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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)
As unedifying as the media war which erupted in the wake of the ‘Disaster in Durban’ is, what it may do is galvanise the Socceroos. Some of the criticism of Pim Verbeek and his players has been savage, but it will all be forgotten if Australia beats Ghana tomorrow.
In the wake of what I called an “unmitigated disaster,” one Roar contributor suggested that I had failed to find a silver lining in the defeat – that people care.
But I would argue that everyone in the football media cares, and that is why we’ve seen such a passionate discourse take place over the past few days, some of which has arguably crossed a few lines.
At the end of the day, it’s not Craig Foster or Mike Cockerill who will make the difference in Rustenburg – it’s the players, and I hope that some of the criticism manages to spur the Socceroos on to the victory required against Ghana.
Durban is done and dusted – perhaps it was the defeat that we had to have to jolt certain players back into some form – and the beauty of tomorrow’s game is that the Socceroos can turn their tournament around within the space of ninety minutes.
The key question is where the goals will come from, and if Pim Verbeek thought his job was tough already, it became a whole lot tougher the second Tim Cahill saw red against Germany.
Many have speculated that Harry Kewell will play a key role against Germany, but whether the 31-year-old is fit enough to make a significant contribution is a question that will only be answered on the day.
Yet, if defeat to a youthful Germany has taught us anything, it’s that squad regeneration is a vital component of international football, and I just wonder whether it’s time for someone like Nikita Rukavytsya to truly make a name for himself.
Granted, Rukavytsya has hardly played for the national team, but if the speedy attacker wants to put himself in the shop window for a new club in Europe, he can hardly do better than by scoring a goal on the biggest stage of all.
That’s if Rukavytsya gets on the pitch, of course, but whomever the embattled Verbeek relies on – be it Kewell, beanpole striker Kennedy or the pacy Rukavytsya – I have the sneaking suspicion that Ghana may just underestimate the Socceroos.
That’s not the line currently coming out of the Ghanaian Football Association, with President Kwasi Nyantakyi warning his players to be wary of a wounded outfit.
“We definitely have no cause to be complacent because Ghana is bent on winning the cup and nothing will stop us from achieving that target,” Nyantakyi told the Ghana News Agency.
Ghanaian-born former NSL player Ransford Banini is another to have lectured the Black Stars on the dangers of discounting Australia, yet the fact that so many have felt compelled to warn the Ghanaian players to remain focused suggests that their minds may already be on Germany.
The role of underdog has always suited the Socceroos, and when nothing less than three points will do, the nation awaits a much improved performance from a national team we all care passionately about.
It’s hardly the media’s job to act as cheerleader, but come the full-time whistle against Ghana, I doubt there’s a single journalist who doesn’t hope to be writing fulsome praise of Verbeek and his team, rather than another scathing analysis.
With backs-to-the-wall and a World Cup lifeline to play for, Australian fans are entitled to expect the most committed performance we’ve seen yet under Verbeek, against a Ghana side who may have already been lulled into a false sense of security by the disaster in Durban.