- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Ljubo Milicevic practices during a training session, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005 (AP Photo/Daniel Luna)
Apropos of nothing, I had a thought Tuesday afternoon while talking on the blower to my good friend the football historian Greg Stock. Why isn’t there an Australian sporting team with the name the ‘Bears’ any more?
We had the great North Sydney Bears, the team I adored growing up in Balmoral before my parents divorced and I crossed the bridge with my mum to try our luck as inner westies in Balmain. Naturally I became a Tigers supporter and nominally remain one to this day, though Wests Tigers simply ain’t the same.
Then there was the not-so-great Brisbane Bears, the AFL expansion team that was the early incarnation of the Brisbane Lions we know today, a forced mélange of Brisbane and Fitzroy.
I don’t remember much about that team other than Brad Hardie, his ginga mullet and his massive white legs, but there was something nice and alliterative about the name Brisbane Bears.
If I could ever bring myself to live in Brisbane, and the chances of that are as good as Nicole Ritchie winning the Nobel Peace Prize, I could have warmed to that team. But Brisbane Lions? No chance.
The only Bears I know of today have that name only because they are a byword for dysfunction: I speak of course of the Bad News Bears, the Newcastle Jets, that are defying the pundits by staying alive in the Asian Champions League in spite of an owner that likes to threaten to throw fans off his balcony, a coach whose aura has disappeared without a trace, and more intra-dressing-room intrigue and disruption than any team should rightfully bear (no pun intended).
I love them for their drama and I love them especially for their captain, the cleft-palated Ljubo Milicevic. I’ve written a bit about him recently and I’m going to write about him again because the guy is the most interesting and one of the most talented players getting around in the A-League.
Fresh from spraying Con Constantine and appearing on SBS’s The World Game TV program dressed like a member of The Specials, Milicevic has now aimed his bazooka-like mouth at Pim Verbeek the Australian national men’s coach for not calling him up for a provisional expanded training squad for the June World Cup qualifiers.
I said weeks ago on TWG that I had serious doubts about Milicevic being picked by Verbeek – “If Verbeek doesn’t have the patience for a talent as mercurial but enigmatic as Nicky Carle, how much could he possibly have for Milicevic” – and so it has come to pass.
“I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t in this country,” Milicevic told Matthew Hall. “Even the haters have come out and said I have stunned them with my form after not playing for a year. Now Verbeek has come out and said he has better central defenders.
“I’ve spoken to people and they’ve said it wasn’t necessary for [Verbeek] to have a dig at me. It is like how he rips into the A-League and then picks them all for a game.
“I didn’t appreciate his comments but everyone knows that Pim doesn’t give a f*ck when it comes to commenting about players from Australia.”
“He has not met me so why does he have to bag me?”
“I am not playing in the A-League. I am playing in the Asian Champions League. This is the best in Asia. Australia is in the Asian Confederation for the World Cup qualifiers and, without sounding arrogant at all, Newcastle has dominated all our opposition in the Asian Champions League.”
All true, and it doesn’t cast Verbeek in a very flattering light if our national coach hasn’t even met or spoken to the most in-from central defender in the A-League. If true, he deserves rebuke.
But the best part of Milicevic’s interview with Hall was the former Socceroo’s assessment of Australia’s continued spurning of flair and artistry in favour of discipline and possession. As anyone who knows my stuff well knows, it is something I’ve been complaining about for years.
Milicevic was specific. He raised the name of Nicky Carle.
“I find it unfortunate that there are some really talented guys out there who just don’t get a look in. These guys offer a unique understanding of the game with their technical ability but, in this country, they are not appreciated.
“What they do doesn’t seem good enough. They say Nicky Carle might not be the fittest bloke but he’s just gone and played a season in a tough league in England and he doesn’t get a look in.
“Tactically, you have to be a unit on the pitch but when you see players get the ball and back themselves to do something different to open up a game, that is what we all love about our beautiful game.
“The guy who has the extra bit of skill and class is exciting to watch. But instead, when you watch Australia now, it’s like ‘Let’s keep possession and not score goals’. Or even, ‘Let’s not keep possession, let’s just play no-risk football’… I went and watched the last game against Uzbekistan and I wanted to leave at half-time. I had never seen Australia play so boring. Everyone is scared to show their individuality. It is a team sport but what makes it great are the individual moments of brilliance.
“Looking from the outside in, it does not excite me. I have never played football that way. It is worrying when your best player is your goalkeeper. [Verbeek’s style is managing to] suck the life out of Australian players.”
Now I admire Verbeek, I think he is a great guy who has managed to get Australia to the cusp of World Cup qualification, but I think Milicevic is right. The Socceroos don’t entertain any more. The last time I saw an Australia match that I really enjoyed was against Nigeria back in late 2007.
Coincidentally it was the first starting appearance Carle made for the Socceroos and he turned in a man-of-the-match performance.
This is not another blog about Carle. Perish the thought. But Milicevic’s words are brave, I believe they are bang on the money and they warrant our attention and consideration.
Of course, Verbeek will ignore them, but he can’t go on ignoring the unpalatable truth behind them forever.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.