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There’s a poster on the inside of my wardrobe. I got it as a 12-year-old when we beat England in a friendly back in 2003.
It was a free commemorative one that came in the paper, as beating the old enemy was the biggest accomplishment our Socceroos had to hang their hat on in a long, long time.
I looked at that poster every day when I was getting dressed for school or football training; later university and work.
I had a look at it this morning and there was a common trend across all the players – they all played in Europe.
Josip Skoko played for Genk, Chippers for Basel. Craig Moore and Kevin Muscat played for Rangers – the rest played in England, Italy, Spain, France or the Netherlands.
This transferred over to our 2006 World Cup squad – with the exception of our three A-League players (Archie, Mark Milligan and Michael Beauchamp) the entire squad was European-based. And as we all remember, it was fantastic campaign.
Fast forward to 2010 – Craig Moore is a free agent, Milligan is in the UAE. A couple of players are in Japan and a couple more are chasing the cash for Galatasaray. Unsurprisingly, we under-achieved.
Let’s skip ahead again to last night at ANZ Stadium. One of the most insipid performances and downright pathetic results I can remember as a fan of this team.
This seems worlds away to when I was at the same stadium just a year ago watching us pick Oman to pieces with ease.
And then, look at our squad – there were just ten European-based players! Six from Asian countries, six from the A-League and Tim Cahill.
That’s abhorrent. Players need to be discouraged from playing in inferior leagues to chase money – there are many Aussies plying their trade across the slew of Asians leagues, none of which are going to give them superior match experience than the A-League.
For me, the solution is simple – we give the players an ultimatum. Play in Europe or Australia, or don’t get picked for Internationals.
Other codes already have similar selection policies. The lure of State of Origin and Kangaroo jerseys keeps NRL players from chasing more money in England until the twilight of their careers.
Same goes for the Wallabies – otherwise our entire national team would be playing for Fujitsu Air Conditioning Rugby Club by now! And that would be disastrous for the future of the game at an international level.
Perhaps it’s a bit draconian of me to expect players to take less money in order to remain in contention for national team jerseys, but guess what?
They’re not going to be lining up for food stamps in the cold regardless of where they play.
They’re professional footballers – the pay day might not be as decadent in the Championship or the Eredivisie, but it’s a pay day nonetheless.
Look at our best players right now – Cahill (who should be excluded from this rule due to a long service of excellence and the fact that the MLS isn’t that bad), Holman, Schwarzer, Oar, Jedinak, Wilkshire and Kruse. All European-based. It’s not a coincidence.
Ryan McGowan turned his back on Hearts at just age 23 to join Shandong Luneng Taishan – yes it’s only Hearts, but who knows where that could’ve led to?
A better season next year and they’re in the Europa League and he’s displaying his talents to European scouts across the continent.
Maybe had he been impressive enough Celtic would’ve poached him, as they are want to do to smaller SPL clubs. Who knows?
The end result is he probably returns to the A-League in a few years time, never having reached his full potential.
There’s surely a spot in Europe for Alex Brosque to land. And wherever that may be would surely provide a bigger challenge than playing for Al Ain and cantering to the UAE Pro League title.
There just has to be a better quality of football that he could be playing.
You could argue the players don’t owe anything to fans of the national team. But they should feel obligated to do what’s best for their country.
After all, playing in World Cups is the pinnacle of a player’s career.
And if we can’t beat Oman at home, we don’t deserve to be playing in World Cups. It’s that simple.
Follow Matt on Twitter @TheMattBungard
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