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Australia's Tim Cahill left, and captain Lucas Neill, center, lead the team in a warm up run during training at St Stithians College in Johannesburg, South Africa. AP Photo/Rob Griffith.
Talk, talk, talk. We’ve heard a lot of it from the Socceroos at this World Cup. They’ve talked about the referees, they’ve talked about the media. They’ve even talked about how they don’t want to talk. But when they run out against Serbia at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, their actions will speak louder than any words.
It’s been a common theme this World Cup, with everybody seemingly talking about the Socceroos, while the players themselves have not been shy of returning fire.
Even the normally taciturn Mark Schwarzer spoke of his desire to “silence the critics” prior to the tournament kicking off, and it seems that the players have had a gutfull of people talking about them.
It’s a typically Australian trait to talk a good game and the siege mentality adopted by coach Pim Verbeek is nothing new, but what many Socceroos fans are desperate to see is a performance which leaves all the hypotheticals and “what ifs?” on the pitch.
The Socceroos have said plenty ahead of their do-or-die showdown against Serbia, but can they combine their vocal output with a performance to match?
It’s seems that we’re never far away from Lucas Neill flashing his pearly whites and offering a personal assessment of proceedings, and most post-match summaries now feature the prerequisite soundbite from a surly Tim Cahill.
While that’s all well and good, and the fans have every right to hear from the players, what’s starting to become a worrying trend is the tendency for some players to talk bullishly before a big game and then offer a litany of post-match excuses whenever something goes wrong.
Who can forget Neill’s 2007 proclaimation that Australia would “win the Asian Cup undefeated” – a notion cut down just two games into the tournament.
The players have been quick to jostle with the media ever since, with reports now surfacing that Scott Chipperfield wanted to “quit the national team” after the game against Germany due to vociferous criticism of his performance!
I’ve been one of Chipperfield’s biggest fans ever since he started marauding up and down the touchline for the Wollongong Wolves, but the idea that he might walk out of a tournament just because some fans and media questioned one performance seems ludicrous.
I hope more than anyone that ‘Chippers’ smashes home a bucketload of goals to ensure the Socceroos progress, but I can live without the hail of “we told youse so!” that will invariably follow should Australia go through.
Harry Kewell’s recent tête-à-tête with Fairfax columnist Mike Cockerill was surely the height of frivolity – I can understand players wishing to set the record straight, but surely on the eve of a crucial World Cup game, they’ve got more important things to worry about than which journalist is saying what?
Leave it to the redoubtable Simon Hill to step in and rebuke Kewell’s claim that the media’s job should be to “support the team and make them feel good,” with Hill quite rightly pointing out the media’s job is actually to “critique, and ask questions the fans are demanding to be answered.”
Hopefully this will be a moot point as Australians tuck into their breakfast on Thursday morning, but I for one am growing a little tired of the endless talking that seems to precede every Socceroos match of late.
It’s time to stand up and be remembered for the performance on the pitch, and not for the post-match interview afterwards.
The nation is behind you, the fans are desperate for success and the media would much rather write about a fairytale than another fiery exit.
Stand up, Socceroos, and be counted!
We’ve heard you talk the talk, now let’s see you walk the walk as well.
Join Tony Tannous tomorrow morning from 4:15am EST for his live analysis of the Socceroos vs Serbia clash. Follow from your laptops, iPhones, etc, and comment during the game.