It’s been a dramatic sort of week for national men’s coach Pim Verbeek, first with Sasa Ognenovski coming out in the press and bucketing the Dutchman for destroying his dream of representing the Socceroos.
Then Verbeek himself going on the backfoot and publicly apologising for calling Socceroos striker Archie Thompson “absolutely hopeless” in Jakarta last month.
Verbeek has been weathering all sorts of direct and veiled criticism for his no-frills football and no-frills talking for a year now, but the level of antipathy towards him has probably never been so high.
And it comes at a strange time, with Australia virtually one game away from securing automatic qualification for South Africa 2010.
I will declare that I have had a coffee or two with Verbeek over the time he’s been in the country and I enjoy a good personal relationship with him. But I’ve never been afraid to tell him what I think he might be doing wrong or could be doing better (inasmuch as my opinion counts for anything) and to his credit he always listens. He might not agree but he listens – and that is the mark of a gentleman.
Verbeek, however, has strong opinions of his own and he isn’t normally one to resile from them, so it is notable that he has toned down his act. But he would have sensed that perhaps he had stepped over the line with his recent brutal assessments of the A-League and the ructions they caused in the press and among A-League coaches and chief executives who have been working overtime to lure representative players home.
By far the most damaging salvo fired at Verbeek, though, was Ognenovski’s, who has now left the country for Korean club football and Macedonian national-team honours.
“If [Verbeek] doesn’t respect the league, he should keep his thoughts to himself,” he railed this week. “He’s way too harsh. I mean some of the games I’ve seen from the Dutch league are horrible. You get good and bad games anywhere. Basically, he’s bagging the players that he wants to go out there and do a job against teams like Kuwait. That’s not going to motivate them, it’s going to destroy their confidence. I’ve spoken to a few of them and they just shake their heads every time he says something about the A-League.”
This is a revealing quote, because any player on the fringe of national-team selection is loath to reveal any reservations he might have about the manager or his methods for fear of jeopardising his career.
But Ognenovski had nothing to lose and, fresh from the grand final and with six Adelaide team-mates in the squad for the Socceroos’ 5 March match against Kuwait in Canberra, he would have known what is going on inside the camp – and inside the minds of the players.
Whether or not Verbeek or Ognenovski is right on this issue is really beside the point.
It is imperative that the perception of division between team and manager be addressed and nipped in the bud immediately. And that requires compromise from both camps – Verbeek perhaps holding his fire more than usual and the “Socceroos Lite” players (our A-League Socceroos) learning to accept his methods and some of his “madness”.
Verbeek is an excellent manager who has an international track record that is second to none in this country. He deserves respect.
I’m sure he’s enough of a man, though, to also admit he could start reciprocating a little as well.
dasilva
Roar Guru
I think Inman has to earn his full senior cap. Get Jan Versleijen to call Inman and Dean Bouzanis (who declared that he wants to be available for the young socceroos) the next time the young socceroos play and get him to assess them. Players who have one game even for an EPL club doesn't necessarily mean we should rushed to cap the player. Also nice video highlights there Mid
jimbo
Guest
Mid, some great memories there and some great goals. Ange Posticoglou, Paul Trimboli and Gary Van Egmond in their prime. Priceless.
Midfielder
Guest
Das & Sam IMO just cap him against Ireland
Midfielder
Guest
KB I hope you see this have a look at the footage of old South Melbourne NSL goals on this link, and compare them with the A League goals of today. http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3374939
dasilva
Roar Guru
Well I actually agree with Green and Gold that Nicky Carle really should have been selected for the Kuwait qualifiers.
jimbo
Guest
Green and Gold 2010. Couldn't agree more mate.
Sam
Guest
If he is a talented attacking midfielder as I assume his, then he is someone we desperately need in the next 10 years. Seems he has a similar story to Kewell and Cahill where he went overseas at a very young age. Could turn out to be as big as Kewell or Cahill (though we don't know yet). I'm sure if we qualify for the next World Cup we could somehow convince him to play for us. He could be the player we have been looking for.
dasilva
Roar Guru
I have to agree with Captain Random He was born in Australia and live here for 14 years, lives in England for 3 years. If he wanted to play for England then fine but I find this playing for your parents origin down right annoying. Has he ever lived in Scotland outside of family holidays. Sure FFA stuffed up and I'm always a little annoyed that they never keep in contact and monitor the progress with players in Europe. When we select under 17, under 19 and under 21 national team, we don't tend to select or monitor players in youth squads in europe (Dean Bouzanis?) and select mostly people in Australia. I think we lost a youth player to Wales recently due to this issue. Players have to complain to the media before FFA comes in and negotiate with the players. Who to blame? I say Jan Versleijen the coach of the joeys and young socceroos. I'm hoping Inman is just using the media and threatening to play for Scotland as a means to get some contacts with FFA rather then seriously considering to play for Scotland.
