German born Australian National Men’s Senior Football Manager Holger Osieck has finally started his assessment of domestic Australian football and the A-League.
After a good start to his four year reign as Australia’s Football Supremo with a Socceroos victory against European Championship co-host Poland and a creditable draw with the highly ranked Swiss team, Holger has returned to take up residency in Australia and took time out this weekend to watch his first two A-League games.
He was a spectator at Brisbane Roar against Adelaide United and The Gold Coast against the Central Coast mariners.
“It’s logical I live in this country, watch the A-League and talk to the coaches,” he said. “First off I need to get an idea of the standard itself, the players and the level of game. After a couple of weeks I think I will have a good picture.
“I have my own point of view and I think it is a great piece of development that Australia now has its own professional league. But, it is still very young and needs time to develop. The talent is there and some players have already impressed me.”
Rising Adelaide United star Mathew Leckie picked the perfect time to ensure the A-League made a good first impression on new Socceroos coach Holger Osieck at Lang Park.
Adelaide coach Rini Coolen is a great admirer of Leckie and his growth as a professional football player and expects Osieck would have taken a good look at the Young Socceroo as he looks towards selecting a national squad for January’s Asian Cup in Qatar.
“I think Leckie can decide a game,” Coolen said.
“He’s so strong and so fast and his skills are so great he can be a real big time player.”
The national team coach saw the 19-year-old striker, who produced the goal of round five against Sydney FC, make another superb run and strike to punish a midfield turnover by Brisbane, in the process confounding defenders Erik Paartalu and Matt Smith.
“What he has done well since last season, he had to score goals and that’s what he’s already done, he’s scored four goals in seven games and that’s not bad,” Coolen said.
Osieck also looked on as Gold Coast United missed the chance to close the gap on the A-League leaders after being held to a 0-0 draw by the Central Coast Mariners at Skilled Park.
The Mariners defended well against United’s three pronged attack and Holger was suitably impressed with a number of players from both teams including Socceroo midfielder Jason Culina.
Osieck will assess more of the local talent over the next couple of weeks, before choosing his squad for the friendly against Paraguay in Sydney in October.
There will also be a couple more friendlies for the Aussies in November and December and plenty of A-League games to watch before he commits to a squad for the Asian Cup in Qatar in January.
The squad for the upcoming friendlies will be a mix of Socceroos and A-League talent. “The public has a right to see their Socceroos, some of the players that did so well in South Africa.
“From my perspective I think they did well in the friendly games too, so definitely I will try to bring them over,” Osieck said.
But Osieck is also aware of some great young local Australian talent and is very keen to show off his prowess for developing young players into fine senior national team players.
Osieck will be spending most of his time in Australia from now till the Asian Cup kicks off and is giving the local A-League players as much of a chance as possible to force their way into the national team.
They will have a definite advantage over fringe Socceroos like Nathan Burns, Nikita Rukavytsya and Dario Vidosic who have gone overseas, but aren’t getting enough playing time.
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