The last time there was an away Socceroos match on a non-FIFA date was against Bahrain on February 22, 2008. FFA managed to convince some of the second-tier European clubs to release those who were not playing regularly to play for the Socceroos.
Playing in that match were Ante Covic, Josip Skoko, Scott McDonald, Michael Thwaite, Jon McKain, Brett Holman, Luke Wilkshire, Ahmad Elrich and Archie Thompson, who at that time were all at European clubs.
There were only a few A-League players at that match and that included David Carney, Michael Beauchamp and Alvin Ceccolli. This team was successful and manage to beat a full-strength Bahrain side 3-1.
Fast forward to today and we took an all A-League squad to Indonesia and manage to get a 0-0 draw.
The players for this match included mostly experienced players and the only players who got game time that could be considered young were Scott Jamieson, Matt Simon and Billy Celeski. So it was obvious that Pim Verbeek was gunning for a result in Indonesia and not developing young players.
So why didn’t he broaden his selection to Euro-roos struggling to get a game for their clubs?
Players like David Carney, Mile Sterjovski, Richard Garcia, Brad Jones and also young players like Nathan Burns, David Williams, Adrian Leijer, Neil Kilkenny and Dario Vidosic could have been considered as all of them are not playing regularly for their clubs.
Also, Luke Wilkshire and Shane Steffanuto could have been drafted in as the Russian and Norwegian season is over. I’m quite sure Luke Wilkshire would love to get some game time before he gets selected for an important World Cup Qualifier against Japan.
This will also improve important depth of the team. Let’s be honest: apart from three young players I mention before and Craig Moore and Archie Thompson, none of the team has a realistic chance of being selected for a full-strength Socceroos squad in the near future while the second-tier European players do have a chance. If the clubs said no and they refuse to release the players then fine but there was no indication that anyone in the FFA coaching staff even tried.
It’s not like Pim Verbeek was training with A-League players for a month and that putting in new players was going to disrupt team cohesion. After all, they only had one training session together so this is very much trying to get a result in Indonesia with a team that never played together before.
So adding in European players will make no difference to team cohesion except to strengthen the squad. We will now never know whether these players would have made a difference and would allow us to beat Indonesia.
What’s more bizarre is that Pim believes that training in Europe is better than playing regularly in the A-League. So Pim, put your money where your mouth is and prove it.
dasilva
Roar Guru
First thing I accidentally omitted Zullo from the list of youngster who had game time. IT was an error. I'm not necessary thinking a complete euroroos squad but more of a mix squad with 2nd tier euroroos and A league players. I would have a team like this Nathan Burns, Archie Thompson David Carney, James Holland, Dario Vidosic, Richard Garcia Scott Jamieson/Shane Steffanuto, Craig Moore, Vargas/ Leijer, Luke Wilkshire Eugene Galekovic Dickroo Not really as most of the team playing against Qatar were playing regularly for big clubs. If a players who haven't played for the club or not playing regularly or just playing reserves football come in and play better then A-league players. Only then will that prove Pim right. Jamieson case - we don't really know that. He was a reject training for the EPL he came here and completely excel. How much of his good performance was due to training regularly in the EPL. When players who haven't played a single match in Europe come here and excel it actually boost Pim's argument. Playing regularly in the A-league is a better shop window and is better to get recognise and be selected to the national team. However the jury is still out about actual performance/youth development etc.
Dickroo
Guest
Pim already proved it with his first Socceroos game against Qatar in Melbourne. Can we move on with this "Training in Europe is better than playing regularly in A-League" issue, please? Pim was talking about Jash and Beauchamp cases only at that time and English is not his first language. In Jamison's case, training with EPL is no better than play with the Reds. Besides, A-League does improve, so allegation from last year may not apply this year.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Das No one would have expected the A-team for this fixture, but you make an excellent point that most of the B-team would have been available (but what we got was something more like the C-team). It does look like a case of letting some A-leaguers have a run on the swampy pitches of Indonesia, with zero preparation, just so as he can tell us all again that A-leaguers are not up to it. It to never happen again.
Rob
Guest
Dasilva, Great article. Where where the Euro-roos? I think that Pim SHOULD have had a couple of training camps during the final couple of weeks of the regular season if he were serious about using an all A-League team. So his decision not to call up 2nd tier Europe-based players was inexplicable. But, I guess we'll have to wait and see what he does for the next Asian Cup qualifier, won't we? Will it be more of the same?