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Now, part of the deal in getting a Dutchman as your head men’s national-team coach is you get a lot of plain talking thrown in for no charge. It’s something his domestic peers still quite haven’t come to grips with, if we are to inspect the damage from the latest verbal hand-grenade he’s lobbed into the A-league breach.
North Queensland Fury chairman Don Matheson is livid about comments Pim Verbeek made midweek regarding the representative prospects of new Gold Coast recruit Jason Culina.
It’s not especially breaking news – Verbeek was warning of Culina possibly jeopardising his Socceroos career by returning home in his prime a month ago – but it is timely, given Matheson is, in his own words, “busting his guts” to convince Culina’s fellow Socceroo Scott Chipperfield to play in Townsville and simultaneously keep his dream of going to South Africa 2010 alive.
“This could not have come at a worse time,” he said. “If I was a player, I’d probably be worried about what he’s saying … we’re right at the death in terms of the negotiations, and now the worry is this could have an impact. We’d be shattered if this affects his decision.”
And fair enough.
From a business perspective, Verbeek’s comments are unfortunate for the Fury, and they haven’t been helped by Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley’s tacit support of Verbeek’s views.
On the surface at least, what Verbeek is saying about the quality of the A-League compared to European leagues is highly incompatible with the goals and objectives of the FFA, which philosophically has been to lure the best available Australian players home from overseas.
But the FFA’s efforts have been piecemeal. It has been largely the individual initiative of clubs that have persuaded the likes of Jason Culina, Ljubo Milicevic, Paul Agostino and others to come back to Australia.
So it was perhaps fanciful of Matheson and anyone else to think Buckley was going to condemn Verbeek for whiteanting the A-League.
But there is, to be fair to Matheson, some inherent flaws in Verbeek’s broadbrush assessment of the A-League and what its players can offer the national team.
Craig Moore, the only A-League player to take the field in the recent Australia vs Japan World Cup qualifier in Yokohama, was arguably the Socceroos’ best on the night. Playing in the A-League has not hampered his abilities, as much as I can tell. He still seems sharp with his skills and positionally aware.
There is no reason, I believe, to think Culina cannot emulate the example of his Socceroos team-mate and play to the level he has hitherto provided for his manager. Culina says he can do it and who is to doubt him? He’s one of the hardest working Socceroos in the game’s history.
The A-League needs as many quality Socceroos that are still playing in Europe to finish their careers – either mid or late – in Australia.
It is incumbent on the clubs and the FFA to give them all the encouragement and incentives they can. And, to a certain point, that includes our national coach.
But it is up to them, and no else, to prove once they get back here that they are up to the task of combining representing a domestic club with representing the Socceroos.
If Culina thought he was blazing a trail just signing for the Gold Coast, he’s very much mistaken.
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