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Nine seasons of the A-League have come and gone, and few would doubt that like a bottle of Nick Di Girolamo’s finest, it’s gotten better with age. But how good is it really?
Next month in Brazil, we’ll get some sort of an idea.
There is already a distinct new flavour to the entire Socceroos set-up after seven months of Ange Postecoglou rule. His 30-man preliminary squad for the FIFA World Cup has satisfied the masses who have been demanding an overhaul that previous coaches did their best to avoid.
Whether it be by necessity or merit, the A-League system now dominates the national team. It is where 10 members of the squad currently play. All bar eight players have been through it. So have Postecoglou and both of his assistants, Ante Milicic and Aurelio Vidmar. They believe in it.
Fans will now get to see players they have watched develop at close quarters – the likes of Ivan Franjic and Mark Milligan – chance their arm at international level. Postecoglou’s famed methods will be also be tested by some of the best minds in football.
The A-League remains a work in progress. Despite the dramatic thrill of Brisbane Roar’s grand final win and the glorious afterglow that followed, there’s no denying last season was a little underwhelming and on the whole, the competition is a long way from perfect.
Too many teams are mediocre, and as a result, too many matches are sloppy and staid. Players don’t train as often or as intensely as they do abroad. Technically, there is no comparison.
By rights, the World Cup should very crudely demonstrate the size of the gap between A-League-standard players and those at the top of the tree.
For Pim Verbeek, that gap was too big. Like Holger Osieck, he preferred to select ageing stars from middling competitions on the inference that playing in Australia is not enough to prime a footballer for the rigours of the international game.
“If you train for three weeks with Nurnberg or with Karlsruhe, I have to be very honest, I still think that’s better than playing A-League games,” Verbeek famously said in January 2008.
Whatever truth that statement might have held back then, it doesn’t stand up today.
Postecoglou is his polar opposite. As his track record at Brisbane and Melbourne Victory confirms, this sort of situation – where there is a status quo that needs to be ripped up – is his wheelhouse. For him, if you can cut it at home, you’re more than worth a look.
And why not? In a no-lose situation like this, measuring up against the best is the logical only way to approach this World Cup and beyond.
The players that have battled their way into the preliminary Socceroos squad from the A-League deserve to be there.
For example, James Troisi and Matthew Spiranovic both came home, trained hard, played well and did it consistently. If you’re fit and in form and can bring it to the first day of camp, it shouldn’t matter where you play.
For those who have gone the opposite way, from home to abroad, the A-League has proved to be a suitable springboard. Arguably the four most electrifying members of the squad are Mat Ryan, Tommy Oar, Mathew Leckie and Ben Halloran, who all got their starts at home and are now forging solid careers in Europe.
While their progression to this point is an endorsement of the A-League, how these players cope with the eyes of the world trained on them will tell us more about just how well Australia’s broader football factory is working.
The beauty of the ‘Group of Death’ for Postecoglou is that any disasters against Spain, the Netherlands or Chile will be explained away as the result of a young squad, a new direction and the worst draw possible.
Australian sports fans love a fairytale, but they’re not deluded.
Postecoglou has made some brave decisions since coming to the helm and shown incredible faith in the A-League. His players will want to repay it and with no expectations to burden them, they just might, somehow. The impossible seems absurdly achievable when he’s involved.
Will the Socceroos be good enough to cause a boilover in Cuiaba, Porto Alegre or Curitiba? Realistically, they aren’t a hope in hell. They’ll be flat out scoring a goal, most likely.
But if they can take something out of the experience and return with Australia’s reputation in tact, it will be a win all the same.
For the World Cup Draw, World Cup squads and opinion, check out our World Cup page.
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