Has Leckie jeopardised his international career?
Columnist By Mike Tuckerman, 25 Jul 2011 Mike Tuckerman is a Roar Expert
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- Adelaide United, Borussia Mönchengladbach, FIFA U-20 World Cup, football, han berger, Holger Osieck, Mathew Leckie, Socceroos
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“I think Holger (Osieck) gave a clear indication of how this would affect Brent’s Socceroos career by not selecting him for the Serbia and New Zealand game,” said Han Berger. So will the FFA take a similar stance now that Mathew Leckie has pulled out of the FIFA U-20 World Cup?
Football Federation Australia’s Technical Director Berger was referring to the decision by Danish-based striker Brent McGrath to make himself unavailable for this month’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia, no doubt acting on the advice of his club side Brondby.
McGrath’s decision was mirrored by new Hajduk Split signing Steven Lustica, and Berger didn’t mince his words when he described how the pair’s decision might affect their future with the national team.
“I’m not selecting the Socceroos, Holger is. But the fact Brent wasn’t selected for the two friendly games after the Germany games had to do with this,” Berger said.
If that’s the case, does this mean Leckie’s Socceroos career is now in jeopardy because his club side Borussia Mönchengladbach has reneged on an agreement for Leckie to join the Australian under-20 squad in Colombia?
Mönchengladbach was originally happy to release the former Adelaide United youngster for international duty, but after the pacy front man scored twice in a recent friendly against Aberdeen, the Bundesliga side now say Leckie must be available for the start of the new season.
The turnaround prompted an outcry from the FFA, who have seen one of their key players ruled out on the eve of the tournament.
“We believe that this change in attitude by Borussia Mönchengladbach is not in the spirit of fair play and we will voice our dissatisfaction with FIFA accordingly,” Berger said after the decision was made public.
So is Leckie an innocent party here, or is it possible he views the chance to establish himself in the Mönchengladbach starting eleven as more important than representing his nation at youth level?
Some critics have suggested Mönchengladbach’s recalcitrance is reflective of the fact Germany failed to qualify for the U-20 World Cup.
But the question should also be asked why FIFA feel the need to schedule international tournaments at the start of the European season in the first place.
Bizarrely, the European U-19 Football Championships are also currently underway in Romania, further highlighting the disconnect between UEFA and FIFA and the club sides who pay the players strutting their stuff on the international stage.
And as far as Leckie is concerned, it seems he’s caught between a rock and a hard place – at risk of incurring the wrath of his new employers by pledging his availability to Australia, or otherwise potentially jeopardising his international career by failing to turn up for national team duty.
Personally, I think the FFA will blame Mönchengladbach entirely for this situation, thus paving the way for Leckie to continue his international career at senior level.
After all, the 20-year-old possesses a trait coveted at every level of the game – pace – and his sheer speed is an asset few coaches are willing to give up.
Whether that means Leckie is treated differently to another highly-rated talent in McGrath remains to be seen.
But when players have been snubbed in the past for speaking out of turn, it doesn’t bode well for McGrath that the FFA spoke out so vehemently against his decision not to travel to Colombia.
One rule for McGrath and a different rule for Leckie perhaps, although it’s easy to sympathise with an exasperated governing body struggling to select players for a major international tournament.
The real villains here appear to be FIFA, who have once again clashed with the powerful European club scene by scheduling another poorly timed international tournament.
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July 25th 2011 @ 5:35am
Oliver said | July 25th 2011 @ 5:35am | Report comment
Come on, guys…
stop whining about young Australian players getting their chance to improve their skills on a weekly basis in top Europan league teams. Leckie is not far away from the starting team at Moenchengladbach and it is his first (and maybe also the last) chance to impress Lucien Favre enough to keep that chance alive.
If Leckie is not available during the first three or four games (being away for a ‘youth’ tournament), he needs to start from the beginning as all first team positions will be taken by available team-mates.
If he achieves to get regular playing time at Borussia, Australian soccer has the chance to get a good starter for their first national team.
If you want to blame somebody, blame FIFA for not demanding that players must be made available by their teams for this youth tournament, and for planning this tournament to take place during the beginning of certain European leagues.
