The thumping we should have seen coming
Columnist By Adrian Musolino, 15 Jun 2010 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert
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- 2010 World Cup, Craig Foster, Craig Moore, Dario Vidosic, football, Germany, Ghana, Harry Kewell, Jason Culina, Lucas Neill, Mark Bresciano, Michael Beauchamp, Nikita Rukavytsya, Pim Verbeek, Richard Garcia, Serbia, Socceroos, socceroos vs germany, socceroos vs ghana, Tim Cahill, World Cup
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Australia's Luke Wilkshire, left, and Australia's Lucas Neill leave the pitch after the World Cup group D soccer match between Germany and Australia at the stadium in Durban, South Africa, Sunday, June 13, 2010. Germany won 4-0. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Pim Verbeek gambled and failed. The Socceroos’ deficiencies, that we had discussed at length, were on full display against the brilliant Germans, together with Verbeek’s tactical naivety. We can still survive Group D, but if we don’t Verbeek will be the scapegoat.
When I saw the team sheet before yesterday’s clash with Germany, minus a recognised striker, I, like so many Socceroos fans, feared the worst.
What was he thinking? Why pick his World Cup debut against the might of Germany to finally gamble?
Having seen the starting XI, I tweeted at the time: “I’ll say this before the game: if we bomb spectacularly at this World Cup, at least Pim Verbeek will be the scapegoat.”
A day later, and on reflecting on the heavy loss, it was the relief of knowing Verbeek would soon vacate his role and Australia would view him as the scapegoat for the defeat that comforted me from the fear of how the country would perceive the World Cup thumping.
Spoilt for success in other sports, Australians aren’t used to losing big and still struggle to grasp their true place in the only truly global sport, so the hammering wasn’t good for the Socceroos brand. Pim, at least, could take the fall.
Verbeek choked on the biggest stage: playing without a known striker; starting with a 4-4-2, the antithesis of how he crafted the Socceroos over the past three years, with the odd pair of Tim Cahill (taken out of his crucial midfield role) and Richard Garcia; playing Jason Culina in the unfamiliar left wing, taking him out of his crucial holding role; and leaving Mark Bresciano, Harry Kewell and Josh Kennedy on the bench.
And we haven’t even mentioned his persistence in starting Craig Moore – made worse by Lucas Neill’s awful performance – and Vince Grella, along with the lack of a coherent defensive or counter-attacking strategy.
Yes, age has wearied the Socceroos’ golden generation, but it was Verbeek who persisted and protected that core group with his failure to challenge them by bringing along the second tier.
He must go back to his basics against Ghana this weekend, with the obvious impediment of the team’s attacking limitations in a must-win game coming to the fore yet again.
Cahill will be missing; Kewell’s fitness and form remains a mystery; and being overlooked in favour of Garcia and Nikita Rukavytsya will further shake Kennedy’s confidence.
But even with those concerns, they are still an infinitely better team than the performance against Germany showed.
The Ghana match is Verbeek’s chance for redemption by gambling in a more sound and intelligent way – by reshaping the team to its qualification structure and showing confidence and faith in the second tier group of players. The stage could be set for a Dario Vidosic, Brett Holman, Michael Beauchamp or the like to reignite the Socceroos’ campaign.
It’s all well and good relying on the so-called leadership skills and grit of our golden generation, but form must determine the XI for Ghana.
If only Verbeek had shown more faith in the second tier in the past.
At least Ghana’s victory over Serbia puts the Serbians under even pressure than the Socceroos. Serbia now faces Germany in a must-win match Friday, and judging by their respective performances, Serbia is up against it.
A victory to Germany over Serbia and Australia over Ghana brings the Socceroos back into contention – meaning they, like four years ago, would need a draw in the final group game, but this time around it would be against an Eastern European nation with nothing on the line.
Progression is possible, but only with significant changes and self-belief.
Craig Foster implored the nation to show their support for the Socceroos, stating the true support for the team will shine through in this moment of pain.
We believe in the Socceroos, but do we still believe in Verbeek?
Ghana’s his final chance.
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June 15th 2010 @ 11:11am
Ben of Phnom Penh said | June 15th 2010 @ 11:11am | Report comment
Our central defensive pairing was too slow however we all more or less knew that. We needed to sit back more with the legs we had however didn’t and were exposed time and again trying the offside trap. Hopefully we don’t do that again.
