2010 the year youth was unleashed on the A-League

With the disappointments in both South Africa and Zurich consuming most of the headlines this year, it’s tempting to think that 2010 was a bad one for Australian football. But there were many other wonderful stories.

These include the success of the Matildas in Asia, the fact they, our Joeys and Young Socceroos all qualified for their respective World Cup’s next year, while the onset of Melbourne Derby this season has added some real atmosphere and spice to the local football calendar.

But one of the real success stories of 2010, at least for this correspondent, has been the influx of youngsters in the starting 11’s of A-League teams.

The sporadic use of youngsters throughout the league’s short history has been a real bugbear of mine, both here and on The Round Ball Analyst, so it was a delight to hear Technical Director Han Berger, ahead of this latest season, challenge the A-League managers to start selecting more youngsters.

The development of Australia’s next batch of Socceroos, he argued, depended on it.

There’s no doubt they’ve heeded Berger’s advice, with many more youngsters not only getting a sniff, but playing key roles in their team’s season.

The Brisbane Roar’s preferred start 11, for example, features five players aged 23 or under.

While two of them, in Jean Carlos Solarzano and Kosta Barbarouses, aren’t eligible to represent Australia, it’s still an admission from Ange Postecoglou that youth provides plenty of pace and mobility, such key instruments in the modern game.

It was a trend we saw at the World Cup in South Africa, and it’s been a delight to see it adopted on masse throughout the A-League.

In many ways it was the Roar who set the trend last season by giving plenty of development game time to the likes of Tommy Oar, Michael Zullo and Adam Sarota, who were later sold to Eredivise outfit FC Utrecht.

Also unleashed last season was a certain Mathew Leckie, who took his game to another level in the earlier part of this season, before the injury set-back he suffered against the Melbourne Victory. On the other side, also doing well for Rini Coolen, was Iain Ramsey.

While other teams, like Sydney FC, have been a little slow in introducing talented kids like Dimitri Petratos and Terry Antonis into their starting 11, others, like the North Queensland Fury, have deliberately built their team with youngsters, and what a pleasure it has been to see the talents of Isaka Cernak, David Williams, Osama Malik, Chris Payne and Panny Nikas given such valuable game time this campaign.

Despite the uncertainty that has surrounded the club, which has no doubt impacted on performances of late, it has been this injection of youth that has made the Fury so watchable this campaign.

Elsewhere, Graham Arnold hasn’t been afraid to entrust a trio of kids with the responsibility of running his midfield, while the Perth Glory have belatedly rejuvenated their starting 11 by giving game time to a bevy of kids.

Even if some aren’t up to the standard required, it’s crucial they get the opportunities, so kudos to the managers providing them.

While the Melbourne Victory squad remains an aging one in the main, there have been some breathtaking performances of late from Robbie Kruse, who was deservedly selected in Holger Osieck’s Asian Cup squad yesterday, while Ernie Merrick has been giving a more time this season to the likes of Diogo Ferreira and Mate Dugandzic.

Across the Yarra, the Heart’s manager John van’t Schip has been more willing to use kids, with the likes of Nick Kalmar, Aziz Behich, Michael Marrone and Adrian Zahra featuring prominently throughout and impressing in the main.

Below is a comprehensive list of the players that have benefited from this exciting shift in the mindset of most managers, as well as my Under 23s Team of the Season, and you can see from the quality on the bench just how many youngsters are making an impression.

Not everything about Australian football has been on the money in 2010, but the development and opportunities provided to so many youngsters has been a real technical breakthrough, one that should reap more rewards down the track, so well done to all involved.

List of players 23 years old or under given valuable game time this season:

Adelaide United; Mathew Leckie, Iain Ramsey

Brisbane Roar; Luke Devere, Ivan Franjic, Mitch Nichols, Kosta Barbarouses, Jean Carlos Solarzano, Rocky Visconte

Central Coast Mariners; Mathew Ryan, Rostyn Griffiths, Mustafa Amini, Oliver Bozanic, Trent Sainsbury, Matthew Lewis

Gold Coast United; Adama Traore, James Brown, Ben Halloran, Bruce Djite, Tahj Minniecon, Chris Harold, Golgol Mebrahtu

Melbourne Heart; Brendan Hamill, Michael Marrone, Aziz Behich, Jason Hoffman, Nick Kalmar, Eli Babalj, Adrian Zahra

Melbourne Victory; Matthew Foschini, Leigh Broxham, Diogo Ferreira, Mate Dugandzic, Robbie Kruse

Newcastle Jets; Ben Kennedy, Tarek Elrich, Taylor Regan, Ben Kantarovski, Jeremy Brockie, Marko Jesic, Sean Rooney

North Queensland Fury; David Williams, Chris Payne, Isaka Cernak, Osama Malik, Panny Nikas, Chris Grossman, Andre Kilian, Jack Hingert

Perth Glory; Tando Velaphi, Brent Griffiths, Scott Neville, Ryan Pearson, Josh Risdon, Howard Fondyke, Andrija Jukic, Tommy Amphlett, Anthony Skorich

Sydney FC; Ryan Grant, Sebastian Ryall, Terry Antonis, Scott Jamieson, Kofi Danning, Dimitri Petratos

Wellington Phoenix; Troy Hearfield, Mirjan Pavlovic, Marco Rojas

Tony’s Under 23s Team of the Season:

——————————-Mathew Ryan———————————
——————————————————————————-
Ivan Franjic—–Luke Devere—–Ben Kantarovski——Adama Traore
———————————————————————————-
———————————-Rostyn Griffiths—————————–
——————–Mustafa Amini——–Oliver Bozanic——————–
————————————————————————————
Kosta Barbarouses ———————————————Robbie Kruse
———————————-Jean Carlos Solarzano———————

Bench; Ben Kennedy, Aziz Behich, Nick Kalmar, Mitch Nichols, Osama Malik, Mathew Leckie, Adrian Zahra, Dimitri Petratos, David Williams.