- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
A 2-0 defeat to Uzbekistan in Tashket overnight means the Olyroos will have to qualify for the 2012 Olympics the hard way if Aurelio Vidmar’s men are to book a trip to London this year.
“Is is just the picture or are they playing on a cow paddock?” read one response on Facebook to a grainy still photo of the pitch in Tashkent – the concept of playing in snow seemingly so alien to the average Australian fan it’s not even considered.
But play in snow the Olyroos did – in temperatures around minus 12 degrees Celsius – and they failed to get on the scoresheet for the fourth game in a row.
They had two goals ruled out, by all accounts, but whether they were ruled out legitimately is hard to judge since like most folks I didn’t actually see a game not broadcast on Australian television.
What is certain is that if the Olyroos are to qualify for the Olympics, they’ll have to do so through the playoffs given that Uzbekistan are in total control of Group B in Asian qualifying.
That means Australia could face off against the Group A and C runners-up for the right to take on the fourth-ranked African nation in a sudden-death showdown for a place at the Olympics.
A star-studded Japan ominously occupy second spot in Group C after losing to Syria overnight, but currently that’s the least of Vidmar’s concerns.
Australia won’t qualify for the Olympics if it can’t get on the scoresheet, but that doesn’t seem to have unduly concerned a new breed of Australian football fan.
When Football Federation Australia decreed recently that only three players per A-League club could be selected for Olyroos duty – thereby undermining the value of the jersey, it must be said – many A-League fans applauded the move.
There has even been a vocal outcry from those who insist Australia should forget about playing Olympic football altogether.
Yet many of these same fans insist the FFA must do more to respect the history of football in this country.
Does that include the history of one of the greatest ever performances by an Australian in the international arena?
Who could forget Ned Zelic’s virtuoso display against the Netherlands in Olympic qualifying in 1992, when the marauding libero scored one of the most famous Australian goals of all time?
His Olyroos side beat Denmark and Sweden en route to reaching the semi-finals of the 1992 Games in Barcelona, before losing to an explosive Polish outfit in the final four.
And let’s not forget that the 2000 Olympics kicked off with the Olyroos losing narrowly to another European powerhouse in Italy.
The crowd that night? 93,252 at the MCG – most of whom left cursing Hayden Foxe for the catastrophic error which allowed Andrea Pirlo to register a late winner.
Or what about the fact Australia has twice been drawn against eventual champions Argentina in the past two Olympic tournaments?
Check out some of the names to have turned out for the the Albiceleste in those two Games.
Roberto Ayala. Javier Saviola. Carlos Tevez. Gabriel Heinze. Javier Mascherano. Juan Roman Riquelme. Angel Di Maria. Sergio Aguero. Oh yes. And Lionel Messi.
Are those who state Australia “shouldn’t bother” with the Olympics seriously suggesting it’s not worth pitting our talents against some of the best young players in the world?
Is it suddenly beneath us to try and compete with the likes of the former Soviet Union, Spain, Nigeria, Cameroon and Argentina – countries which have all won the Olympics since Australia’s rollercoaster run to the quarter-finals in Seoul in 1988?
Yes, the tournament has flaws but the rules are the same for everyone.
And while it will be an uphill battle to even reach London, that doesn’t change the fact Olympic football is an important part of our football heritage.