Apart from that I think we went forward at times with a bit of purpose though missed Kennedy for much of the aerial work. It will be interesting to see how Holman goes if he is handed the task. Personally I think he’ll step up.
So I’m not about to shoot myself. I think if we inject a little more pace into the back and don’t sit quite as high I think we can have a fair crack at Ghana. Perhaps this is the game where Holman covers himself in glory. Stranger things have happened.
June 15th 2010 @ 11:14am
josh said | June 15th 2010 @ 11:14am | Report comment
Mate, scapegoat is defined as someone who is punished for the errors of others. Verbeek is not a scapegoat, he is merely responsible for this mess.
June 15th 2010 @ 1:07pm
rovers2011 said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:07pm | Report comment
Fits perfectly… Verbeek being punished for Australia’s failure to sufficiently invest in youth development for decades.
June 15th 2010 @ 11:38am
Tad Pohle said | June 15th 2010 @ 11:38am | Report comment
What is it with you guys, you are so anti ver beek you can’t see the forest for the trees.
Although I do not have any football coaching experience I am an australian sports enthusiast and that should be enough for me to add my comments here.
There were many positives from Mr ver beeks performance and the teams subsequent performance:
1/ well, like I said, I don’t have any coaching experience but there should be one, never mind let’s do a “grella” and move on ….
2/. Ghana can’t have a clue as to who or what he will play on sat. How can they when he probably hasn’t thought of it himself yet, and won’t until he watches the players to see who is or isn’t in form, no that doesn’t matter, who is able to train on friday.
3/ If you don’t play your best players that have been injured then they can’t re injure themselves and then not be ….available … maybe this is not a viable positive … hang on …. kewell didn’t get injured warming up to come on. There that was a positive.
4/ Warming kewell up would have surely put the fear of god into the germans, that is probably why they stepped up there own subs and scored with his second touch of the ball. So that tactic worked …. he scared the germans by warming up kewel.
5/ By playing Cahill out of position and driving him to frustration he now knows that cahill is not a striker. Playing a poacher as a striker wqas a sheer stroke of genius that I am sure the germans were not ready for.
6/ Playing the geriatric card in defence was sheer genius. The germans had so many passing options to the three epople moore said he was marking, obviously confused them. The score could have been a cricket score if they had been made to think who the best person was to pass to.
7/ He should have learned that you can’t hold back the tide with a rake …….. a lesson that obviously arnold didn’t warn him about.
Anyway, I am sure that there are many more positives to be taken out of the game, he should have learnt also that on this football game there is no “rest” button, what a shame …. all that good stuff learnt and he won’t get the opportunity to take advantage of it, but at least he can bring it up at the next team meeting.
My only hope is that now laurie mckenna has shown up, he and arnie can go scouting the ghettoes together and let viddie prepare the team for the next game ….. or I can wake up from this bloody nightmare !!!!!
June 15th 2010 @ 12:05pm
Old Yella said | June 15th 2010 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
Seems to me the only logical reason for Pim’s tactical decisions against Germany were purely experimental. Pim has himself always said that the group would be decided in the final two games.
June 15th 2010 @ 12:19pm
King of the Gorganites said | June 15th 2010 @ 12:19pm | Report comment
what happened to all the travelling football fans. i was very disappointed to learn that overseas fans numbers are less then half of what was originally anticapted. word is that there are only 220,000 overseas fans. that equates to about 7K per country. considering the British and Irish lionas rugby team had 50,000 fans follow them last year in SA, that equates to 12.5K per nation. Soccer fans have shown that they only travel to Europe. Another reason why Aus will never get a WC.
June 15th 2010 @ 12:57pm
oikee said | June 15th 2010 @ 12:57pm | Report comment
Your giving your code a bad name , go back to your rugby club. Carry on socceroos, like i said , you cant polish a turd, here is proof.
June 15th 2010 @ 1:04pm
King of the Gorganites said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:04pm | Report comment
As always Oikee you offer nothing to the debate. no facts to refute my statement. The fact is that travelling numbers are way down on intial expectations, and this not help australia’s bid. i was up to 6.30am watching th game. im a fan, i would love to see the WC downunder, but it has to be said that im getting tirsome of this world cup, due to the drwoning out of what little international fans are there.
