Socceroo captain Lucas Neill is not considering retirement in the wake of the two humbling defeats to Brazil and France, and has questioned whether young players have the required desire and passion to play for Australia.
In a press conference in London before the national team takes on Canada, Neill gave a passionate defence of himself and his team.
The 35-year old responded to criticism from former Socceroo Mark Bosnich that he should retire and answered questions on the sacking of coach Holger Osieck and the morale of the squad at the moment.
“Retirement is not a word that has been on my agenda,” he said.
“When I was young, I had to fight cat and dog to get an opportunity, to even get exposure to get selected for a Socceroos team. Once in there I had to bide my time. I had to wait, fight like crazy to get an opportunity against very experienced people and some very good players in good leagues all over the world. Nobody gives you a chance for free. Nobody gives you an opportunity to play for Australia. You’ve got to earn it.”
“It’s not the older guys, who’ve been there a long time. I have as much passion for this game now as I ever had when I was 17.
“My question to the younger guys who want to play for Australia, who dream for playing for Australia – Do you dream for playing for Australia? And if you do, show me the hunger, show me the desire for being in the Socceroos, if you want to represent the Socceroos. Because I think that’s where we are lacking now. Our attitude towards our national team.”
In front a small media pack Neill denied that he was angry in his responses, describing it as “passion”.
“I am a proud person and I am disappointed we’ve lost two games in a row 6-0, 6-0,” he said.
“That’s embarrassing. There’s no excuse for that. And as a leading person in this team, we need to put that right because we have such a prize to play for in 9, 10 months’ time.”
Asked how the Socceroos can turn their terrible form around, Neill said it starts with hard work.
“We have to work very, very hard on the training ground,” he said.
“We have to come together as a team. We have to create a positive environment. And get the confidence going. And we have to be prepared tactically and technically to take on Brazil and France, whoever we play next, and at the moment we’re not.”
A number of newer players are in contention to play against Canada, but several have some injury concerns.
“We still need to find out the players that are available to play,” Neill said.
“We’ve got a few clouds hanging over people. But whoever goes out there has to wear the shirt with the kind of pride that its been worn with for a number of years. We have to go out today very quickly at training and work on a tactical plan to try and take on Canada. And we have to start the game well because if we conceded a goal early to Canada the obvious reaction from everybody will be ‘oh now we’ve just gone goal down’. So we have to be resilient. We have to find confidence quickly.”
Asked if expectations on the Socceroos were too high, considering few are currently playing in Europe’s elite leagues, Neill said it was “the nature of the beast”
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“You become a victim of your own success. We’ve set a certain standard and if we don’t reach it then, people have a right to be upset.”
Follow John Davidson on Twitter @johnnyddavidson
Johan
Guest
It is not particularly relevant whether it is on Neil's agenda. When you are 35 and playing just reasonably rather than well, the decision of whether you want to retire is usually not yours to make.
jamesb
Guest
Lucas Neill's involvement in every goal is highlighted against Brazil http://www.foxsports.com.au/video?v=lucas-lost-in-brasilia_1226740501933&vc=206
jamesb
Guest
Lucas Neill's involvement in every goal is highlighted against France http://www.foxsports.com.au/video?v=dude-wheres-lucas_1226740501124&vc=206
Griffo
Roar Guru
Again the media (and perhaps FFA) are stuck on the World Cup cycle. Imagine if Holger had to also contend with an Asian Cup qualifying campaign. As Pim had to do (did anyone bid for Zullo's No. 110 shirt?), Holger would have been left to form a team for games on non-FIFA dates. But we are hosting the Asia Cup 7 months after Brazil, so Holger didn't have that to worry about. We have to qualify again for 2019 Asian Cup. We should be making that tournament as well. It should be point 4 on Les's List.
Legro
Guest
the Socceroos' dressing room is so toxic, it should be quarantined and labeled as "extremely hazardous".
Adam
Guest
1+ Exactly
Bart
Guest
thanks, that was very well said
Robbie
Guest
Yes Sainsbury was the only player not to get any game time at the East Asia Cup because, apparently, Osieck didn't think he looked like he wanted to be there but from everything I've heard that's just his general demeanour. He most certainly would represent the Socceroos with pride and heart.
