If you’ve ever had kids, you’ve probably been asked that question a thousand times, usually coming from the back seat of your car. Just to placate them you might say; “soon mate . . . nearly there” or “won’t be long now Princess”. Is Australian football there yet?
With our third coming in the FIFA World Cup, our second in succession, has Australian football finally arrived as a mainstream sport in Australia?
And has Australian as a sporting country finally been accepted as one of the world’s true football nations?
In his book, Shielas, Wogs and Poofters, Johnny Warren’s criteria for football finally arriving in this country had been summarised in three main ambitions:
1. Setting up a viable Australian national football competition,
2. Becoming a part of Asia, the fastest growing football market in the world, and
3. Producing a national football team that could compete successfully to win the FIFA World Cup
On the first point, has the A-League now become a viable national football competition?
When the A-League first started there were real concerns that it would fail. Frank Lowy the FFA Chairman at the time begged people to support it and please don’t let it fail again. This was football’s last chance and please give it your support.
Most football fans today would probably give the A-League the thumbs up, but with falling crowds last year and only a few A-League clubs actually making a profit, others would argue whether it is indeed viable and a long-term proposition.
Established and well supported yes, especially compared to the defunct National Soccer League that it replaced, but the A-League faces some serious financial challenges in the next few years with a declining world economy and having to support two more teams this season and another two next year.
On the second point, I think we can all agree that its mission accomplished.
Despite some early protests from incumbent Asian countries, Australia is now well and truly a part of Asian football.
Johnny would be smiling down on all of us about that – particularly the impressive way we have qualified for the FIFA World Cup this time through the Asian Football Confederation.
There seems little chance now that Australia will not remain a major player in the AFC and qualify again in future years through Asia.
A-League clubs are also competing successfully in the major Asian club football competition – the Asian Champions’ League. It’s not that far fetched to think that one day an A-League club will be the AFC’s ACL champion.
The third objective probably gets the lowest mark.
Yes, we are in the FIFA World Cup for a third time, but will we be challenging to win it?
Johnny Warren always said that instead of just struggling to just get into the FIFA World Cup, football would only ever succeed in this country if we were going there with the mentality to actually try and win the FIFA World Cup.
I’m sure Pim Verbeek and the lads are always going to prepare themselves to be able to beat any country in world football, but do they really think they can win it.
Will our country of overachievers ever finally over achieve in world football to that extent?
Are we there yet?
Well kids, its still six months till we even know who we will be playing and then its another six months till we actually get to play and who knows what’s going to happen after that.
Be patient.
Just sit back, relax, think pleasant thoughts and enjoy the ride along the way.
I promise you it’s going to be lots of fun.
jimbo
Guest
Great move up the FIFA rankings table by the Socceroos. If we stay in the top 24 ranked teams by the time of the WC draw next December that means we will be drawn against one of the lower 8 ranked teams which includes potentially, NZ, Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, Japan and South Korea. I'm sure WC Qualifiers have a higher weighting than friendlies in FIFA Ranking determination. However, we have played all our WC qualifiers now and only have friendlies left before December - lets hope we do very well in the friendlies between now and then.
tifosi
Guest
after the usa's 2 nil win over spain, i dont think the USA need tips from us!!
Slippery Jim
Guest
Freakish jumps up the table are not unknown for the socceroos. For example, we jumped 40 full spots in the FIFA rankings from May to June 2004 (from 89th to 49th). At that time we had two friendly losses to Turkey at home, and WCQ match wins against the mighty NZ (9:0), Tahiti (6:1), and Fiji (3:0), and Vanuatu (3:0) and a draw with Solomon Islands (2:2). All these matches were at home (mostly in Adelaide). The FIFA rankings factors in number of goals scored which would certainly have helped at the time. In any case, we will have to wait until 1st July when the results are published before we can celebrate our new FIFA ranking...
whiskeymac
Guest
USA are 10 years ahead of Oz - the MLS and HAL and the markets they operate in are strikingly similar. I agree with the sentiment that the new boys should take the best bits from the others - and we are the new boys. what wld the US learn from us when we are still learning to stand on our feet domestically and internationaly?
whiskeymac
Guest
Jets and Mariners were lame ducks - hardly the best HAL teams of the last 12 months, and this was evident in the ACL no more so than last night. It's been argued before but the teams in the ACL from Oz are not the best teams bcause of the year delay in getting to play. The jets team that won the toilet seat were not playing against Pohang. the Jets team that got the wooden spoon were. It wasnt just Pohang that waltzed against the Jets - teams in the HAL were doing the same dance also. NJ getting that far was quite good though, one bad night, some woeful defending and well... they were smacked silly. Only positive being that it was a good learning experience for the coach and players maybe. USA over Spain. improbable but great! Spain reverting back to their old ways - just like Holland after '88? Am not sure it is any more significant than Australia's exploits in reaching the final beating France and drawing with Brazil way back when - did this mean we had a better system in 2000 than France? Nah. Not detracting for the USA's great win but i would still rather have players like torres, Fabregas and Xavi being produced for our NT and think the system is better - just had a game when USA was seemingly hungrier and not taking it for granted. (maybe there wa sa touch of the gringos cant play and we'll easily win from the lauded spaniards?).
Slippery Jim
Guest
Pippu, reaching the final of the ACL is hardly delving to low depths! Let us know when the Vics reach the finals of the ACL...
