If, as Frank Lowy has repeatedly reiterated, the sole aim of Pim Verbeek’s appointment to the post of Australian coach was to ensure a safe passage to South Africa 2010, then the team’s impending qualification should rubber-stamp the Dutchman’s tenure as a success.
Yet, as a ticket to South Africa looms, the focus – and thus the measure of Verbeek’s success – must broaden. Yes, Australian will compete in the next World Cup. But once there, what level of damage are they realistically capable of inflicting? On the basis of recent performances, not much.
Verbeek’s modest recent run not only paints a bleak World Cup picture for the Socceroos, but eerily resembles the haunted legacy of Dutch coaches. Almost as a matter of habit, Dutch managers have led the horse to water, but failed to make it drink.
Guus Hiddink, for all his genius, has failed to turn fairytales into trophies. Likewise, Marco Van Basten inexplicably failed to translate a squad laden with talent and guile into any form of material success.
So what of Verbeek?
Is he, like those before him, pre-destined for relative underachievement? Can he avoid such a fate? Yes he can.
Pim’s problems are entirely self-induced. They lie not with fiscal inadequacies, squad-based deficiencies or hierarchical interference. Thus, they are imminently fixable.
With neither an iron axe nor a blunt knife, Verbeek must seek to adjust his rigid thought processes. His unabashed loyalty to a 4-2-3-1 system has suffocated Australia’s ability to control and subsequently score. Excluding the four goals pushed passed an abysmal Qatari outfit, the Socceroos have scored just twice in the final stage of World Cup Qualification.
Perhaps more alarming than the scarcity of goals is the bizarre and inconsistent nature of the strikes. Marco Bresciano’s 11th hour sealer against Bahrain and right-back Scott Chipperfield’s headed winner against Uzbekistan were neither conventional nor intricately planned.
Whilst this may suggest an obvious offensive fragility, in truth the problems lie further down the pitch. The loss of Brett Emerton and Harry Kewell appear to have frightened their left and right-sided partners – Chipperfield and Luke Wilkshere respectively – into engaging in any form of productive forward enterprise. This timidness has adversely affected Tim Cahill, leaving the ‘striker’ hopelessly isolated and effectively useless. Furthermore, with Emerton gone, Verbeek has been forced to extradite his most under-rated attacking weapon, Jason Culina, into an unfamiliar role on the right-hand side of midfield.
Culina presents an interesting case. His technical nous and calm demeanor have gradually overshadowed – and eventually suppressed- the attacking qualities that flourished during his time at FC Twente. Verbeek must resurrect, and subsequently promote, these attributes. This will ultimately lead to a re-shuffle of Verbeek’s favorite, and perhaps only, system.
But it needn’t be drastic.
Vince Grella, or Carl Valeri if required, can occupy the lone defensive midfield postion, thus allowing Culina to partner Cahill in the centre of a newly-formed midfield quartet. Until Mark Viduka overcomes his injury concerns, Josh Kennedy should -and ably can – occupy the target striker position. With a simple shift in thinking, and the benefit of a healthy squad, Verbeek can effectively triple his goal-scoring options. It seems almost too simple.
Whether or not the Dutchman chooses to emerge from his creative hibernation remains to be seen. But what Verbeek must acknowledge is that qualification alone is simply not enough any more. If he forgets this, I – with the entire Australian sporting public – should fear the worst.
Joe FC
Guest
Brendan winners are grinners and losers can suit themselves.
Brendan
Guest
I have one question for everyone...Would you rather WIN the World Cup next year, playing so called "boring" football, or play extremely "attractive" football and not make it past the group stages? Italy played and still play this boring football and they won the World Cup with it. I was lucky to be in Italy the night of the final in 2006 and I didnt see any Italians complaining about the boring football they played. Yes, it would be nice to play attractive football, but does it really matter over results? Just remember that while we have some fantastic players, they are not as technical as the Iniesta's and Xavi's who have been learning how to play attrative football for at least 15 years old since they were 8 or 10. Maybe we can have this discussion in the future when our young players have come through a coaching system that teaches them how to play attractive football.
Joe FC
Guest
Dave we qualify when we qualify, not one minute earlier.
Dave
Guest
WC 2010 1st round tickets go on sale Friday 20th Feb...any takers? Soooo close!!!
The Bear
Guest
Holman as CAM... we are now ready for South Africa!!!
Midfielder
Guest
KB Well in 14 months what more do you expect seems to me your bar is set high if you want him to develop players as well as make the WC and do it in a style we have never actually played at IMO
Koala Bear
Guest
Midfielder, good players yes, hardly first choice Roo players and their club coaches had more to do with their progress than Pimbo ..... Djite, Bruce Holland, James Jedinak, Mile North, Jade ~~~~~~~~ KB
Towser
Guest
Millster Have you seen the film Zidane?. The guy is a football hovercraft.
dasilva
Roar Guru
Thanks Millster There are suggestions that Adelaide United fans are going to adopt pissants as an ironic nickname now and going to chant pissants during the match. I think that's a fantastic idea (very Australian style of humour) and show a bit of support to Vidmar. I can't take credit for the logo though and found the picture on the internet.
