In the wake of Australia’s absolute mauling at the hands of Brazil last weekend, calls for a regeneration of the Australian squad and the sacking of Holger Osieck have flowed in thick and fast.
In a three-part series, The Blog FC looks at Australia’s squad position by position and identify potential areas for change. First up, a case for the defence.
GK: Mark Schwarzer
Our 40-year-old keeper is probably still the Socceroos best option between the sticks.
But in a friendly match with nothing on the line, what exactly did Holger expect to learn from this performance that Schwarzer hasn’t shown in his 108 previous caps?
Surely this could have been a chance to give the man Osieck sees as his understudy (be it Jones, Galekovic or Federici) some much needed experience, or – better yet, give a youngster like Langerak or Ryan a chance to show off some of their undoubted talent.
LB: Matt McKay
Poor old Matty McKay has copped a lot of stick since being moved into the left back position for the Socceroos.
This is unfortunate, because any player (or anyone!) would happily play out of position if it meant representing their country.
McKay should certainly be persisted with – his age (30), and his form at the Asian Cup say that he cut it at international level – but as a midfielder, not a fullback.
Experienced alternatives to play in the LB role are in pretty short supply, but Holger has had plenty of time to have a look at Aziz Behich, Craig Goodwin, Adama Traore, Michael Zullo and Jason Davidson.
It’s time to pick the one he sees having the biggest future and stick with them.
LCB: Sasa Ognenovski
The ‘Og’ has been an excellent servant of the Australian team, and one of the few exports to have been successful in Asia.
But he’s 34 years old (strike one), playing for Umm Salal in the Qatari league (strike two) and hasn’t played a competitive match for them since the 19th of April (strike three).
Any player that has not played a club game for the best part of five months is a questionable selection for the national team.
Ognenovski should be able to fight for his position, but surely his selection should be based on form.
The argument is there aren’t any viable alternatives at CB but this is simply not the case – but we’ll cover that with our next player.
RCB: Lucas Neill
Like Schwarzer and Ognenovski, Lucas Neill has been an excellent representative for Australia.
But since leaving Al Jazira in June 2012, he has only played 1,273 minutes of club football – that’s just over 14 matches, or one third of a Championship season.
Partnering him with Ognenovski makes the combined age of Australia’s CBs a bone-aching 70 years.
It really shouldn’t surprise anyone that this duo are being targeted for their lack of pace.
But who are the possible replacements for these two? Let’s first look at the other centre-backs that were in the squad for the Brazil friendly – Robert Cornthwaite, Ryan McGowan and Rhys Williams (Mark Milligan has been deliberately left out – his best form for both the Socceroos and the Victory has come in the centre of the park, and therefore should be played there).
Cornthwaite is the subject of derision for quite a few people, but at 27 years old and playing regularly for Chunnam Dragons in the K-League, it’s a reasonable proposition for him to be in the squad.
In fact, he has played quite well in the few Socceroos caps he’s got, and surely international friendlies should be used to find out more about these squad players?
The same goes for McGowan. He’s a good age (24) and is playing regularly at a reasonable level (Shandong Luneng Taishan in the Chinese Super League), so certainly has a claim for a place in the Socceroos squad.
Against Brazil, he was played out of position and got torn apart by a rampant Neymar.
At first glance it looked like a horrible decision but Osieck’s plan may have been to blood a guy who he sees as his future CB against one of the best players in the world with the idea of it being a learning experience (well, hopefully that was the plan. Otherwise McGowan was simply being thrown to the wolves!).
Finally, there is Rhys Williams. How a player with the pedigree of Williams can have so few Australian caps is dumbfounding.
Obviously injuries have played their role, but this guy is the captain of Middlesbrough and, at 25, could well be a stalwart of the national team for years to come.
When fit, he should be the first man picked in the centre of defence.
Outside of the squad, there are plenty of others knocking on the door.
Shane Lowry and Chris Herd are both graduates of the prestigious Aston Villa Academy, with Lowry now playing regularly in the Championship for Millwall (the club that helped build the careers of Lucas Neill and Tim Cahill) and Herd knocking on the door of Villa’s first team (he was named on the bench in their recent League Cup game).
Both are 24 and deserve a chance to show their skills in the Australian set up.
