our “in-form” attackers were either not selected (Djite, Troisi), injured (Kewell, Viduka) or playing out of position (Cahill). Maybe Pim just slected his best team on paper and fitted them all in

Now, to the Holman situation. He just cant seem to replicate his form from Holland to the “roos. For every good thing he does, he commits two errors, and has the worst hair in world sport. I like his energy and enthusiasm, but techically, he couldnt knock the pea off a chop. He should never be a starting player, and never used in more than 15 minute spurts. He will run all day though, so I would leave him in the squad, but I would shakle him for sure!

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Dickroo said | February 13th 2009 @ 8:37am | Report comment

Good words, Slippery Jim.

I don’t want to see the Socceroos doing “die hard” in the WCQ matches.

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Robbos said | February 13th 2009 @ 8:38am | Report comment

No Kewell, no Viduka, no Emerton our 3 most gifted attackers, no preparation, injury concerns over key players and fitness worries with others, playing away from home against arguably the most technically gifted side in Asia.
No doubt we had very little in attack but defence was huge, despite Japan’s dominance & great play they rarely got into scoring positions, so no use blaming your strikers, this was good defence.
All in all it was ugly but a crucial 1pt. If only Arsenal could grind out ugly 1-0 wins they would be alot higher than 5th place at present.

Let’s face it, we do not have players in the calibre of Nakamura or Endo in the playmaker role. Yes we have Nicky Carle & I all for it to give this guy a run to see if he is good enough, but to compare Nakamura, star playmaker of Celtic top of Scottish league conquerers of teams like Man U & Ac Milan to Carle mid table championship side is harsh.

We need to play to our strengths & unfortunately technical ability is not one of them.
Germany has become the 3rd most decorated country in the world by playing very boring football.
italy is the 2nd most decorated country playing pragmatic (Pim has been decribed as pragmatic) football mixed with some brillance. Think top 10 greatest players of all time, how many Italians in there.
Play to your strengths.

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Kazama said | February 13th 2009 @ 8:51am | Report comment

Slippery Jim: “Guus’ ride down the rapids was fun, but it could have ended very badly”

It could have ended in the first half in Sydney if Recoba hadn’t missed that sitter. They call him Guus Geluk for a reason. Let’s hope he does a better job at Chelsea than The Gene Hackman.

I’m with Slippery Jim & sledgeross here. In this instance I’d rather be boring and make sure we qualify than risk going down in a blaze of glory. We’ll turn away a hell of a lot more potential fans by failing to make the World Cup than by playing like we did in Japan.

Do you think the Japanese fans would have been happy with their team’s performance if Timmy hadn’t slipped at the wrong moment and scored, winning us the game? Would Okada still have a job despite his team dominating ours?

We picked Pim because we saw him as the man who would get us to the World Cup. We’re nearly there and there’s still four games to play. Not much to complain about there. Worry about what we are going to do in the World Cup when we’ve booked our ticket.

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