Kaiserslauten, Germany, 12 June 2006. Tim Cahill scores a double and John Aloisi ices the cake with an incredible three goals in the final eight minutes to beat Japan 3-1 in their opening World Cup match.
People are dancing in the street, bosses don’t care if people are late for work and Mel and Kochie are draped in Socceroos scarves. Australia is a nation transformed by the power of football.
Four years on, are we going to see the same scenes of pandemonium?
Probably not, and it’s all because of one man – Pim Verbeek.
Just to make things clear, I am not a person who just recently got into football and doesn’t really know much about it. I have played football all my life, supported Brisbane Roar and up until now followed the Socceroos with great passion.
But enough is enough. Pim Verbeek has been one of the worst coaches to take the reins of the Socceroos in history.
Firstly, let’s focus on his record in charge of the Socceroos. Coached 28, won 16, lost 4, drawn 8, with a win percentage of 57%. At first it sounds quite good, but then it is revealed to be nothing special when compared to other Australian coaches.
Guus Hiddink has a record of 12 games, 7 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses, and a win percentage that is marginally better at 58%. But who were those three losses against?
Brazil, Italy and Uruguay – all teams inside the top 15 when they were played and all World Cup-winning nations.
However, it is unfair to compare Verbeek to the best coach in the world. Let’s compare him to the much maligned Frank Farina. Under Farina, the Socceroos, played 58, won 34, drew 9 and lost 15, with a win percentage of 59%.
Kind of weird isn’t it, that a ‘results is everything’ coach doesn’t have as good a record as a man who had a much more open style of play. Very weird indeed.
A common argument in support of Verbeek is that we are expecting too much quality from the national team as we are comparing them to the world’s best teams. That’s rubbish!
Just a simple comparison with Germany 2006 proves that he isn’t performing. The world cup squad in 2006 was: Schwarzer, Neill, Moore, Cahill, Culina, Popovic, Emerton, Skoko, Viduka, Kewell, Lazaridis, Covic, Grella, Chipperfield, Aloisi, Beauchamp, Thompson, Kalac, Kennedy, Wilkshire, Sterjovski, Milligan, Bresciano.
The World cup squad in 2010 has the same core of players. Yet they simply aren’t performing well. There have been disappointing performances against the Netherlands, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, China, Japan, Ghana, Kuwait, South Korea and finally New Zealand.
The disgraceful and completely unwarranted tackles by Cahill and Grella are signs of an Australian team who is stressed and underperforming. The volume of these lousy performances has taken shape in the stands, where there are decreasing attendances.
95,000 witnessed Josip Skoko volley home to capture a very solid performance at the MCG. There was a feeling of expectation going into the Germany 2006.
This year 55,000 people witnessed a violent, god-awful display which left many Aussie football fans worrying.
The fact the Holman was man of the match was a true display of how far Australia has sunk under Verbeek. Which brings me to my next point, player selections.
Where do you start with Pim Verbeek’s player selections. They are a series of hypocritic, blind and utterly brain dead selections.
Firstly, let’s start with the formation, 4-3-3. Sorry Pim, but it just doesn’t suit Australia’s players. The front three in that formation actually means one, strong powerful out and out striker and two quick wingers. Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie are examples of such players. Players we don’t have.
So instead of shifting the formation he put’s Jason Culina there. Sorry Pim but you match the formation around your playing roster not the other way around. If you had Messi and Ronaldo in one team would you say, “sorry, only room for one of you, Ronaldo go warm the bench.”
No. You would choose a way to fit them in the team.
The times that come to mind when Pim changed his formation was when he played a 4-4-2 against Qatar at home on two occasions, with Josh Kennedy and Scott McDonald up front.
The result was an aggregate 7-0, and a handful of assists for McDonald.
So what does Pim do? He never plays that combination again.
And my final note, Brett Holman. Yes he scored last Monday, yippee – that brings an end to a 26-game drought. Yeah, he runs all day. Let’s put the best 11 marathon runners in Australia on the football pitch and watch them run all day.