June 15th 2010 @ 1:13pm
punter said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:13pm | Report comment
KOG
Do you know why travelling fans are down, do you ever look at the papers, are you not aware that 1/2 the nations in Europe are near financial ruin. Have you seen the Aus$ against the pound or the Euro?
We are talking about the lost to Germany & you bring up lack of fans & that the British & Irish lions had bigger crowds.
You acuuse others of not adding to the the debate.
June 15th 2010 @ 1:25pm
King of the Gorganites said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:25pm | Report comment
its about time everybody stopped blaming the GFC for everything. if you are a true supporter you would have been saving for years to travel to a wotld cup (i know i do). yes europe is in trouble, but thta doesnt stop Man U selling out just about all there games, or european fans travelling across the continent for the champions league.
yes the flights may be expensive, but once your in the country it is cheap as chip. $1 for a beer! its not an expensive time. it shows the snoberry of european football fans. why could a lot more aussie fans travel compared to europeans?
europe was in just as much as a mess this time last year when the kions tour was on, but that didnt stop the masses. the atmosphere at games is down on Germany’s 2006.
June 15th 2010 @ 1:22pm
Brett McKay said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:22pm | Report comment
KotGs, during the Ger-Aus game, the SBSers gave the crowd figure of in excess of 68K, but suggested that the Australian contingent in the stadium was in the vacinity of 30-35,000. And this was certainly evident during the anthem too. It would seem Australian fans are punchin above their weight in this dept??
June 15th 2010 @ 2:35pm
King of the Gorganites said | June 15th 2010 @ 2:35pm | Report comment
Brett,
It definately seems that Australia has punched above its weight in regard to travelling fans. Assuming (generously_ that there are 300K travelling fans in SA, Australian easily acconts for more then 10% of them.
I agree that there was easily 30K of aussies in the crowd. the word is that there be even more for the 2nd match.
i am interested in where the problem lies. people to easily blame the GFC. is it the fact that some smaller european nations made it- Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia etc?
June 15th 2010 @ 1:24pm
Jim Bom said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:24pm | Report comment
The BBC said last night that the expected attendance of foreigners in RSA is/was/will be 370k, not the expected 450k.
June 15th 2010 @ 1:26pm
King of the Gorganites said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
i aslo heard that. figures seem to be ranging from 200K to 370K. im inclined to believe its some where in the middle, about (280K).
June 15th 2010 @ 1:09pm
Dan said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:09pm | Report comment
Is it just me, or is this match being dissected just a little too much? So the boys got thumped by Germany. So what? That’s about as much of a shock as when the All Blacks put 70 on Italy in the last Rugby World Cup. The resources Germany has in every area far outweigh anything Australia has in the game and it would have been something of a miracle had they not had their asses handed to them.
June 15th 2010 @ 1:32pm
sharminator said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:32pm | Report comment
The 4 – 0 loss against Germany was a disgrace.
I am an Australian, living in Paraguay … a soccer mad country. Today the national team drew with the past champions Italy,
an enormous matter of pride for a small country of only 5 million people.
But the Australian performance was simply shocking. I watched the commmentary in Spanish … and as the commentators said the Australian team lacked skills to compete … and by the second half they said “las Australianos estan muertos” they are playing so poorly it is like they are dead ….
They ended up lauging about how poor the “Sockeeroos” as they pronounce it, were.
I dont understand how we managed to qualify for the World Cup … when the team plays so poorly.
And as for any ideas about Australia hosting a World Cup … forget it .. we are now the laughing stock of world football.
Before the game … people here were talking about Australia´s athleticism … our beautiful beaches .. our friendly people … thinking that Australia … as a supposed sporting superpower … could compete .. but now everyone I see here tells me how poor our soccer team is.
Horrific ….
Lets go back into Oceania ….. and forget about any more football world cups …
June 15th 2010 @ 1:52pm
dasilva said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
There’s a comment from a friend of mine who said that him and his nation were embarrass by his team (UAE) in the 1990 world cup.
I asked him “how come? wasn’t it a great achievement for your team to qualify to the world cup?”
He then replied “When you don’t qualify, you’re crap at football. When you do qualify and get flogged. The whole world knows you’re crap”
I’m starting to understand how he felt.
