In the wake of our most embarrassing set of results since playing Germany at the World Cup, a bit of nostalgic reflection upon that fateful day in 2010 made me notice something…we were complaining about all this three years ago.
The ABC news headline read ‘Germany overwhelms slow Socceroos’, the news reporter described it as ‘a disastrous day for Australian soccer’.
Now doesn’t this sound all too familiar?
What shocked me most in this blast from the past were the words “it was a good warm up match”, courtesy of Dutch football’s favourite son, Pim Verbeek.
Again, too familiar. Holger Osieck anyone?
But what of this blip in what has been a very successful 21st century for football?
All this nonsense about Australia not having any youth coming through is both deluded and unfounded.
Tom Rogic, Aziz Behich, Aaron Mooy, Matthew Leckie, Oliver Bozanic, Matt Simon, Massimo Luongo, the Williams brothers, Mitchell Duke, Tommy Oar, Corey Gameiro, Jamie Maclaren, Tomi Juric, James Troisi, Kerem Bulut, Ricardo Da Silva, Chris Ikonomidis are just a few names.
There are plenty more.
Ultimately it’s not about who we have, it’s what we do with them.
Sure, the golden generation were brilliant, but who’s to say they would become who they were in an environment such as the one we face now, where one mistake can lead to you being dropped a la Davidson, McGowan.
We’ve seen what happens when the youngsters are given a chance to perform on the world stage.
Tom Rogic arguably got his move overseas not only because of The Chance, but the recognition by Osieck (credit where it’s due) he was worthy of a green and gold jersey.
Mitchell Duke got a trial with West Ham after scoring against Japan and China, while the likes of Josh Brillante and Danny De Silva sparked interest with their performances at the U20 World Cup.
Who’s to say they wouldn’t have made their move if they were given a shot in the near future? Because, then again, the only way is up after the past few weeks.
There’s no doubt in my mind we have the talent to build a decent squad for the next qualifying cycle. It won’t be the Golden Generation, but it will be somewhere close.
This isnt a vintage bunch we have at the minute but the best we can hope for is that they’re given a chance to play their heart out for the country.
It ain’t about what you got, it’s what you do with it.
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Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
What if we celebrated all of the achievements big and small, and weeded out those hell-bent on bringing down a game that is doing a hell of a lot right?
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
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