- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
When Ivan Franjic walks down the tunnel at Saitama Stadium on Tuesday night, he should pause and take a look around. The Brisbane Roar utility man is living out more than just a personal dream.
When Franjic first kicked a ball around as a kid, he probably didn’t set out with the goal of making the Socceroos in mind.
But there can be few young boys and girls across Australia who don’t one day imagine themselves in national team colours, even if for many of us it’s a fleeting fantasy at best.
Franjic is one of the privileged few for whom a combination of raw talent, physique and sheer determination have combined to help forge a career in the rarefied air of professional sports.
Yet even Franjic – who barely four years ago was combining life in the Victorian Premier League with his day job as a carpenter – must be pinching himself at his meteoric rise from the humble Oakleigh Cannons to the Australian national team.
Drink it in Ivan, for you are living the dream of virtually every football fan in this country.
And that, essentially, is what Australia’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Japan boils down to.
When the Socceroos run out against the deafening din created by Japan’s indescribably loud support, they do so as ambassadors for some 23 million Australians.
From the most dedicated of fans to the bloke who checks the results in the paper the next day, the Socceroos mean different things to different people – but they should always represent the nation with passion and pride.
Perhaps that’s why there’s currently a bit of an image problem surrounding the national team, with recent performances leaving much to be desired.
A nadir was reached in the 2-2 draw with Oman at a half-full ANZ Stadium back in March, when not even a Tim Cahill-inspired fight-back from two goals down could convince anyone the Socceroos are on the right track.
Now Japan stand in our way and for the millions of fans who support the national team, another insipid performance simply won’t cut it.
Holger Osieck knows Japanese football better than most, but is he still the right man to coach the Socceroos? Time will tell.
But what will be just as telling is that without our ageing back four finding some cohesion, without our holding midfielders actually linking up with the attack and without our strikers putting away what chances come their way, we’ll be lambs to the slaughter against a Japanese side stinging from their overnight friendly defeat to Bulgaria.
That’s not to say the Socceroos should fear the Samurai Blue. Their squad is nothing to write home about and routinely features a couple of starting members currently bumbling around in J2.
They rarely play their best football as favourites and while the Australian press is rightly focused on Osieck, the media glare in Japan is increasingly on Alberto Zaccheroni and his struggles to mould an effective unit from an undoubtedly talented group of players.
Which means unknown quantities like Franjic could make a world of difference.
The versatile Roar defender made his Socceroos debut during last year’s East Asian Championship qualifiers – but this is the big time; a World Cup qualifier on foreign soil.
His first taste of a ferocious Saitama Stadium atmosphere will almost certainly come from the bench, however Osieck could do worse than throw Franjic into the fray – not least because the Japanese will know next to nothing about him.
But win or lose in Saitama – and a loss could prove fatal to Australia’s chances of reaching Brazil – it is incumbent upon Osieck and his players to remember the bigger picture.
When you pull on the Socceroos jersey, you are not just representing yourself, you are representing an entire nation.
And after a series of decidedly underwhelming performances, it is time to restore some pride to the national team jersey.