A lot has been said about the Socceroos’ performances, both recent and future, and of course the now vacant coaching role. So where to from here?
Firstly, the FFA must consider every single coach around the world a candidate, whether they’re employed of not. Paying out a contract for the right person has to be worth it for Australian football in the long term.
The next thing FFA should be doing is looking at their preparation plan for the World Cup – fingers crossed there is one.
This plan should end when the World Cup starts on June 12, 2014, and work backwards from there to the beginning of World Cup qualification against Thailand on September 2, 2011.
It’s a plan that should have been developed with the support of the whole football family, outlining what was and is expected of the national team to qualify and walk into their first World Cup game fully prepared.
The World Cup might be eight months away, but how many ‘real’ opportunities are there for any new coach to work with the players they select for national team duty?
After Tuesday’s match against Canada, the FIFA international calendar looks like this.
November 15-19: International Match Days
A chance for any new coach to work with his players for about a week, maybe see them in action over two games if they are lucky.
This also means FFA have under a month to choose a new coach and bring them up to speed with Australian football and our players.
December 6: Final Draw for 2014 FIFA World Cup
Depending on our future opponents, if a new coach has not been selected yet any possible candidate could be scared off if the draw is unkind to us.
December 6-March 5: International Break
The calendar then takes a break over Christmas, New year and re-opens on March 5 next year with an international friendly match day.
With no Asian cup qualifiers to keep our national team busy during these many months, our future coach will not get much hands-on time until the European seasons finish in April and May 2014.
June 12: Off To Rio
Quite a dilemma…
No coach from outside Australia will ever truly understand the history of our game in Australia – especially the highs and lows – or know how hard we have worked to make football what it is in Australia today.
Every success on and off the pitch, dollar of sponsorship and piece of positive media has come from hard work and effort from every single one of us.
Only an Australian could bring to the job a passion to do well based on how much a successful national team can continue to drive our sport forward in the Australian sporting landscape.
We can not afford to have someone given the job who simply just needs a job and something to put on their resume to get them their next job.
Football in Australia might not be considered too highly by others around the world, but if we as a nation don’t take pride and respect in our national team and league, why should others?
As much as many of us would love to see a local coach take the national team, they are simply not ready.
Coaches like Graham Arnold, Ange, Alistair Edwards, Paul Okon and Tony Popovic have done great things, but are still developing as coaches.
Yes, the gap in experience and tactical knowledge between our coaches and those elite ones around is getting smaller slowly, but our guys are not quite there.
Much of their great work has come from working with players daily. A national team coach gets very little time to work with his players, and must be able to work fast and with limited exposure.
Hence there is no use destabilising the A-League just to rush into handing the national team to an Australian. And you can forget about expecting some poor coach to try and do both jobs at one time.
As a football nation we are wiser, better structured and more experienced than in the past. We are still learning and developing, but understand we need to find a experienced coach at international level – a coach committed and capable of taking our national team to the next level.
Guus Hiddink might not have been our coach for long, but in the small time he had the job he lifted us to a new level. We now need someone to hang around and lift us up a few levels.
No matter who takes on the Socceroos’ job, their philosophy must resemble our National Football Curriculum and the direction of football in Australia. They must demonstrate a commitment to understand it and work with it and FFA technical staff.
As a football family many people have put lots of time and effort into building our curriculum and determining the direction we want to take our football. We must ensure and expect any future Socceroos coach to respect this, and be able to work along these lines.
The last thing we want is to teach our players one thing and then have our Socceroos’ coach trying to play a totally different way.
Our next national coach needs to make it clear to all our players, domestic and international, that they are always watching and considering:
– Playing time, and how well you play and contribute to your club’s performance.
– The quality of the League
– Career choices, ie; teams and leagues you have chosen to play for during your career (to show whether you want to develop or just make a quick buck)
– Attitude on and off the pitch
– What you can bring to the national team and football in Australia’s future
National team selection standards dropped under Holger Osieck, as he failed to conduct one of the most vital tasks of his role – to “rejuvenate the national team”.
Players lacked the ambition to get regular game time at the highest level possible, as too often selection decisions were accompanied with “we don’t have anyone else” or “there are no decent up coming young players”.
Unfortunately our very own players have started to believe this as they became complacent about their selection, the clubs they play for and how much game time they need.
Many Socceroos are now playing in teams and leagues that leave us scratching our heads, let alone able to pronounce or locate on a map. These leagues and clubs might have more money to offer than the A-League, but surely playing standards can’t be at the same level or better.
Any player that turns their back on playing regularly in the A-League or one of Europe’s more developed leagues is stating a desire to not play at the highest level possible or fight for a place in the Socceroos.
How can we then choose and expect such players who have no interest in pushing himself or participating at the highest level possible to be given a national team jersey?
If Cesc Fabregas decided it was just too hard to make the Barcelona starting 11 and chose to go play in Qatar, do you think the Spanish FA would truly consider him for national team selection?
Does the English FA ever take any English players who choose to go play in Belgium, Greece or Australia into consideration for its national team? They don’t.
There are record numbers of Australians playing our game all around the world, most in our own A-League. There has to be at least 11 who can step up.
The reality is we are still producing young football talent and many players playing domestically and internationally have great potential to step up.
Holger, however, failed to take the vital steps to expose them to international football with time and prepare them to become key members of the national team and our football future.
There was simply no plan when qualification started that our team be made up of older, more experienced players, and by the time we qualified for and started the World Cup to have a much younger and now experienced squad.
Sadly now we have a tough decision to make – proceed to the World Cup with the older players, who in recent months have shown a less than satisfactory performance, or start the rejuvenation and risk exposing inexperienced players to the international stage and possibly have our image as a football nation tarnished.
Where does this leave us?
The football family must surely agree that right now is not the best time for our national team to be doing poorly, or ending up on the news for sacking coach after conceding 12 goals in two games.
Football needs positive press to show everyone its future is bright – and will only get bigger and brighter.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Socceroo Cameron Burgess has put Ipswich within touching distance of the Premier League after a 2-1 win over Coventry in the English Championship. Kieffer…
Who stood out from the Australians both here and overseas in a busy week of the world game? Goalkeeper - Mathew Ryan- 3-0 win…
Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
What if we celebrated all of the achievements big and small, and weeded out those hell-bent on bringing down a game that is doing a hell of a lot right?
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
Nestory Irankunda has sensationally rejected the chance to play at the Paris Olympics this June after a late bid from the Olyroos to include…
