Is this football’s next golden generation?

 
Chad Bennett Roar Guru

By , 18 Dec 2011 Chad Bennett is a Roar Guru

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While many of the A-League top-drawing marquee players have suffered an indifferent start to the season, some of Australia’s ‘generation next’ have been flying. Just how bright is the future for our future Socceroos?

With the Thomas Broich-less Brisbane Roar currently on the stumble it has been the oft-underrated Central Coast Mariners on everybody’s lips this week.

The Mariners, who head north to face the Roar in a top-of-the-table spectacle on Saturday night, are unbeaten in seven and look every bit as good as the side who were five minutes away from clinching the A-League grand final last March.

It’s hardly a coincidence that Graham Arnold’s side have surged north on the A-League ladder as young guns Mustafa Amini and Bernie Ibini have returned to form and fitness.

I travelled to Bluetongue Stadium last Saturday night and had the pleasure of seeing the duo up close, and couldn’t have been more impressed.

Amini was deployed in the number 10 role and spent much of the evening with Jets holding midfielder Kasey Wehrman as his direct opponent. He was constantly a step ahead of the hardened veteran, with and without the ball.

The buildup to Rostyn Griffith’s opening goal can be put squarely on Amini, after he showed presence of mind to dart off Wehrman from a free kick and after one touch lash a shot at goal that an outstretched Matthew Nash could only parry for a corner.

The corner was nicely met by Griffiths, and the focus was then placed on the efficiency of the corner, but it was Amini’s quick thinking that made it all happen.

Graham Arnold has previously stated Amini came back to the Mariners “broken” after off-season representative duties with the Young Socceroos, but he looks to be close to full fitness and looks set for a strong season before heading to German giants Borussia Dortmund next year.

Ibini plays as a more traditional striker and at 19 is raw, rangy and powerful, and in reality still several years from his peak.

But the 6’2 Nigerian-born Australian has netted three times already this season and his upside looks as good if not better than Amini’s.

He possesses a sharp skill set and dominating physical attributes and could well become the Socceroos’ talisman up front in years to come.

Throw in Mat Ryan, Oliver Bozanic and Rostyn Griffiths, whose maturity belies his 23 years, and Graham Arnold has assembled some of the best young talent in the competition.

But the picture is far greater than just the Central Coast Mariners.

Their upcoming opponents and conquerers in last year’s grand final have more than their fair share of young talent, but in a side who up until a week ago were touted as the best in Australian history, competition for starting positions is fierce.

22-year-old Mitch Nicholls has, alongside Broich, been the creative fulcrum in the Brisbane Roar midfield, and with many strings to his bow, looks set for an overseas move within the next two seasons.

Despite a shaky performance against Wellington two days ago, Matthew Jurman looks a promising ball-playing defender, and James Meyer and Jack Hingert are two who have begun to break into the senior team of late.

A quick scan around the rest of the league throws up names like Terry Antonis, Ben Kantarovski and Mate Dugandzic who all look set for bigger things in future.

Dugandzic’s teammate Eli Babalj is another interesting one, despite having played only a handful of matches.

Born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Babalj has represented Australia at the U-17 and U-20 levels, and judging by his robust performances up front for Melbourne recently, the 19-year-old could become the centre of an international tug-of-war in the not-too-distant future.

Casting an eye outside the A-League, Rhys Williams, Robbie Kruse, Michael Zullo, Tommy Oar, James Troisi, Nathan Burns and Brent McGrath are all aged 23 or under and are beginning to play first-team football for European clubs.

Players develop at varying levels and it is impossible to say how many of these players, both in the A-League and elsewhere, will go on to have decorated club and international careers.

But this genuinely looks to be the most promising group of players this country has seen since the early 1990s.

Without wanting to take a dig at the current national team, it is hard to see that group go much further than 2014, and even then it is unlikely that many of them will be at their best, given most are on the other side of 30.

The next generation should be getting as much national team experience as possible with a view to the 2015 Asian Cup and the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

With so many player in a similar age bracket, we could be seeing a Socceroos team as good as any that have gone before them.

It’s a genuinely exciting prospect and it will be fascinating to see how this group develops over the next decade.

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