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Socceroo's coach Pim Verbeek chats with Harry Kewell during a training session at ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Thursday, June 19, 2008. The Socceroo's take on China in a World Cup qualifying match this Sunday, June 22. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Australian boss Pim Verbeek yesterday named his squad for the ‘must-not-lose’ AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia in Brisbane on March 3, with the 25-man squad consisting of 21 local-based players along with four from abroad. So has he got it right?
The Socceroos’ qualification for next year’s Asian Cup in Qatar hinges on a result against Indonesia in a fortnight’s time. A loss could see us embarrasingly miss the continental tournament.
Make no mistake, that would be a huge blow for the status of football in Australia.
But, of course, our populous northern neighbours Indonesia are hardly world-beaters, with a current FIFA ranking of 136.
Nevertheless, a Socceroos team made up entirely of A-League players had their problems with the Indonesians just over a year ago when they could only manage a 0-0 draw in Jakarta.
With that in mind, and considering so much is at stake, along with the fact this is actually an official FIFA international date, Verbeek must’ve been tempted to call on his European stars.
But considering the time constraints of the FIFA window it was not ideal, with those players likely to arrive less than 48 hours before the game.
And a distraction like this could potentially jeopardise the first-team places at club level for some of our Socceroos, which wouldn’t be ideal going into the World Cup, with ‘game-time’ the key thing heading towards June.
Indeed, on that note, Verbeek’s squad selection is the right decision.
The four foreign-based players he’s called upon, Joshua Kennedy, Mark Milligan, Jade North and Luke Wilkshire, could all play important roles on March 3, while there’s enough strength in the rest of the squad to get the job done.
Verbeek isn’t normally the type to take a gamble, but the point is the squad he’s picked really should get the job done on home turf against a team ranked 136 in the world, especially considering they don’t even actually have to win the game.
A draw will be enough (that’s not to say that I think that they should play for a draw).
But the problems of the ‘A-League-Roos’ in the past has been their inability to retain possession and their lack of potency in attack, highlighted by a return of no goals against Indonesia and Kuwait in our first two Asian Cup matches in 2009.
In Verbeek’s latest squad he appears to have tried to address those issues, with the increasingly-impressive Wilkshire likely to control the midfield alongside seasoned Socceroo Jason Culina.
Wilkshire was the outstanding performer in an A-League dominated Australia side in Kuwait earlier this year, when the sides drew 2-2. Linking him up with Culina, who missed the Kuwait game, is a solid base.
And Verbeek has also opted to deploy his favourite attacking weapon in Asia – Japan-based bigman Kennedy.
Kennedy’s selection is slightly curious considering the J.League season kicks off the following weekend, with the big striker’s side Nagoya Grampus travelling to Gamba Osaka for a March 6 match, but he won’t need to adjust much to the relative time-zones and he is perfect for Australia’s circumstances.
I admit I don’t know much about Indonesia’s centre-halves, but I dare say, Kennedy will cause them problems. He has, after all, against some of Asia’s best despite being a fairly predictable route to goal.
On the topic of forwards, Daniel McBreen’s selection has been greeted with plenty of skepticism, but it seems Verbeek is looking for back-up to Kennedy should anything unforeseen happen to the man known as ‘Jesus’.
McBreen could easily play a similar role with Verbeek saying yesterday, “the strikers I have can do a job”. It seems Verbeek has his heart set on the familiar target-man tactic.
Down the other end, Verbeek may have been tempted to call up reliable goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to reinforce and organise the defence, but you wouldn’t expect him to be kept terribly busy against Indonesia and Eugene Galekovic is more than capable in his absence.
Verbeek also hinted at his preferred defensive duo when quizzed about Wellington pair Jon McKain and Andrew Durante yesterday.
He responded: “Playing well together for their club can be an advantage but Simon (Colosimo) did well the whole season and Jade North can play there.”
North, who has been frozen out of action at club and international level in the last six months, gets a reprieve ahead of Urawa new boy Matt Spiranovic, while the likes of John Aloisi, Sasa Ognenovski, Joel Griffiths, Eddy Bosnar and Adrian Leijer can kiss their World Cup hopes goodbye.
Perth Glory’s Chris Coyne is another curious absentee although Verbeek commented: “I know Coyney has done everything to be part of the World Cup, so far that hasn’t happened. But there’s a few months to go. At this moment these are players are doing better than Coyney. There are no guarantees in football.”
Indeed, Verbeek and his latest Socceroos squad shouldn’t forget that final comment, because there will be no guarantees on March 3 when the Indonesians try to salvage something from a poor qualification campaign in Brisbane.
Sure, you fancy the Socceroos should get the job done, but whichever team Verbeek has picked, the job still needs to be done. Indonesia on March 3 must now be the focus.
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