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Residing under a permanent wet blanket, the throng of armchair managers that plague our country and the media have been quick to blame the current generation of young Australian footballers as the source of our problems.
Instead of putting out the fire, national team coach Holger Osieck has applied a keg of gasoline to the conflagration.
Following the dire 2-2 draw with Oman, Osieck slammed the young and inexperienced players in the Socceroos squad. I highly doubt this was part of his contract when he signed up as coach of the Socceroos.
It is true. The current crop of Australian players are not at the same level as the Golden Generation of Socceroos who led us into the round of 16 in the 2006 World Cup.
How much the media has to emphasise this point, however, when it is (or should be) assumed knowledge among Australian football fans, astounds me.
There is still hope. I would far from agree with Osieck’s assessment of Australia’s youngsters.
Robbie Kruse was one of our only creative outlets in the second half, before he was bizarrely substituted in the 66th minute.
Tommy Oar was the only Australian player, apart from Kruse, who showed any signs that he could beat an Omani defender to cross the ball into the penalty box.
Players such as Kruse, Oar and Holland are consistently starting for big teams in big leagues.
Yes, I would consider Austria Vienna, a team that has frequented the UEFA Champions League and Europe League on and off in recent times, a big club.
Either way, it’s a higher quality team than many of the teams ageing Socceroos are playing for.
Adam Sarota showed glimpses of his potential with his fine form for FC Utrecht before injuring himself.
Tom Rogic’s move to Celtic similarly bodes well for the future of the national team.
Shane Lowry, who scored a sublime free kick for Millwall a few days ago, has maintained the impressive reputation of Australian players plying their trade in Britain.
Ian Holloway, manager of Crystal Palace FC, was gushing with compliments and admiration for Crystal Palace captain Mile Jedinak, when interviewed by journalists.
Having only become a professional footballer at the age of 21, Jedinak has been somewhat of a late bloomer. If we make it to the World Cup in Brazil, he will no doubt be an integral part of the team.
He performed his role as a ball winning central midfielder to perfection in the first half.
In an apathetic first half, where the players were almost swaying in the breeze in their state of lethargy, Jedinak was one of best players.
He was the only player willing to get his feet dirty. While he may have been guilty of not pushing the ball forward at times, he was offered few options in attack. This is not his role in the team anyway.
I felt for him after his own goal. Unsurprisingly this has led to the public slamming his individual performance.
While his influence on the game lessened in the second half, he was far from our worst player.
Osieck can hardly blame the youngsters for the failure of the Socceroos against Oman.
The whole team was flat. Experienced players like Wilkshire and Thompson hardly helped our cause.
The defensive pairing of Cornthwaite and Thwaite, with an average age of 28 years, is hardly a young pair.
Corthwaite should not have been dragged out of position for the first goal of the game, leaving Abdul Al Maquarterbackali one on one with Thwaite.
Osieck too has hardly helped our cause by persisting with the same players, even in friendlies, which are intended to test out new players.
He cited inexperience as the primary problem with Australia’s performance but he has failed to give experience on the international stage to those who need it.
This has corresponded with conservative team selections.
Furthermore, when Osieck has selected promising young talent he has left them languishing on the bench.
Why select young players at all if you are not going to give them a run?
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