Albert Bunjaku, right, of Switzerland, fights for the ball against Matthew Spiranovic, center, and Mark Schwarzer, left, of Australia during the international friendly soccer game between Switzerland and Australia at the AFG Arena in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Friday, Sept. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Keystone, Ennio Leanza)
Do the Socceroos have a long-term succession plan? Or is short-term success the only priority? The answer seems to lie somewhere in the middle after Holger Osieck named an Asian Cup squad devoid of young talents Tommy Oar and Michael Zullo, but featuring plenty of heavyweights for a tilt at the title in Qatar.
As plenty of others have pointed out, neither Oar, nor Zullo have made much of an impression at Dutch club Utrecht, making only the odd cameo appearance for the Eredivisie side.
But both are young enough to have a say in Australia’s 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, as are the likes of James Troisi, Mitch Nichols and several other youngsters who didn’t get a look in.
And while those mentioned are unlikely to have contributed in any major way to Australia’s looming Asian Cup campaign, the likes of Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell clearly can’t go on forever.
It’s heartening to see Matthew Spiranovic named in the squad despite an injury ravaged season at Urawa Reds, but the elegant young defender seems destined to battle with Socceroos regular Jade North and the imposing but agricultural Sasa Ognenovski for a place in the run-on side.
Spiranovic is good enough to start at the back in Qatar, but will Osieck inject youth into a sluggish defence, or simply employ the tried and tested North instead?
Nathan Burns and Robbie Kruse offer the Socceroos some pace in the front third, but they too could struggle for game time if Osieck favours Australia’s veterans.
It’s his prerogative to do so, but surely he’ll have cast a glance at Japan’s relatively youthful squad, which features 11 players who were not named in former coach Takeshi Okada’s World Cup squad.
At one stage ex-Urawa tactician Osieck was touted as a candidate to take over as Japan coach, and the Samurai Blue have a happy knack of constantly regenerating their squad.
The likes of Asian Cup call-ups Maya Yoshida, Takuya Honda and Yosuke Kashiwagi are Japan’s stars of tomorrow, and it helps that so many young Japanese players are leaving a strong J. League for even stronger European clubs, as Bayer Leverkusen-bound Hajime Hosogai proves.
By contrast, Australia has a 25-year-old Neil Kilkenny who hasn’t played for the national team for two years, a Scott McDonald yet to score a goal in Socceroos colours and a relative unknown in uncapped goalkeeper Nathan Coe.
The selections seem to be neither here, nor there in terms of uncovering the next generation of Socceroos talent, although it should probably be argued that generation is hardly bursting through the ranks of the A-League and Australia’s underage teams.
It goes without saying that winning the Asian Cup would deliver Australian football an unprecedented confidence boost.
But the path to glory is a long and arduous one, full of the kinds of hidden dangers which so spectacularly tripped up Australia four years ago.
Another flop at the Asian Cup would do more than just damage the regional credibility of the Socceroos, it would also represent an opportunity wasted to blood new talent en masse.
Far from setting out on the path to the 2014 World Cup, Holger Osieck may just discover that next month’s Asian Cup leads him down an uncomfortable road to nowhere.
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