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My favourite paper to read while stuck in Asian airports, the International Herald Tribune, had a very interesting story on Wednesday about how the Beijing Games are subverting all the commonly held ideas about how athletes should look for certain events, prompted by the extraordinary performances of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt in the 100m and 200m men’s athletics events.
Bolt is far taller and far ganglier than his colleagues for both distances, and by conventional wisdom would seem to have to work harder to cover those metres with his higher centre of gravity.
But he’s gone out and smashed pervading sport-science wisdom by nabbing two world records in events that cough up new marks as easily as George W. Bush would admit going into Iraq was a mistake.
This got me thinking about the performance of our Olyroos team in Beijing.
Before the tournament we were told many of the guys who made the team and many of those missed out did so by virtue of their performances in physical tests, such as the dreaded beep test.
We were told Bruce Djite and Nathan Burns couldn’t handle the heat, yet they then went out and started scoring goals for their respective clubs in the oven of an eastern Meditteranean summer.
Djite came off the bench for the Socceroos against South Africa on Wednesday morning.
Adherence to selecting certain physical types has also been pursued as an unofficial policy with the men’s senior team, first by Guus Hiddink, then by interim coach Arnold, and now Pim Verbeek.
All three men have fancied selecting fast, mobile players who can switch seamlessly between defence and attack. Players such as Luke Wilkshire, Brett Emerton and David Carney, for instance.
But the introduction of this sort of player hasn’t necessarily translated into better football.
As a football side, Frank Farina’s 2005 Confederations Cup team were a defensive rabble, but by god they were entertaining to watch.
They attacked. They scored goals.
These days Australia puts away goals with frustrating infrequency. Indeed the hallmark of the Verbeek era has been the defensive-minded approach he takes to the game. Goals have been few and far between.
I got a call from blogger Tony Tannous on Wednesday, asking what Nicky Carle had done to deserve being just one of (I think it was) three players not used during the South Africa match in London.
I told him I wasn’t going to go there, that sticking up for Nicky time and time again was probably being ultimately counterproductive for his cause. But it really does make you wonder where creativity and imagination rank as football values in Verbeek’s mind.
As Tony said, South Africa’s two goals came from moments of Benni McCarthy magic. From a little spark of something that can’t be rigorously analysed or empirically tested.
Australia scored from fairly perfunctory moves (albeit the Mile Sterjovski volley to open the scoring was special) and, when chasing a third to win the game in the second half, could have used a bit of their own magic.
But Carle again, mysteriously, inexplicably, remained unused.
Australia might get to South Africa 2010 on the head of Josh Kennedy, but when we get there that won’t be enough to win the tournament.
We need, like I believe every football team does, junior or senior, men’s or women’s, park or professional, someone who can pull out a move you simply can’t teach or train. And, outside of Harry Kewell when he’s on form, I can’t think of anyone in the green and gold shirt better than Carle.
But obviously (and mercifully for all of us), I’m not the Australia coach.
Pim Verbeek is.
And for some yet-to-be-explained reason, he still thinks Carle is a luxury he can’t afford.
We will have to wait and see.
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