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Australia's Tim Cahill celebrates after the World Cup group D soccer match between Australia and Serbia at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa, Wednesday, June 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
“My honest assessment? Take young players,” Shimizu S-Pulse defender Eddy Bosnar recently told me on the topic of who should feature at the Asian Cup. It’s a sentiment echoed by former Socceroos midfielder Craig Foster. So why are only four of the squad to take on Switzerland and Poland aged 23 or under?
“Ideally, we will eventually be able to achieve what Germany have done, which is bring through a group from 17, 20 and 23’s into the first team,” Foster told me.
“This takes pressure off the senior coach, as players have been trained under a uniform system and know each other well.”
But if that’s the case – and it’s a sentiment I personally agree with – why has new coach Holger Osieck selected a squad for the friendlies against Switzerland and Poland top-heavy with ageing personnel?
The answer is partly because of what was painfully obvious at the last World Cup – Socceroos stocks are low and will take some time to replenish.
“We have only started this process lately,” Foster says. “Therefore, our youngsters need more time to build cohesion than other countries.”
Thus Osieck must walk the tightrope between preparing a squad capable of reaching the quarter-finals at the 2014 World Cup, as Foster suggests, and placating the many Socceroos fans who expect the national team to better their 2007 Asian Cup result.
The Socceroos were knocked out on penalties by Japan in the quarter-finals in 2007, but will the likes of Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill and Tim Cahill honestly be selected to feature in Qatar in the middle of their European seasons?
If not, why select them for friendlies against Switzerland and Poland instead of handing a chance to youngsters like Mitch Langerak, James Holland, Nikita Rukavytsya or even the in-form Mate Dugandzic?
I know the former three were selected in the recent squad to face Slovenia, but at some point these players need to be playing significant game time if Australia is to do some damage in Brazil.
“On both occasions of (the Asian Cup in) 2007 and 2008 Beijing, the urge to win meant a lack of foresight,” Foster tells me, arguing that Australia’s obsession with results hindered the chance to develop young talent.
He cites the examples of Philippe Troussier with Japan and current Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa as coaches who’ve been afforded time to mould young squads into successful teams over several years.
“Osieck is only just in town, so FFA needed the strategy which we have repeatedly called for, and for Berger to select young team for Osieck to coach,” Foster says.
“This is why I would have signed Bielsa and got going now,” he adds.
Food for thought from one of the Socceroos most passionate advocates, but the sentiment appears to have fallen on deaf ears if Osieck’s first squad is anything to go by.
Clearly a radical overhaul so early in the new club season is a difficult prospect, and Osieck must also consider the mindset of players who will realistically feature in Brazil, along with those more likely to lead Australia’s charge at the 2011 Asian Cup.
A typically forthright Foster believes the Socceroos should use Qatar 2011 as the start of a cycle aimed at winning the tournament on home soil in 2015.
But to do that Osieck needs young blood, which is why it’s curious to see the likes of Luke Wilkshire, Brett Holman and Richard Garcia selected for the umpteenth time.
We know what these players can do, and many of us would rather see youngsters like Urawa Reds defender Matthew Spiranovic and Nürnberg’s creative talent Dario Vidosic showcase their wares on the international stage.
“As it is, nothing changes,” Foster argues. And that’s precisely the sentiment that will go under the microscope in the early hours of Saturday morning.