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It’s been almost 4000 days since John Aloisi sealed the Socceroos’ first ever win on the World Cup stage, defeating Japan 3-1 in Kaiserslautern in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
While Australia is in a better place than it was half a decade ago, some are under the influence that the standard of our national team has not dropped. Reality check, it has. The Australian football media’s obsession with the A-League’s Aussies has played a part in its decline.
Ange Postecoglou has been influential for the growth of the A-League, finally ingraining an Australian head coach and mentality who understood the strengths of the league and its players.
This is evident through the seven A-League players he took to the 2014 World Cup and our 2015 Asian Cup triumph. At both of those tournaments he had at least three A-League players involved in a match at any one time.
However, the media seem to be taking this too far. Offering up their A-League fantasy sides as possible Socceroo replacements. Many journalists love to snatch headlines by putting into the spotlight players who should be fighting to be playing week in week out let alone making the Socceroos.
Players like Andrew Nabbout, Brandon Borrello are getting a shout for squads in World Cup Qualifiers.
Seriously? Why does Nabbout’s name get thrown into the mix ahead of players like Craig Goodwin, Chris Oikonomidis or Awer Mabil.
I’ll tell you why. Nabbout is playing well in the A-League.
While we all care about the A-League’s progress and I’ll be surprised if there is anyone who has ambitions to lead the charge like I do, but the media must cool its obsession with our Australian players.
After only half a season back in Australia, four months under Mark Jones, Nabbout has seven goals and three assists, I’m not taking anything away from wingers’ performances he’s been key to Newcastle’s position in the ladder, in fact, they’d be hanging around below the six if he wasn’t present.
But when did we start judging national team quality on 14 A-League games?
What does Nabbout have on Awer Mabil’s eight contributions in the Danish First Division? Or Craig Goodwin’s consistent 18 months which saw him boost Adelaide United to an A-League double, while keeping that good form up in a massive step forward to the Eredivisie?
Do people seem to forget the 24-year-old has just 73 professional appearances, 12 of which are from the Malaysian second division last year.
If Socceroos winger Matthew Leckie, the only player in the national team setup playing consistently for a team in one of the top five leagues, can’t breach the Japanese or Thai defence, why do people think Andrew Nabbout or other ‘bolters’ are the obvious answer to our problems?
Melbourne Victory head coach Kevin Muscat summed up the international talk in early January, responding to speculation of James Donachie making a case for a Socceroos squad inclusion, a player at the time who had made only ten appearances for Victory.
“Individuals have a good 45 minutes and next minute they should be in the national team.”
“I think we should treat playing for Australia with more respect than we do”
An exaggeration on time? Perhaps, but the message is clear. The media love to hype up in-form A-League players with a Socceroos berth but in reality they are outliers in depth.
It’s not just wingers, what bout centre-forwards? I have no doubt if Kerem Bulut had ten goals this season, his name would be thrown around ahead of Nathan Burns.
Or maybe if Mitch Nichols throws in seven assists and three goals before seasons end, he may be reported to have one over Mustafa Amini.
The Australian football media must learn that the A-League will produce better players once quality infrastructure and greater following of the game increases. But, stop trying to force the issue.
Put simply, the media are shoving severely underdeveloped A-League players down Ange’s throat and into the spotlight. It is not going to breed another golden generation, nor is it going to help the players that they are hounding with this coverage. Let them play their football and get their game time up, it’s the one thing young Aussies don’t get enough of.
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