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6-0, 6-0: painful but necessary

namajira new author
Roar Rookie
14th October, 2013
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Holger Osieck, sacked on the back of Australia's second 6-0 loss. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
namajira new author
Roar Rookie
14th October, 2013
4

6-0, 6-0 may be the best thing to happen to Australian football in many years.

I was planning to write my first Roar article early last week on why I thought Lucas Neill should retire but I declined because I thought I might be accused of attacking the man.

However in the aftermath of Saturday morning’s game, it would have looked rather prescient.

While not a favourite player of mine, Neill has been a wonderful servant for football in this country.

However the France game has proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is not the man to lead Australia to Brazil next year.

It is inconceivable that with Holger’s removal that a small number of our stalwart and long term fringe players will not join the exodus.

Who and how they will be eased out will be fascinating to observe in the next few months.

So what is the silver lining for two of the worse consecutive defeats in our illustrious history?

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I would argue that probably for the first time in a long time, the FFA, the media and the public are on the same page.

Only the players and current/recently departed staff appear out of lockstep.

Despite our qualification for our third consecutive World Cup, the problems have been well documented: a sustained decline in our playing standard, lack of rejuvenation etc underly these results.

The results of the past month have dispelled any notion that the status quo is acceptable. So change is coming and in all probability will blow a whirlwind through the Socceroos setup which is precisely the solution to drive out the perceived complacency and lack of competition for places.

In the aftermath of the France game in which the urbane David Gallop informed the players that Holger was gone, I hope he also indicated to them that not one of them has a mortgage on a World Cup ticket.

This will arguably be the greatest legacy of these heavy defeats.

Many A-League players know that performing week in week out may move some up the pecking order dramatically and catapult others into the frame from nowhere. There could be no greater motivation than the lure of one of the 23 golden tickets.

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Whoever the Socceroos next manager will be, I would argue he will be pleasantly surprised by the number of unpolished gems he will find.

Our two Aussie candidates already know this and that’s why I would hope either Graham Arnold or Ange Postecoglou are tapped for the job.

If the job goes overseas again, then it shouldn’t go to a mercenary like Guus Hiddink who with all due respect was the man for a different time and different team.

It must be a man prepared to commit to a medium term strategic brief to rebuild our nation’s premier sporting team.

Back to the present, it will be fascinating to view the first 11 that caretaker manager Aurelio Vidmar puts on the park on Wednesday morning.

Unfairly or not he may be swept away as part of the Holger era, but this is his one chance to stamp his own authority.

The changes he makes will define his tenure, however brief as his own, or as Holger’s man to the end. I for one, hope he goes for some radical surgery.

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Finally thank you to Holger and Aurelio and your staff for your parts in getting us to Brazil, and sorry it didn’t work out.

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