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Australian national team coaches have always seemed to make their own unique mark on the job. Terry Venables, for instance, brought his London East-End rogue’s act to the party.
Intensely defensive of his players and himself, Frank Farina, wore his heart on his sleeve. While Guus Hiddink’s evident belief in his own principles instilled confidence in the players under him.
Shedding light on the personality of incumbent Pim Verbeek’s, however, has been a little more difficult. But one thing is for certain: Verbeek is understated as any to grace Australian football.
With the Dutchman, it’s a case of expecting the expected. You only need to look at the Socceroos squad, named on Tuesday, as evidence.
Verbeek’s squad was about as predictable as getting a couple of pairs of new undies for Christmas.
Granted, many of the squad pick themselves. But with a number of young contenders starting to find form at club level, surely a surprise or two wouldn’t have hurt.
James Troisi was touted by many on various football forums as a smoky for the squad, and those who extolled his chances may indeed have had a point.
The left winger has been establishing himself at junior Socceroo nursery Genclerbirligi since a move from Newcastle United, and hit a hat-trick on January 24 against Kayserispor. Already with three full caps to his name, Troisi would have been a good pick to replace the injured Harry Kewell.
Teammate Bruce Djite could have also laid claim to a spot in the squad. He has taken longer to settle than Troisi at the Turkish club, but he has popped up with some recent goals.
With Joshua Kennedy and Scott McDonald the only out-and-out strikers in the squad, Djite may have proven a wildcard if called on from the bench.
The right and left back positions are also problem areas. After Brett Emerton’s horrible knee injury only Luke Wilkshire seems capable of slipping in on the right, unless Verbeek opts to move Lucas Neill across.
Olyroo Trent McClenahan has been impressing for a much-improved Hamilton outfit in the Scottish Premier League, and could have been an option.
On the left, there are actually three candidates for one spot.
But all three have fitness concerns.
David Carney played his 45 minutes of first-team football for months on Tuesday, while Shane Stefanutto hasn’t played competitively since November due to the Norwegian Tippeliga being in recess.
Scott Chipperfield is the other option for Verbeek, though his move to German club Hertha Berlin was called off last month after he failed a medical.
The outspoken Eaddy Bosnar, who plays his club football in Japan with JEF United, would therefore have been an inventive and intelligent selection.
Of course, none of this will matter if Australia gets a result next Wednesday.
But it would have been intriguing to see any of the aforementioned players – or any other fringe ones, had they been picked – in the squad.
Still, just in case anyone had got excited about the squad and Wednesday’s big match, Verbeek left us with another little gem to dampen our enthusiasm.
In front of the listening media, Verbeek said that Australia’s rivalry with next week’s opponent Japan was “not special”, no more so than with any other country anyway.
Try telling that to anyone who sat up late to watch a certain World Cup match on June 12, 2006.
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