- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Melbourne Victory's Archie Thompson (centre) and Daniel Allsopp (left) celebrate with team mates after Carlos Hernandez kicked their first goal during the A league 1st semi final match in Adelaide between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009. AAP Image/Rob Hutchison
Yesterday’s winter solstice might have made it the shortest day of the year, but it was one of the craziest in Australian football, encapsulating the ups and downs of life for the round ball code down-under, full of twists, turns and tweets.
It started very early, when most people were fast asleep, with the Matildas bouncing back from 2-0 down to beat Mexico 3-2 in a World Cup warm up game in Gottingen, and ended with the Melbourne Heart promising to make even more major announcements today after yesterday confirming they had snared former Melbourne Victory star Fred.
In between were key announcements in Melbourne and Brisbane involving a few former players, with a highly anticipated game in Mexico, involving a key plank in our development regime, thrown in for good measure.
What emerged was a succession of stories, good or bad, with the over-arching feeling, at the end of it, being that the game, by taking a step back, had taken another stride or two forward.
While the Joeys, Australia’s under 17’s team, were perhaps fortunate to come away from their opening World Cup game against the Ivory Coast with the three points, it was still a win in a World Cup game, against impressive opponents, and should at least give these kids some belief, allowing them settle into the tournament and hopefully produce better football.
Watching it, my overwhelming feeling was that Jan Versleijen’s boys looked a little scared in the first period, as if feeling the weight of expectation.
With the Dutchman having them together for a couple of years at the AIS, the feeling in some parts is they should have been stroking it around in the manner of Iniesta and Xavi, from start to finish.
But the reality, at least for this correspondent, is that it will take at least another five years for the formula indoctrinated by the National Curriculum to bear fruit, with the 11 and 12 year olds of today the most likely to prosper.
While there was a clear 4-3-3 structure here, there were still many technical deficiencies, including a deep-sitting defensive line which gave the Ivorians room to play, an inability to consistently build from the back into midfield, the isolation of the impressive front man Dylan Tombides, and the overall space between the players.
But the intent was at least there, and for one learned friend who has been watching national teams at all levels since the mid-1980s, the performance was impressive enough for him to describe it as one of our best ever at youth level.
“We’re always getting better,” he summarised. While the evolution of Australia’s on-field product continues at pace, further evidenced by the recent work of the Olyroos, perhaps equally as significant was the back-to-back news yesterday that three former Socceroos have been given technical roles in the A-League.
No sooner had Melbourne Victory announced Mehmet Durakovic as their new head coach for two years and Francis Awaritefe as football director, then Brisbane Roar was announcing Paul Trimboli had been given the role of general manager of football.
Whether Durakovic and Trimboli, Roos greats, and to a lesser extent Awaritefe, go on to have as successful careers in football management as they did on the field, remains to be seen, but it continues an encouraging recent trend of former top flight players being given gigs.
With the likes of Aurelio Vidmar and Paul Okon in charge of the Olyroos, Gary van Egmond involved with the Joeys, Robbie Hooker under the tutelage of Holger Osieck, Alistair Edwards in an assistant technical director role, David Lowe recently appointed to scout for the Newcastle Jets, Kevin Muscat moving to an assistant role at the Victory and Steve Corica working with the Sydney FC youth, the base continues to grow.
What becomes clear is that Han Berger is fulfilling his remit of not only developing the next wave of players, but the next batch of technical leaders, with Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro admitting he consulted the national technical director for guidance.
With coaching education coming on in leaps and bounds through such courses as the recent Pro-Diploma or current Football Conditioning License at the AIS, the pathway is becoming clearer for those wishing to make the transition from the field to the dug-out.
The hope is that, in this push, others, perhaps without the playing CV but with the education and track record, aren’t left behind.
The appointments, meanwhile, of Trimboli and Awaritefe, both recently TV pundits and with experience in business and administration, is another step towards having football people responsible for the football decisions at A-League clubs.
While the day-to-day mechanics of their roles and relationships with coaching staff are likely to evolve, it will be interesting seeing their impact, and what sort of trends it sets across the league over the coming years.
A shorter day yesterday may have been, but a significant one, with long-lasting impacts.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.