Captain Random
Guest
I get the feeling that young Mr. Inman is being rather "promiscuous" concerning his nationality. What, nobody talks to him and suddenly he feels Scottish? Is the prospect of plane travel daunting to him? Does he consider himself to be Australian or not? It's not even as if Scotland are that strong a nation. They didn't qualify for the last World Cup. They can't even be relied upon to beat the likes of, say, Australia. This is not a similar case to Joey Didulica performing heroics in the Champions League for Ajax and not even making Socceroo squads, as Joey was older and way more deserving of the Socceroos no.1 jersey than anyone else at the time. Bradden is still a kid. He could become the next Craig Johnston if he's not careful (by that I mean not play for Australia and regret it later). Having said all that, total stuff-up by the FFA. Absolutely disgraceful.
Midfielder
Guest
IF this is True someone at the FFA maybe PIM needs a big kick up the arse. Some say this kid is as good as KOOL at the same age this is a huge f**k UP if true http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25154613-11088,00.html Bradden Inman poised to select Scotland over Australia Sunday Herald Sun Scott Walsh March 08, 2009 12:00am THE Socceroos appear certain to lose one of their brightest hopes - because no one from Football Federation Australia has bothered to contact him. Only days after Australia's embarrassing 1-0 loss to Kuwait, the Socceroos face another bungle with Adelaide 17-year-old Bradden Inman revealing he is poised to choose Scotland as his national team. The gun Newcastle United midfielder, a substitute for the Magpies' Premier League clash with Manchester City last month, is torn between loyalty to Australia and the opportunity to play with either Scotland or England. His mother, Lorraine, was born in Scotland while the parents of his father were born in England, so he qualifies for all three nations. Inman lived in Adelaide until he was 14 before shifting overseas on an under-15s scholarship with Newcastle. He was called up to play for Scotland's under-19s national team 10 days ago ago and says while his childhood dream was to represent Australia, he had yet to hear anything from Socceroos scouts or officials. "I did think if I can come over to Newcastle then the next step is to try to play for Australia," Inman said. "But no one's been in contact with me or anything. "My goals are playing for Newcastle's first team, and either playing for Scotland or Australia, maybe in a World Cup. "At the minute playing for Scotland, it's a lot better. "If you travel to Australia you've got to sit on a plane for 24 hours and you don't play matches that are as good. "So, at the minute, it's Scotland." Should Scotland select him as an under-21, it would lock Inman out of the Socceroos system.
Green n Gold 2010
Guest
WHERE IS NICKY CARLE!!!!!!!!!! sACK PIM BRING IN TROUSSIER AS WELL AS JORVAN VIERA!!!!! sTOP THESE BLOODY BORING DUTCH COACHES....REVERT TO BRAZILLIAN!!
Luke W
Guest
If Matt Simon and Robert Cornthwaite are the future of Australian football then I may as well give up now.
Towser
Guest
Reading through the posts the one major point to me is the way Pimmis treatingthe 2 competitions,World Cup & Asian Cup. This is from Mike Cockerills article in SMH today(full article below) "No, the key difference between these two teams was the most precious commodity in international football - experience. Kuwait fielded six players who played against Australia in the 2007 campaign, and seven survivors from their 2004 Asian Cup squad. This was their first-choice selection. By contrast, Australia handed debuts to four players, and another six were playing just their second game for their country. That's a lot more green than gold. And much more relevant than the fact the players come from the A-League." So far I have stood behind Pim in our WC campaign & for this comp I still do regardless of playing style to get the end result,qualification as in this paragraph from MC. "What is clear after Thursday night's loss to Kuwait in Canberra is that the honeymoon period is over for Verbeek. The rumblings of discontent about style have been stymied by what has, so far, been a successful World Cup campaign. But a poor start to the Asian Cup qualifiers has changed the dynamic. Verbeek is now under more scrutiny than he has ever been, and it will be revealing to see how he reacts." However he is an employee of the FFA ,therefore us the fans. Without us the game is nothing. We demand respect for the National teams we support regardless of the International competition. Forget all his quips about the standard of the A-League,this is the bottom line. In my book PIm is highly negligent in the managing of our Asian Cup campaign by putting 10 players on the park against Kuwait(in sharp contrast to them) with either no or next to none International experience. That is when he really is rubbing my nose as a long standing Socceroo fan in the sh*t. I & other Socceroo fans cant personally tell him that ,but as Pims employee the FFA can. This lack of experience cannot be allowed to happen again for any team representing this country. THe end result is that some journalists are putting the blame fairly & squarely on the shoulders of the A-League& saying "Pim told us so(see Ray Gatt article in the Australian today also below). The fact is the truth lies somewhere in between the 2 articles. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25149386-5003460,00.html http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/football/time-has-come-for-pim-to-put-plan-b-into-action/2009/03/06/1235842658274.html
dasilva
Roar Guru