Of course, I’ll still wear my Socceroos top in public and I’m not embarrass to support the team but damn that loss was a huge set back in our global reputation as a football nation.
June 15th 2010 @ 5:20pm
Dan said | June 15th 2010 @ 5:20pm | Report comment
I suppose the obvious point to make is that we are definitely a football nation, but just in a very different way to most of the world: we have 4 kinds of football.
June 15th 2010 @ 2:01pm
apaway said | June 15th 2010 @ 2:01pm | Report comment
Sure, that’ll help. We can go back to beating American Samoa 31-0. Seriously, what are you thinking?
June 15th 2010 @ 3:02pm
Dan said | June 15th 2010 @ 3:02pm | Report comment
Try to explain to them the context of the sporting culture. Explain that their one game – football – is actually four different competing sports in Australia, with Association Football only recently getting some ascendency. I remember a German friend of mine commenting on how poor the quality of the A-League was and how it went against the reputation of Australia as being a sporting powerhouse. He was only new here, so was utterly ignorant of just how complex the sporting culture of Australia is and so I took it upon myself to enlighten him. I explained to him that him criticising our poor A-League was like me making a snide remark about how undeveloped the German rugby tournament is. I took him to a Swans game, a State of Origin match and the Bledisloe cup (we’re very good mates) as a way of introducing him to the diversity that exists within the Australian football landscape. Most foreigners don’t have any concept of the multi-code environment, so you really have to explain it to them
June 15th 2010 @ 1:45pm
Shaun said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
Seriously? You didn’t see this coming?????
June 15th 2010 @ 1:50pm
Towser said | June 15th 2010 @ 1:50pm | Report comment
Agree wiyh Dan. Too much dissection,not enough facing reality. Germany is a genuine football heavyweight. Not only in resource ,but concrete winning history.
Facts
All players in the National team, to my knowledge play in the Bundesliga. One of the worlds top Leagues.
Highest numbers of registered players in the world-6,308,946-15 times that of Australia.
They utilise those playing resources efficiently as shown by their record.
Won World Cup 3 times -Runner up 4
Won European football Championship 3 times runner up 3
I wont bother to compare this to Australia,but Foz & co need to button their lip somewhat when we play such well credentialled opposition.
In every facet of the game including spirit in football matches Germany are superior by a large margin determined by their football history.
As I think Mr Football said previously this experience leads to football intelligence & quick thinking something very obvious in Germanys play.
Young developing football nations like Australia cant replicate this instantly,no matter the coach. It takes several World Cups playing this type of opponent & even then some countries dont learn from it.
The worst thing in terms of Australian expectation was reaching the second round in 2006.
It was a massive overacheivment.
June 15th 2010 @ 2:43pm
jupiter53 said | June 15th 2010 @ 2:43pm | Report comment
I agree that just like the Brazil game in 2006 we were never going to get 3 points against one of the true heavyweights. There are still 6 points on offer and that will be enough to get out of the group. The psychology in 2006 was that we had already beaten Japan by the time we played Brazil so we weren’t upset like this.
I suspect that a lot of the angst is because it appears that Mr Conservative Pim had a brain snap. I expected a repeat of the plan against the Netherlands; it was not pretty but it gave us a reasonably well deserved 0-0. Instead the bloke we figured as having an unchanging dull grey suit turned up for the big occasion wearing speedos and body paint. Which Pim will we have for the remaining games?
The other worry is that suspicions about the squad being much weaker than 2006 appear to be correct.
It’s partly bad luck – injuries to Kisnorbo, Kewell, Williams. It’s also that he was able to get the proto geriatrics to do enough to qualify and therefore he expected the miracles to continue – in the cases of Moore and Grella obviously not true, and Chippers maybe needs to be farther forward – that’s where he was successful for Basle this season.
It’s probably also that initially the A league was not well coached so Oz based players have regressed [there are hopeful signs for the future with Lavicka and Van t'Schip etc]. It’s also bad decisions about where to go made by players like Milligan, Carney and Carle who should have developed for this tournament.
In any case, Verbeek will reveal himself as either genius or fool in the succeeding games. Everyone makes mistakes; it’s a matter of what you learn from them. Let’s hope he’s smarter than he was for the first game – and lucky as well.