Verbeek’s player selections are best captured in the Joel Griffiths debacle. I’ll admit he wasn’t exactly a candidate for my 31 man squad. But Verbeek never watched him once, never phoned him once and didn’t even tell him personally that he missed out on the squad.
His only piece of advice to Joel was in 2008 when he said, “You need to work in you defence.”
He’s a striker!
All in all, Australia will fail at South Africa 2010 because of Pim Verbeek and his numerous shortcomings mentioned above.
Joe FC
Guest
Milovan Rajevac the Ghanaian coach has a view on Pim's tactics. http://www.smh.com.au/world-cup-2010/world-cup-news/ghana-coach-fancies-chances-20100604-xkju.html "Rajevac, who also adopts the 4-2-3-1 formation used by Australia, supported Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek's conservative game plan, saying managers should be judged on substance rather than style. ''[A] beautiful game is easy to be forgotten, the result is the most important,'' he said. ''If you don't have results you will have problems. ''We played some matches against Holland two days ago and they have exceptional players. ''These are the players with enormous prices in the transfer market and the value of them is very simple. If you play [an] open, beautiful game with them it's very difficult so you need to be tactically wise, be more defensive and try to use some of their weaknesses to have results.''
Phil E Buster
Guest
...And now Pim's win ratio is 58% - the same as Guus.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
Both sides seemed to struggle somewhat with the flight of the ball, which reminds me somewhat of the China game in Kunming. In all the Socceroos looked more assured in possession in the middle of the park and good in defence with the all important clean sheet. It was a training run, hence the lack of intensity, however things do seem to be moving in the right direction. No injuries is always a bonus.
Farqwar
Guest
We`showed some really good signs late in the game, played positively and with a bit of confidence
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
Holman's a good fit for Pim's tactics. Best I've seen him play, although I'd still have prefered Carle partnering Kennedy, Another 1-0 win and another classic example of not the most exciting game, but we got the result.
dasilva
Guest
Well I'll be fair to Pim today I said that if we played good defensive football and made the opposition look impotence in attack then I'll give Pim credit and we certainly achieved that this match against Denmark. Denmark only really had one decent chance this entire match and that was a long shot outside the box. As a spectacle, this match was an absolute shocker. However we got the win and although it was a fairly lucky goal, it's the type of performance we can build on. If we keep the same defensive organisation in this match and then improve our attacking play then maybe we have a chance. Also, Holman seems to be improving his touch as well.
Tom
Guest
Great game by Holman tonight.
dasilva
Guest
Hey look, I would love if Pim proved me wrong and I'm not excluding the possibility that we will do well in the World Cup, We have at times played good football under pim. The 3-0 victory over Ireland and the 2-1 victory over Netherlands was superb attacking football by Australia. however those performance have largely been overshadowed by fair amounts of shaky performance under Pim and I'm just not that confident we will replicate the performance at the World Cup. I will support Australia and Pim all the way in the World Cup but I'm not expecting anything from this World Cup when in the previous World Cup, I had expectations of Australian doing well. well, either way at least I won't be disappointed at this world cup.
Peter
Guest
I have to say Pims tactics at the least appear to be non existant..look at the nz game-nz played well there is no doubt what so ever about this and had purpose and a game plan. However, the sooceroes were limp and placid and devoid of any structure.... it was like kids who watch too many reality shows, they expect it to happen all in front of them.... Cahill was played off the park as were some of our other players... ....what about the goals and who is going to get them, I dread what might happen if the defence does not work well...
Phutbol
Guest
I just hope (never gonna happen) that all the people who have written us off before the WC even starts and slagged off the coach in the process will man up and say they were wrong if we get out of the group and progress further along in the tournament. 1 WC appearance in the last 32 years from a team ranked outside the top 50 for most of that time and we should be going all Joga Bonito on the best in the worlds arses....
Phil E Buster
Guest
Interestingly Farina's loss percentage was exactly the same as Guus Hiddink's - 25% or one in four matches played were lost.