Misreading the culture I'll agree with that one. Funny enough Fozzie believes that Pim is more Australian then most Australian in Football as he was under misinterpretation that Australian like to tell it like it is (fozzie then say PIm is good enough to join SBS to become a football analyst) I think Pim has misread the football culture of Australia. Football in Australia is still battle scared and has a fear that it could all go down hill and go back to the start. We see how Craig Foster get hounded for some of his criticism shows that football is generally very sensitive to criticism with a believe that if there is too much criticism, Australian football will be damage irreparably . With that in mind Pim has to be very careful about the way he criticise the a-league and the players and showed far more diplomacy and tact that Fozzie rarely has if he wanted to avoid the same criticism. Case in point was the harmless "absolutely hopeless' comment that was beat up by the media. Lack of understanding that media will pick up the catch line - hopeless and ignore everything else he says. Training in europe better then A-league - simple justification that beauchamp, kennedy and spiranovich are training in a very high level and that training in bundesliga is very intense and are still good enough to be picked for the socceroos instead of unnecessary comparison to the a-league would have avoided controversy. He would still be saying and doing the same thing but avoiding lines that could be beaten up by media. That just shows inexperience handling with the media. maybe difficult getting right words as english is his second language
dasilva
Roar Guru
KB How can you say that Pim didn't want training camp? He had it last year. he has been complaining about lack of preparation for the indonesia match. We know that A-league clubs have a frosty relationship with Pim. We have clubs who tried to pull players out of Pim training camp in the past. I'm more convince of club vs country scenario rather then Pim just being lazy. I know you don't like PIm as a coach but you are taking it way too far if you think he is too lazy to have camps. Especially when he says he prefers a club like atmosphere where he has regular contacts with players in contrast to international matches he rarely works with the players (he actually express an interest in coaching A-league clubs after his stint with the socceroos has finish funny enough)
Koala Bear
Guest
Jimbo, absolutely correct .. Go back to the Frank Arok and Eddie Thompson era .. they had regular train on sessions at Barton Park in the St. George Football Stadium for the Roos during the NSL season and after .. To bond, to keep the players fit, to create cohesion, and understanding in the squad ... A number of practice matches were arranged with local state leagues teams in Sutherland and other areas .. even interstate .. to keep the players fit and playing together.. Thursday night showed that Pimbo has no understanding of the local landscape or how to tackle the obstacles that confront the HAL players.. He does not know how to prepare a team restricted to the local conditions... The HAL players are good players without a good manager... This is mainly why I don't like foreign managers as they have no understanding of local conditions.. Guus the only exception.. That's why Terry Venables failed in 1997 he had no understanding of the local players talent or worth... Choosing players that were not up to the task.. instead of the good local talent... Milan Ivanovic ... ~~~~~~~~ KB
Offcutter
Guest
I was close to denouncing my citizenship, that game showed how bad the A-League is. I've followed football closely for 17 years and I can not say anything good about that side apart from Craig Moore. People should praise Pim for his honest assessment of our subpar league. Personally I dont watch football to see Archie Thompson try to take on 3 players and lose the ball EVERY FRIGGIN TIME, or to see Tom Pondeljak miss a shot from so close. The guy must do well at parties, he scored in the dreadful A-League final from a mistimed shot. But yet he misses 4 foot from goal. He's like your mate at a party who gets on with the fat chick after spewing on the hot girl. In other news, the Victory have resigned Nick Ward. Are you kidding me? How does this guy even get picked?
jimbo
Guest
Slippery, I haven’t said anything about Arnie for at least of couple of weeks now. Pimbo is based in Australia and a lot of the A-League players have been available for weeks, so why did we have only 2 days preparation for this game? He could have started a local Socceroos train on squad a month ago and prepared the lads a lot better. As each finals game finished he could have added players as they become available. What’s the story Pimbo? You want the A-League Socceroos to lose to make yourself look better?
dasilva
Roar Guru
Midfield General Yeah that rant was a bit off topic (allthough this topic is partially about Ogre leaving the socceroos) but I don't like this allegiance to the country of parent origin. I don't vote in the country of parent origin, i'm never going to pay taxes to that country, their government are not going to serve me. I owe the country of my parents origin absolutely nothing. I guess the difference is that with International Football we don't think of it as a job but more of representing your country. IN the end if Ogre just sees this as purely as a career/business decision but feels deep down that he is Australian at heart then I can tolerate it. But that then raises a can of worms about what does international football really mean then.
onside
Guest
We have come a long way in Australia.Sure the Soccerroos were outclassed and the tactics 'kick the ball in the air ,not along the ground in our own third ' were ROO BALL, (why didnt the coaches change the 'air ball' tactics).But a few years ago Australia could not have mustered a team from a national competition.We can now.One day it will be exciting ,and we will reap the rewards of these formative years.A way off? maybe.I want it to succeed so much.We all do.And thats the hardest thing,the weight of expectation.Put in perspective, when was the last time a Soccerroo wore number 111.Be patient people, be patient.This is the magic of ASIA.You get another crack at it another year. New kids,new talent. In the meantime , there will be many more dissapointments.But we need to be proud of our A League boys giving their all even though it was terrible . Crap game, but the dream lives.Every now and again say,"thankyou Mr Lowy ".