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Australia need a striker, the question is where and when?

Roar Pro
13th December, 2017
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Aaron Mooy's Huddersfield Town head to London to take on the Hammers. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Roar Pro
13th December, 2017
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1221 Reads

Following Tim Cahill’s departure from Melbourne City and the national team’s performance against Honduras, the question that must be asked is: from where does Australia intend to get its goals?

If we look at the Honduran game, all three of Australia’s goals came from set-pieces. I do wonder where the Socceroos will find that extra ‘oomph’ up forward.

Naturally, we must turn elsewhere to find ourselves a striker.

According to the Socceroos website, their three main strikers are Cahill, Tomi Juric and Matthew Leckie.

However, we have seen goals come from Mile Jedinak and Tom Rogic in recent memory. And of course no-one can overstate the influential capabilities of Aaron Mooy on a good day.

The Socceroos can pass the ball, control it, maybe even skill it here and there – but if they don’t have the confidence nor talent to shoot, then they are not going to win.

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While I am beyond words to express how happy I am that Australia have qualified for a fourth consecutive World Cup, I am haunted by Omar Al Soma’s free kick in the dying minutes in the Syria game.

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One kick, one kick that Mat Ryan admitted he “couldn’t see”, one gut-wrenching deflection into the box, would have cost Australia their position.

Other contributors play a role, but had Australia been able to finish the Syrian game early and kill it off, then we wouldn’t have been gasping for breath.

Even in Honduras, Australia’s finishing was not up to standard for many viewers and at home; the issue was resolved through set pieces; whether we like it or not, the Socceroos just do not have that desperately needed clinical edge.

The solution? It lies within the A-League.

There are two distinct sides on how we should grow the game in Australia. One camp believes that we should be attracting as many big-name stars as possible – generating more revenue, which can then be used to improve facilities and the competition, which in turn lures more big names to ultimately create an extremely competitive league with an international reach (idealistic sure but nether less the ultimate goal).

The other group believes the A-League should exist to develop more national players who move on to other leagues; ultimately in this model, the A-League acts solely to develop national players and is unconcerned with attracting big names.

I favour of the latter approach. Yes, it means the A-League does not grow nearly as much as we would like in the short term, but the opportunity to see Australians in the ‘big leagues’ should attract more of the public to watch the local games to see where it all began.

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This can be shown during my own experience when watching the game against Honduras. It was halftime and I checked my messages to see a large amount of friends who never spoke about football or the A-League suddenly express their passion for the Socceroos. These are people who rarely talk about sports or are only vaguely aware of it.

The national team and the World Cup has the ability to bring together Australians from everywhere, regardless of their codes, and generate interest in football.

Tom Rogic Socceroos tall

JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images

Admittedly, such a phenomenon can only occur every four years, but it shouldn’t need to.

Matthew Ryan, Aaron Mooy and of course Mile Jedinak are just a few of the textbook cases where we have seen quality national players stem from the A-League and branch out to highly recognisable clubs, becoming household names.

With the correct investment in the local comp, we’ll see more locals playing for the world’s top clubs, which in turn can cause traditional media to report on the success of Aussie players globally. This generates more Australian interest and then more passion towards the A-League, as those who just watch European football become aware of the quality right under their noses.

We can already see the effects of this through Melbourne City. In early 2015, the club announced plans to build a state of the art training facility. Since then, City have been one of the big-name teams in Australia, with Aaron Mooy creating headlines internationally.

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Whoever takes over from Ange Postecoglou at the end of the day must consider the A-League. The national team is in a desperate need of a breath of fresh air up front, and if Cahill can’t find gametime, then it is unlikely we will be idealistic and attacking in Russia – instead slogging through 0-0 draws and lucky scrapes.

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