Over in Asia, Alex Wilkinson and Luke DeVere are playing regularly in the K-League.
If Robbie Cornthwaite warrants a spot in the Socceroos squad, then surely these two do as well – a case could be made that both have more impressive record than him.
At home in Australia, Trent Sainsbury is also showing the signs of being a Socceroo in the making.
While probably not ready for the first team, keeping him training with the squad would get him used to the national set up.
In total, that is seven players (plus Sainsbury) that have a better claim to a starting spot (especially in a friendly) than Neill and Ognenovski. All are younger, fitter and playing more regularly at a higher level.
There are two Socceroo regulars that have been deliberately left out of this discussion – Jade North and Matthew Špiranović.
North has been a bit of a journeyman since leaving the Newcastle Jets in 2009, representing no less than six clubs and not playing much for any of them.
At 31, he still has time to add to his 41 caps, but will need to put in a solid shift at Brisbane Roar this season.
Špiranović’s situation is less straightforward. Once Lucas Neill’s heir apparent, he is now plying his trade for Al-Arabi in the Qatar Stars League – football’s equivalent of a retirement village.
Regardless of how much he is being paid, ‘Spira’ needs to move if he wants to realise his potential.
Mark Milligan has shown that a return to the A-League can actually help get your career back on track, and Špiranović would do well to take a leaf from his book.
RB: Ryan McGowan
As already mentioned, if the use of McGowan at right back was part of a plan to build his experience for the future – especially as it was a Friendly and experimentation should be encouraged – then that is fair enough.
This happens the world over. Luke Wilkshire has the RB position pretty much wrapped up, so using up and coming players in this position is good way to build their experience.
Ivan Franjic may have a claim to be the next in line out and out right back, another solid season in the A-League would cement that view.
Next up, we turn the microscope to the midfield. Stay tuned!
Joe Meuris
Guest
For many years now and especially after 2006 world cup I have said that Lucas Neill is a liability and only gets picked on sentiment once again I say get real and select a defence with some speed that has no need to give away stupid free kicks because of lack of speed. Lucas has run his race and is no longer good enough for the NATIONAL TEAM.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Steve, I also agree with the comments about technical skills. Also the level of fitness and the speed of decision-making of international players makes Australia look like we are playing a different game. I know Robin, Ribery & co are the best in the world, but they don't look like extreme physical fitness fanatics. Yet they play at full pace for 90 minutes, and thrive on ball possession -- and rarely make passing errors. The Socceroos often had the edge over lesser teams in fitness, as well as a reputation for rough play. Both of these advantages have gone as other teams have become fitter, and as referees ave clamped down on rough tactics.
Tony
Guest
What a difference three weeks makes. Holger was a national hero and praised for the critical substitution and the goal and qualifying. Now, a thrashing from Brazil and everyone wants him out. I was very disappointed with how we played, but Brazil hammered Spain 3-0 and will thrash plenty of other teams. Spain? The world and European champions. Look around the world. This week it took Holland 54 minutes to score against Andorra. We need to calm down. Does anybody remember the Socceroos beating Germany 3-2 in Germany? Why was the praise then a fraction of the criticism now? Why the agenda against Holger? He fulfilled his remit and qualified for 2014. Yes played very badly against Brazil so lets crucify him.
j binnie
Guest
steve - Thank you for the reply. Can't argue with what you have said except to point out one little matter that everyone in today's game seems to forget. The players you mention from the "past" are mostly in their mid thirties and if we allow 35 as the average then they were playing their "junior" (6-12) football around 1982-1988. It should not be forgotten that small sided games on small fields had been introduced into Australian Coaching Manuals around 1976/8 so many of our "Golden Generation" in fact woud have been exposed to the type of coaching back then, a fact we are encouraged to believe only happened 8 years ago. Makes you wonder does it not?. jb
steve
Guest
j binnie: Completely agree with your analysis of the technical standard of play. I was shocked in the game against Thailand to see how good they were on the ball, and this despite Australia's obvious physical advantage. This is a problem for FFA and it seems they are making some positive moves setting up the national curriculum. (It also probably means that the production of Culina, Cahill, Bresciano, Grella, Kewell, Neil was more or less a fluke and probably made us a bit complacent, i.e., we thought we'd "made it" to international level in 2006 but really we'd just stumbled there. (But how glorious it was for a moment!!!!) As to your last point, perhaps a middle ground between the North Korean model and the current approach. Perhaps the biggest challenge is finding a coach who is prepared to develop the squad, i.e., a coach who is prepared to lose three quarters of the internationals we play for a period of at least a couple of years. We've seen how hard this is at the youth level but it surely is the only path we can consider. The alternative is to park the bus in every game for years, hoping another golden generation will appear.