Robbie
Guest
Absolutely spot on. This is what I found so pathetic about Wilkshire's comment that the older players are simply better than the younger ones. Nobody actually has any idea if that is right or not because they've never played alongside each other, our youngsters have never got any minutes. And if he's judging that from training, firstly, i imagine he's wrong because I heard Rogic absolutely destroyed training before the Jordan game, if I remember correctly, and, secondly, anyone who has played football at any level will know there are always some players who lift for matches and supposedly 'overperform', just as there are those players who have the necessary skill but can't show it in a game. Arnold has described Rogic, for example, as a big game player.
Bart
Guest
+2
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Fuss totally agree re: Lucas and history in the game. However this was 7 years ago when he was at his peak, he is now well well past that point and the NT will continue to leak goals while we sit back with a ageing defence (in addition to other players out of position). I wonder if it can be done tactfully so that he is given an appropriate final game from the Socceroos for his service over the years. If he is on the plane to Rio then I fear that AUS will continue to leak goals with one of the slowest and least reactive back 4 at the tournament.
Andy
Guest
It's funny you say that Fuss as following the 2006 WC his decision making has definitely gone backwards. Neill choosing to play for West Ham over Liverpool was a terrible decision. I don't begrudge anyone for looking for money but he really could have made the right decision for footballing terms at that point. He then went to Everton who got a reasonable deal in pickining him up for free, using him as back up and then gaining a transfer at the first opportunity. Galatasaray was about as good a deal as he could have hoped for at that point but Neill seemed to be 100% losing the plot by this stage and every choice from here on out was a bad one for someone who believes they should captain the Australian side. Anyhow, no point arguing about what he could have been, he chose to play for West Ham.
The Bear
Guest
reasonably solid at the recent youth World Cup in Turkey.
Jukes
Guest
In Sainsbury case the reason I am told he was on the outer was because his attitude wasn't right and they felt like he didn't want to be there. Quite an amazing assessment considering they didn't ask him. It is quite clear to me from watching Sainsbury that he is a happy go lucky type, he plays within himself, doesn't say much and is someone who probably doesn't speak his mind and lets his football do the talking. He is a relaxed sort of a person by nature. You know a surfie playing football if I can use an analogy.
bribieboy
Guest
Well Brendo I agree with your omissions I don't think any have earned their ticket to Brazil. We have all enjoyed watching Neil over the years and it would be nice to remember him as he was
AZ_RBB
Guest
not sure where this has been discussed previously. so just going to dump my thoughts here. I really don't understand this "attitude" line that keeps on getting trotted out. first Musti Amini copped it, then Trent Sainsbury and now apparently all the young guys have it. If football was so much about attitude the likes of Suarez, Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic would never have made it off the bench. Not that I condone poor behaviour but there's nothing criminal with being a little up yourself. Funnily enough most genius/brilliant types tend to be a little that way. Just look at the rumours going around since Sachin announced his retirement. A truly great manager/coach should be capable of handling these types. How did Sir Alex go so far? Most pundits don't rate him much as a tactician. It was his man management of egotistic multi-millionaire superstars that made him famous. If our NT coaches can't handle the likes of Amini and Sainsbury they should look elsewhere for employment, high performance sport is not for them.
jamesb
Guest
In that article, It mentions Jackson Irvine in a likely line up as a defensive midfielder. He plays for Kilmarnock and has been called to the NT for these friendlies. Does anyone know much about Jackson Irvine?
Disco
Roar Guru
Neill played a few good matches at centre-back in 2006. Prior to that he was a pretty average right back. He was rubbish at the 2010 WC and these days I don't think he'd excel in the A-League. Yet he's Australia's captain.
The Bear
Guest
yeah, no doubt the guy has a huge narcissistic streak. But he's also a battler...so he'll go down swinging to the bitter end, I suspect.
The Bear
Guest
Yep, essentially these are the objectives. At least there is some vision being proffered by the media... The coach HAS to be familiar with the breadth and depth of these younger players. It seems to me that a local coach is the one most likely to do this. I still believe someone like Ange has time to achieve these objectives. Arnie is not the right choice.... too much non-acountability and handles the media very poorly.