Borussia has the right to demand that the player is available for their squad, so putting blame on them is just ridiculous. Blaming a player for preferring to play for the club who pays him – if there he has the chance to become regular starter – instead on a youth tournament for his country – he doesn’t get paid for and which destroys what he built himself until now – is just as ridiculous. Australians are proud to play for their country and Leckie is no difference, but if he is relegated to Borussias second team because he was not available when it was important, then everybody looses: Borussia, Leckie and Australias national soccer team…
Cheers,
Oliver
July 25th 2011 @ 4:38pm
Roger said | July 25th 2011 @ 4:38pm | Report comment
^ This.
July 25th 2011 @ 6:45am
clayton said | July 25th 2011 @ 6:45am | Report comment
Short Answer – no. Australia doesn’t have that many players in Europe who regularly get game time. Regular starters? Even fewer.
Any young player who can become a starter in one of the first or second tier leagues in Europe is gonna get a chance with the Socceroos.
Nik R? If he can contribute to H Berlin in the Bundesliga as much as he did last year in the second, expect to see him in the NT squads again.
July 25th 2011 @ 7:54am
nordozzz said | July 25th 2011 @ 7:54am | Report comment
i’m just excited for the guy that Mönchengladbach consider him part of their plans for the early season.
timing wise for the tournament… maybe they could have swapped it with the u/17s. But there’s only so many spare weeks in the calendar and not everything can be fit to suit the European confederation… including a future world cup lets hope
July 25th 2011 @ 8:18am
jamesb said | July 25th 2011 @ 8:18am | Report comment
nordozz
i agree. the under 17s should’ve swapped with the under 20s as far as scheduling is concerned. Another reason to blame FIFA
July 25th 2011 @ 8:56am
nordozzz said | July 25th 2011 @ 8:56am | Report comment
seems like an obvious thing eh? Could have been some rationale for it … passing it off as a “villainous” act i dunno … perhaps some journalist should look into WHY it was scheduled when it was?
July 25th 2011 @ 9:25am
Midfielder said | July 25th 2011 @ 9:25am | Report comment
Mike
If he makes the starting team then we will chase him…
The more important question as you asked is why have FIFA scheduled these games now why not just after the close of the 2010 /11 season… very good question …
July 25th 2011 @ 9:47am
Futbanous said | July 25th 2011 @ 9:47am | Report comment
If we had applied this way of thinking to Harry Kewell & to a lesser degree Mark Viduka in the past we would never have picked them for Australia.
This country is not so blessed with players of quality to pass over the likes of Leckie.
July 25th 2011 @ 10:21am
whiskeymac said | July 25th 2011 @ 10:21am | Report comment
I agree with the others above and also the points you raised.
The brent mcgrath/ lustica story in the media was a bit short and terse – some words from Berger slamming the decision and questions raisedover their international future. This is contrasted with Leckie (a bigger name in the local game) where the story definitely had a fell of its all the clubs fault. Personally i think there should be one rule for all – the question is should that rule have the effect of cutting our noses off to spite our face?
Just as Leckie’s development will benefit from cementing a career, so will the person replacing him int he squad geta achance to shine and put pressure/ gain experience in the position. in that respect its win -win. Club v Country won’t go away – we need to maange it realistically. I hope that McGrath’s and Lustica’s careers take off and they force their way back into contention. They are at the beginning of their careers after all – I hope we dont, and dont think that we should, have an FFA so eager to write them off so quickly and make examples of them. We dont have the resources on the one hand, and need to balance overseas players and club (payroll!) expectatiosn with the other: We want players overseas but then ping them when they try to get ahead? Maybe the FFA shld just have a policy of HAL players only then for these junior FIFA comps? At least then everyone knows – and arent penalised in the future – for playing in Europe/ Asia or wherever else FFA has no control.
the other issue you raised Mike was also evident in Leckie’s story – the club blamed FIFA for organising comps at the beginning of the new season. and ifor one heartily agree. Monumentaly stupid timing. FIFA needs to work in concert with UEFA and others and sychronise these things so that these clashes – which diminish both and garner resentment – can be avoided in the first place.
July 25th 2011 @ 4:38pm
Realfootball said | July 25th 2011 @ 4:38pm | Report comment
Can I just divert for a moment to raise the flag for the A-League. Leckie is an A-League product through and through.
This and the decision to leave Armini on loan at CCM are fantastic endorsements of our competition. And I shouldn’t forget Robbie Kruse, who just made his first start in Germany.
And on Leckie with the U19s, well, its simply an opportunity for another player. I can only see the plus side in all this.