Millster
Guest
PS - awesome new logo Das... hahahahaaa
Millster
Guest
The only problem with Maradona V Pele is that it misses the greatest player ever - Zidane :-)
dasilva
Roar Guru
Thanks midfielder That's pretty awesome video. The greatest debate in football history - maradona vs pele. Seems like Maradona was the better dribbler and pele the more all round player (although brilliant dribbler as well)
Midfielder
Guest
KB / David V Just poped in for a quick look and want to give you guys a little present for you on the style thing ... we may get here one day be patient ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTVrWBoqAko&feature=related back to work again pop in latter tonight
dasilva
Roar Guru
Towser The way the team plays reflects on future performance and also the ability of the coach. Sometimes a result of the match has little to do with good coaching or bad coaching. I look at China away and Iraq away. I actually say it was a decent performance. Against China we conceded a penalty and that saved us from defeat but except for that moment we were pretty comfortable and produce a lot more clear cut chances and against Iraq we might have lost but that was due to a speculative shot outside the box and that was pretty much the only shot the Iraq team made in that match. Again we produced clear cut chances and should have salvaged something from that match They were good defensive away performance and I always thought they were overly criticized. Limiting the opposition to few chances and creating some good chances on the counter. I believe Pim Verbeek coached reasonably well in those matches (although there are issues on the substitution) and was only a poor finish away from getting a deserve away result from those two matches. People may look at 1-0 lost to Iraq and say that Pim failed but IMO he coached well and was unlucky to lose. I can't say that about the Japan match. We got the result we wanted but I don't think we did it comfortably and were lucky in getting a draw. The lack of chances being created was concerning.
Towser
Guest
dasilva I look at the result & only the result in these matches. If I get attacking football as a bonus(ie Qatar Home game) all well & good. Otherwise the rest is academic at this stage of footballs development in Australia when were trying to qualify & the importance of doing so. I'll ask football fans a question regarding the growth of the game(By growth I mean wider acceptance like cricket ,swimming is by the Australian Public so you become a visible figure & appear in the top 10 sponsored sportspeople regularly& increasing sponsorship overall & TV rights for the sport as a whole). Where is it coming from?. Why does it need to come? The situation is you cant answer one question without attaching the other to it. Let me explain to grow football on & off the park(improving standard) you need money. How do we get that money by presenting an improving standard of Football to the public. Catch 22. Bear with me just a moment before I vanish up my own backside on this. How do we get the money(sponsorship/increased TV deal) . As I see it as the A-League is an immature media product at this stage so via the Socceroos. How do we put the Socceroos on "The Pedestal" by one thing & one thing only successive qualification for the World Cup. As Midfielder said once the TV stations see the ratings again(& I dont care if its Fox again gets the rights-growth is the most important factor) the Sponsorship/TV deal will increase. Thats the bottom line qualification=growth for football=money =growth for football =money =growth for football & so on. That also means the A-League via an increased salary cap. Forget the Sharon Stone moves give me a bit of Amish for a while yet.
Midfielder
Guest
Das Thanks for the youtube Fox are the same and have not helped ... but like Mil I am sick of arguing the point and have heaps to do so must sign off for a fair while.
Towser
Guest
dasilva Andy Harper is talking to Ange Postecoglou on this & Robbie Slater. Firstly I wouldnt trust Ange to run a team above under nines & secondly any guy who wears T-Shirts as tight as Robbie Slater must have impaired judgement after a while.(Yes sat close to me at a SFC vs Roar match at the SFS Nov 2007).
dasilva
Roar Guru
I do believe that the style of football throughout PIm entire coaching reign for Australia has been exaggerated and overly criticized. However I still believe that criticism of the style of football against Japan where we were overly cautious is fair. IMO this was the most defensive performance from the socceroos that I could remember. I've seen far worst performance before but I haven't seen a more negative performance. It's akin to the attitude of a relegation battler has against the big 4. They maybe a technical gap between Australia and Japan but not to such an extent where we have to park in front of the goals. Everyone expected that Australia will go to Japan and defend. It's just the degree and the magnitude that took many people by surprised. We couldn't produce a single good chance. We didn't really counter attack to any sort of effect. At the minimum you expect the socceroos to produce one or two chance during a counter attack but we couldn't even do that. We expected that Kennedy would have been subbed on a little bit before the 84th minute. Was it really that necessary to delay the attacking substitution to such a late stage? I don't think so
Millster
Guest
I'm too busy to keep arguing but again I repeat for one last time today: 1. totally unrealistic expectations here given where we are in the footballing world 2. 20 points from 10 world cup qualifiers and a few notable friendly results in between is absolutely not parking the bus We can either carp on or support a coach who is delivering unprecedented results for our nation (and I say that even with Guus in mind who was a short-term hired gun vs Pim's much longer commitment, tenure and development focus) If our flag flies up the pole in South Africa then I'll have seen all the success that I can realistically expect at this particular point in time and I'll be ecstatic.
dasilva
Roar Guru
Mid This is part of what you missed out on (although I can't find his rant in front of Pim Verbeek though). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukfEsYMBH_E