Recently, the Socceroos completed a series of friendly matches against European opponents, including England and Greece in the lead up to their next round of qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Interestingly enough, the last time Australia faced both of these sides was in the midst of what is glowingly referred to as the ‘Golden Generation’ of Australian football.
The ‘Golden Generation’ certainly achieved what it set out to do, break Australia’s 32-year world cup drought, and even broken out of a tough group to make it to the knockout stages of a World Cup for the first time.
Goal keepers
Golden Generation – Mark Schwarzer, Zeljko Kalac, Ante Covic
It’s fair to say that for 20 years Mark Schwarzer was a great custodian in goals for the Socceroos and his penalty stops against Uruguay almost single-handedly, literally, dragged Australia back into the World Cup.
Zeljko Kalac, on the other hand, served as a back up for Mark Schwarzer and proved to be just as useless for the national side as he was for AC Milan. Zeljko Kalac will and should be remembered for being a better analyst and commentator than he ever was as a keeper.
Current Crop – Adam Federici, Mat Ryan, Mitch Langerak
Three solid keepers across the board, with Mat Ryan being the ideal one for Australia. Ryan looks in the best shape of the three to hold down Australia’s goals for the near future, while being only 24 at the moment means that there is plenty of upside to look forward to – especially considering that keepers can often play into their 40s.
Defenders
Golden Generation – Lucas Neil, Craig Moore, Tony Popovic, Brett Emerton, Stan Lazaridis, Tony Vidmar
Hard to judge the defence of the Golden Generation, Tony Vidmar, Stan Lazaridis and Tony Popovic are cult heroes in football, but looking at their list of achievements and how they actually played shows them to be not as worthy of the definition of ‘golden’. At the same time, Craig Moore was incredibly serviceable, Brett Emerton was arguably better when he played as a winger and Lucas Neil is such a polarising figure these days, it’s hard to know what to make of him and his legacy.
Current Crop – Brad Smith, Trent Sainsbury, Bailey Wright, Matthew Spiraniovic and Ivan Franjic
Since Neill’s removal from the national side, the Socceroos’ defence has been quiet young. The introductions of Brad Smith and Bailey Wright, as well as the recent call-ups of Alex Gerbach and Milos Degenek, both of whom have great potential to be stars of the future, looks promising for the national side.
At the moment, they haven’t reached the same levels of popularity as the Golden Generation, but they will almost certainly surpass them talent wise.
Midfielders
Golden Generation – Tim Cahill, Jason Culina, Josip Skoko, Vince Grella, Scott Chipperfield, Mile Sterjovski, Marco Bresciano
Similarly to the defenders, the biggest stars of the Socceroo engine room were cult figures in Australia. Scott Chipperfield, Vince Grella, Josip Skoko and Marco Bresciano were the workhorses of the Australian team. They also plied their trades across some of the best leagues in the world, arguably for middling clubs, but in big European leagues nevertheless.
Current Crop – Mark Milligan, Mile Jedinak, Tommy Rogic, Tommy Oar, Aaron Mooy, Chris Ikonomidis, Matt McKay, James Troisi, Massimo Luongo
It’s fair to say that the current midfield group is built around Mile Jedinak. The current captain is a rock and better than he is rated by most. He is undoubtedly surrounded by some of the most talented players that have come through the Australian side.
Tommy Rogic, Tommy Oar, Massimo Luongo Aaron Mooy and Chris Ikonomidis show tremendous amounts of talent. This will be the core group that leads Australia into the next two World Cups.
Unlike their predecessors, they seem to be getting the attention of some of the biggest clubs in Europe.
Forwards
Golden Generation – John Aloisi, Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, Josh Kennedy
Undoubtedly the most famous and talented line in the squad, with Harry Kewell leading the charge as the most famous player to ever play for the Australian national side.
Backed up by Mark Viduka, with lesser lights Messrs’ John Aloisi and Josh Kennedy. Despite Harry Kewell’s club success, when it comes to his national career the statistics are less than flattering.
His runs were constantly stunted by injury issues even the highlight of his national career, the 2006 World Cup, was marred by injury when he was ruled out of the crucial Round of 16 match against Italy with gout.
Current Crop – Tim Cahill, Robbie Kruse, Mathew Leckie, Nathan Burns
Tim Cahill is undoubtedly the best of the lot. Moved forward after Mark Viduka’s retirement, Cahill is now the Socceroos highest goal scorer.
A feat made all the more impressive coming with the fact that it came after Australia was moved into the Asian grouping, from the easy beats of Asia. However, Robbie Kruse, Mathew Leckie and Nathan Burns are all very talented and are making massive strides in world football.
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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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