Phutbol
Guest
Can I just add (and i dont know how many exactly), I'd also hazard a guess that Frank Farina's win % was padded out by a lot of games against powerhouses like Solomon Islands and American Samoa etc so to compare his stas vs either Guus or Pim's is a little disingenious too.
dasilva
Guest
I am a Pim skeptic. I wouldn't mind as playing dull defensive counter attacking football if we actually play it convincingly. in the majority of matches under Pim Verbeek, we let the opposition create some very clear cut chances on goal that a good team will finish off. People may say that we have to judge him on the results but when a striker from the opposition missed an easy chance on goal that led to our victory, can you really attribute that to good coaching form Pim's behalf. the away match against Bahrain and the match against Japan where we relied on a bit of luck and opposition mistake to win/draw the game. If we played defensive football where we made the opposition look completely impotent up front and then we score on the counter. I would be hell of a lot more confident about Pim as a coach and would defend him from criticism. However our defensive organisation does look shaky which is supposedly Pim's strength as a manager. That's why I'm very skeptical abou his ability to get results in the World Cup.
duncan
Guest
Let's pose another question, is Pim a good qualification coach, tournament coach or both? I am not prepared to slag him off, but as a supporter I will expect him to make some difficult decisions, tactically and in substitutions, when the match is on the line in all likelihood vs Ghana and Serbia.
Tom
Guest
Do you think that Australia would have qualified as comfortably as they did playing more fluid, entertaining football? Personally I don't, but I'm curious what you think.
FP
Guest
Or the lucky wins and draws against weak Asian opponents.
sheek
Guest
Realfootball, Obviously Verbeek must have insulted you somewhere, you have it in for him. You are making a lot of unsustainable assumptions. Verbeek mightn't be the best coach in the world, but he's competent. To me, it's more important for the coach & players to have a positive relationship with each other, than perhaps have a brilliant coach who can't relate to or get along with his players. Now I would be most surprised if you didn't agree with the above paragraph. The senior Socceroos gave their endorsement to Verbeek some years ago, & it's obvious even to a casual fan like myself that there is harmony in the team. Certainly some of the fringe players might be unhappy, but by & large, the senior players seem to like & respect Verbeek. Contrary to your comments Verbeek has selected a game plan that utilises the talents of his team in the best way. And seems to also have the approval of his players. If our playing style appears dull, then that's because we don't yet have the technical skill & flamboyance of Brazil, Argentina, Holland, Spain, etc. It will come (hopefully) eventually, but at present we have to work with what we have. Go Pim! Go the Socceroos!! What the rest of us think is largely irrelevant.....
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
I remember getting very excited about us beating Scotland 2 nil under Farina. When we beat Ireland 3 nil though it didn't attract the same reaction. The bar of what's acceptable has been raised a lot higher and quite quick.... afterall in 07 their weren't protests in the street that Arnold was taking us to the Asian cup (and their should have been!)
matty1974
Guest
Here's a novel idea, let's wait till after the World Cup till analyse Pim's performance. For the record, Pim's 4 losses 1. 0-1 to Kuwait, with a squad of A league players and Pim confined to the stands following a suspension, therefore Graham Arnold should cop this one. 2. 0-1 Away to Iraq, Scharwzer beaten by a freak shot cum cross from almost the halfway line. 3. 0-1 home to China in a dead rubber, with Oz fielding u23 players including Ruben Zadkovich, who makes Holman look like Pele, Maradona and Messi combined. 4. 1-3 away to Korea, with a vastly understrengh squad (no Cahill, Kewell etc) Lets remember also the 3-0 win in Ireland, 2-1 win in Holland, 1-0 win against Ghana etc. Results are all the matters at this stage of Australia's development.
DERBY COUNTY FC
Guest
yeah but Farina played most of his games in Oceania. I don't think you can say that Pim is the sole reason why we won't see the same scenes. 1. You're playing a good team this time (Germany) first up. 2. Your squad has aged four years. 3. Your expectations are higher. 4. Qualification is easy for Australia out of Asia, you should be a shoe in every four years, no 32 year wait and no penalty shoot outs.