Pippinu
Roar Guru
md I don't know if you saw it, but about a week ago someone put up a thread about the possibility of the US following the Australian model (whatever that is). A few of us, including David V and I, were left scratching our heads as to why anyone would suggest that the US should be looking to us, when they appear to have achieved far more over the last 15 years or so. As I said in that thread, it wasn't Australia that pushed Italy to the brink last WC, it was the US - and most in the footballing world have been ignoring the progress the US has been making over the last 15 years - or at least have been trying to explain it away as a temporary aberration. But it's something that is worth studying. As you say, a handful of professionals, no galacticos, and they operate in a marketplace where locally soccer is more discredited than happens in Australia. There is something about the progress that the US NT has made that needs looking at by the likes of us - and definitely not the other way round.
md
Guest
Hmm... Cliche time: Jets need an engine overhaul. It shows the problems of a 2 year gap between qualifying and playing in the ACL. They looked like the worst team in the A-league; which they are both on and off the field. USA proved that they are flying though. What a boilover and also what a vindication for their football programme, which at the top end, is a bit like ours -> a decentish but salary capped comp that is still a second tier sports event in their nation, and a large contingent of national team players based in europe, particularly the UK. No galacticos, but lots of very well respected professionals playing regularly for good clubs and a coach who knows what he is doing. Any football theorists want to declare a model? That Spanish fragility though... Cheers md
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Just when we thought that absolutely no one would delve depths lower than AU were able to reach, an Australian team has managed to hit an all time low. Just when we thought that AU's abject performance was the pinnacle of public humiliation, another A-League team has outdone them. All I can say is that just when we think we have seen it all...
David V.
Guest
So Adelaide United's performances are a mere oasis then? Or that Sydney nearly reached the final round? Perhaps our game is in need of an injection of new ideas from abroad and the poor level of play in our league and latest showings in the ACL underline it.
tifosi
Guest
after newcastle's 6- nil shellacking in Pohang, Coupled with the central coast mariners abject display also, it would indicate that we are nowhere near there yet when it comes to playing in asia.
md
Guest
Reading his full blog is hugely instructive. In iteration III, he had used the Elo algorithm to predict the Aus v Jap game would have been a draw, which would have had us in 23rd spot. Given the log-jam of teams around the same points, a win over the Japs resulted in us advancing 7 or 8 spots. Cheers md
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Art if we had known about this little lurk before...
Art Sapphire
Guest
You can always make an argument on the merit of these rankings but they are based on WC qualifying form. Australia goes undefeated in qualifying, Portugal is struggling in WC qualifying hence our ranking above them. Now we know why the Yanks are always highly placed. Win lots of game in WC qualifying and watch your ranking soar. http://www.football-rankings.info/ July 2009 rank - Team - July 2009 points - +/- Ranking - +/- Points 1 Spain 1519 0 -242 2 Brazil 1500 3 212 3 Netherlands 1379 -1 -63 4 Italy 1229 0 -63 5 Germany 1207 -2 -171 6 England 1165 0 -60 7 Russia 1161 2 -6 8 Argentina 1091 -1 -112 9 France 1082 1 15 10 Croatia 1031 -2 -169 11 Greece 1003 6 81 12 Switzerland 930 4 -1 13 Serbia 925 7 55 14 Denmark 909 10 73 15 Australia 886 14 107 16 USA 885 -2 -62 17 Portugal 879 -6 -125 18 Côte d'Ivoire 874 20 129 19 Ukraine 869 0 -22 20 Uruguay 860 -3 -62 21 Czech Republic 850 -6 -93 22 Paraguay 846 -9 -115 23 Bulgaria 840 0 2 24 Scotland 837 -2 -3 25 Israel 823 0 -4 26 Romania 814 2 24 27 Chile 811 10 65 28 Turkey 809 -16 -155 29 Cameroon 803 -8 -52 30 Costa Rica 801 11 107 31 Gabon 789 17 173 32 Northern Ireland 785 -5 -35 33 Nigeria 773 -3 3 34 Ghana 772 2 22 35 Mexico 768 -9 -54 36 Ecuador 760 8 74 37 Honduras 758 -2 -3 37 Republic of Ireland 758 -3 -4 39 Egypt 753 1 34 40 Japan 723 -9 -43 41 Poland 706 -2 -16 42 Sweden 702 -11 -64 43 Slovakia 688 -1 -5 44 Hungary 681 -1 -6 45 Bosnia-Herzegovina 680 -12 -83 46 Colombia 675 -1 -3 47 Algeria 659 19 169 48 Korea Republic 634 -2 -20
Koala Bear
Guest
MD, I think you posted Australia’s 15th FIFA rating on the wrong thread.. Gawd I wish you would have put that down on a Michael C’s article ... Well done MD ... What a fantastic result and welcome bit of news with the 2018 bid growing at an almighty pace... Pip, Pip, Hurrah (no not you Pippi) ~~~~~~~ KB
md
Guest
Yeah - it's certainly odd. Also, I was wrong earlier: it appears that AFC qualifiers and WC qualifiers have the same weighting. Cheers md
Towser
Guest
ELO ratings 21 June up to Japan game :- http://www.eloratings.net/ Go figure.
md
Guest
Imagine where we would be if Pim hadn't thrown those games against China and the AFC cup nations - we might have been nudging the top 10! Cheers md
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Hear, hear!!
Mr
Guest
Nothing will be official until July 1st, this is a *projected* ranking, AUS to be either 15 or 16 depending on the result of the Spain/US match. Pippinu, I'm asking myself the same - although the guy who does these projections is usually quite accurate.