Yesterday our Socceroos were downed 2-0 by Slovenia, a first time World Cup finals participant in 2010. On face value this seems a crippling loss at the hands of a rather unknown quantity.
The Slovenians were clearly the better of the two sides, with Australia being punished for their lack of ball retention. The Slovaks had 27 shots to just nine from Australia.
All these signs might appear ominous with a changing of the guard in process, a new coach and the Asian Cup not too far off. But I disagree.
What we saw last night was certainly a bad performance, but a bad performance from an inexperienced and underdone side whom was directed by just a caretaker coach in Han Berger.
Half the men named in the 20-man squad have made 10 or less appearances for the Socceroos. Many were young; under 23. And it was mostly an experimental game, with Berger opting to try out less seasoned performers such as Djite up front.
Not trying to make too many excuses because look at what the Germans did with a young squad at the World Cup, but for us I think it gave hope of better things to come. There were patches of decent play and we did create some chances, but with the majority of our first team out, this result was always expected. Well, maybe not expected, but understandable.
A positive is that we have a new generation of exciting players stepping up and one thing Oseick can do is develop youth talent. Four years until the next World Cup and if Osieck is everything he is cracked up to be (at least in the youth development department), then the likes of Djite, Vidosic and Oar could not only turn into the next Vidukas, Kewells or Cahills, but surpass them and take us further than ever in the World Cup.
A more timely test of managerial skill from our new German coach, however, will be the upcoming Asian Cup in Qatar. With some of our World Cup contingent approaching retirement age very soon, I would like to see Osieck not only include the youngsters in his squad, but play them and play them well. If he can whip a team into shape which is inclusive of starting our next generation of Roos, I will be happy – provided we finish respectably.
Many are tipping Osieck to be similar to Verbeek in relation to a defensive formation but the crop of players emerging may just force his hand to adopt a somewhat attacking style of play.
I for one could not care if we play with 6 defenders, provided we keep the ball, create chances and those 6 defenders get forward. The day Australia play effective, overlapping, possession football, camp in the opposition’s half and not only create many chances, but take a good portion of them will be the day we come of age.
Comparable to the Germans yet again; they played a 4-2-3-1 but dominated with it. The problem was not the formation we used, but rather the way we played inside it. Implement it right, with the right players, and we could tear nations apart, just like the Germans did to ourselves and England.
Let’s hope Osieck can produce and take our Socceroos up a level. Let’s win this Asian Cup and let’s give a new nations a shock in Brazil, 2014.
drew777
Roar Pro
sorry guys, I made a few cock ups in this one :| late night writing and reading several pieces of info at the same time threw me off. Just to clarify; unknown quantity to us, sure they have some class players like Koren but we have had little to do with them.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
My concern is that Jedi and Valeri are likely going to our central midfield pairing for a while. It's only pre season for both of them I guess but I really hope that turns into a fruitful partnership.
Davstar
Guest
im not so much worried about the loss im worried about the lack of quality we have no players playing in the top level between the ages of 18-26, thats worring the sad thing is the best player potential youth Australia has in Add Bradden Imman is about to switch to scotland. For heavens sake if we dont do something now we wont make the world cup we need to look for solutions now not wait for 2 years to pass and say we are stuffed. Proactive no reactive. Han Bergers selection for the starting 11 should be critised why play Jade north for example? why not play Vidosic? or start burns? why not cap Lowry?
mahony
Guest
What he said. Good article Drew777.
Tom
Guest
Plus 2010 wasn't Slovenia's first world cup. They also qualified in 2002. Possibly again confusing them with the Slovaks.
MVDave
Guest
If in 2 years the Socceroos are still putting in similar performances then we can start to worry. A practice match serves the purpose of trying out new tactics and players...l'm sure plenty was learnt from this one.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
drew777 Totally agree with your "headline" and most of your reasoning relating to the importance (or, rather, lack of importance) of yesterday's loss to Slovenia. Just a couple of points: 1. The Slovenians, in my opinion, were not an "unknown quantity" and are a very accomplished side, who are ranked 1 place above Australia on the FIFA Ranking system. In fact, the Slovenian starting 11 that fronted against Australia was essentially their WC starting 11 (I only see 1 new player) who: * beat Algeria 1-0 * were 2-0 up against the USA at 1/2 time and eventually drew 2-2 * lost 1-0 against England in fact, if Landon Donovan didn't score for the USA against Algeria - with only 30 seconds left to play, Slovenia had qualified for the knockout round to play Germany! 2. And, let's not forget, to get to the WC, the Slovenians (again, virtually the same starting 11 as played Australia) knocked out Guus Hiddink's Russian side, which contained genuine stars like Arshavin, Zhirkov, Pavlyuchenko, etc Sure I would have loved Australia to play better but, I no longer worry about "friendly results" the way I used to in the "old days". PS: You know how "parochial" they are in the Balkans, so I'm sure it was just a typo to when you said: "The Slovaks had 27 shots ..." ;-) The Slovaks, of course, won global hearts and minds when they knocked out our Kaiserslautern "mates" from the WC in that epic 3-2 win at Ellis Park.
rovers2011
Guest
yep this is an appointment which can see us "come of age" as you say... but there will be bumps along the way as we don't have the players to bring it at the highest level yet. But with a coach thats here to contribute and not detract from young players in the A-League, we have a great chance to build to a higher level. Even if there's a couple more 0-2s to come where we at least try (and sometimes fail) to play a more advanced game. With Osieck, i feel the aspiration to do better will be there ... killing off the defeatist mentality for good and finding our path to an 'Aussie' way of playing.