j binnie
Guest
Steve -What you are saying is what everybody appears to want to hear so you should not get too much angst coming back at you.However at the risk of being branded a "doomsday" critic of our game I would urge you ,that when watching our teams playing,(at all national levels), forget the age factor & just for a minute assess the level of ball skills,movement on & off the ball,passing accuracy, in fact all the skills that go into playing a possession based game a success or failure, & compare the performances of the opponents with our own selections. Last weekend we played a team that individually had all these skills totally inherent in their game,& were totally outclassed. However that is not the only worry, for, over the last 2 years, the astute observer would have noted that the teams we have played from Japan,Korea,China,Thailand & some Middle Eastern countries at both national & club level, are using these skills on a higher plane than we appear to have attained, so are ahead in the the acceptance & mastery of these skills. Now if it accepted that this opinion has some credence then the problem we are all seeing is much greater than one of how old a group of players have reached. Now your last comment under the heading "Finally" is somewhat intriguing.It suggests perhaps we should be looking at the "North Korean solution" as used in the 1966 World Cup where they isolated a group of players,joined them into the army,& prepared them for the task at hand over an unknown period of time. Was it successful????? They did reach the last 8 beating Italy on the way & exited only after taking part in a magnificent 5-3 loss to a Portugal led by the legend Eusebio. Maybe you have a point. Do we have to follow suit to bridge the gap that now exists between us & the top countries in world football.???? jb
steve
Guest
Holger may complain that Australia currently lacks top-notch players so we cannot expect good results or a better style of play. This was also Veerbeck's position. The problem with that argument is that the national coach has a big impact on the development of players. If a national coach singles out a group of players in their late teens and early twenties and gives them game time, their club coaches will inevitably sit up and notice. This could produce a positive cycle, where more national team time leads to more club time, and so to more rapid player development. It is bizarre that with our aging team we are turning attention to players who are already in the mid-to-late 20s, i.e., we consider these players the future! Contrast with Holger's Germany squad, which has a swathe of very experienced players around the 22 year mark, and many players lined up in the 19-22 range. We have some excellent prospects in the 19-22 range: the FFA/Holger should take a risk and select half a dozen of them (or more) to be included in the squad for the next couple of years at least. The worst performers should be traded out but only once they've had time to settle and show themselves (at least half a dozen appearances). It's then up to everyone else to squeeze into the squad. While there are some very old players out there (as per the comment above) these are still the outliers. Our old guys are not performing well at country or club level so should be moved along. This includes Kewell, who for all his greatness could not secure a contract even in second division European club. Finally: This business of building a team month to month based on who is performing well is just silly. Can you see any other organization being run in that way? How can you build up a style of play if the players and positions keep changing? Last, on the matter of judgment: Holger brought Archie Thompson on in the Aus vs. Brazil game. I nearly fell off my chair.
giuseppegennaro
Guest
Great analysis! I am a big believer in shaking up the backline. One point to make though is as much as I would have liked to see Langerak or any other keepers start against Brazil it was probably not the best game to hand it to any of them. How detrimental would it be to the confidence of these keepers if they let 6 goals past them on their debut game for Australia? Those sorts of things ruin careers.
wotdoo
Guest
Kewell will be lucky to make it. Lets hope he doesn't fall out of the wheely bin wt training first
wotdoo
Guest
Two Centre backs and keeper combined age of 110 against 91 for brazil thats an average of over 6 years younger each.
Tony Jovevski
Guest
Re age, the first name on the Inter team sheet is always Jarvier Zanetti age 39/40. A few years ago the Milan defence had an average age of 34. Age is not the factor it once was. Footballers look after themselves these days and Neil and Og are prime examples. Og was Asian Footballer of the Year 2 years ago. Not how old, but how good is all that counts. Kewell is 34 and will be our best player in Brazil at 35.