The honeymoon is over for FFA boss David Gallop, who faces the first real test of his leadership as debate rages over who should be the next coach of the Socceroos.
If ever there was any doubt just how much the national team means to many Australians, it was well and truly dispelled in the wake of successive 6-0 defeats.
Coach Holger Osieck was promptly shown the door – not before time, for many critics – and suddenly the well-being of the national team was the hot topic for debate.
With few tears shed over Osieck’s exit, attention soon turned to the role of long-time Socceroos captain Lucas Neill.
What followed was a remarkable outpouring of emotion from several former Socceroos, not to mention some truly bizarre comments from Neill himself.
When quizzed about the possibility of retirement in a pre-game interview ahead of Australia’s 3-0 win over Canada, Neill launched into a series of vague platitudes which saw him, not for the first time, employ terms like ‘pride’, ‘team spirit’ and ‘passion’ to describe his value to the team.
But what has been missing from the discourse on Neill for several years now are terms like ‘pace’, ‘tactical awareness’ and ‘positioning’.
The fact is that Neill has been a defensive liability for some time, yet no one in the media has had the gumption to come out and say it.
That is until Fox Sports analyst Mark Bosnich suggested that Neill should step down, prompting the Socceroos skipper to reply,
“I expect better… from those that call themselves my friend”.
Why has it taken someone so long to speak out about Neill’s form?
Well, for starters, probably because Neill is front and centre when it comes to media commitments.
Bagging the skipper on a regular basis is not exactly going to lead to cordial player-journo relations.
That it was someone as high-profile as Bosnich who so openly told Neill to stand aside is not surprising – not only is Bozza removed from the day-to-day complexities of the news-gathering cycle, he’s also not necessarily worried about job security.
At any rate, perhaps Neill’s most contentious statement was that Australia’s younger generation lacked his passion for playing for the Socceroos.
A more accurate statement might have been that some of our youngsters are simply not good enough, but whatever his motivation for saying it – and Neill has been one of the most self-aggrandising Australian captains in recent memory – it certainly lit the blue touch-paper for a heated round of debate.
Certain former players like his erstwhile international teammate Scott Chipperfield leapt to his defence on Twitter, while others such as Archie Thompson employed a more tongue-in-cheek route – with the latter tweeting a photo disparaging so-called “football experts”.
The players might argue that everyone’s an expert these days, but what some of them forget – and indeed, many in the mainstream media – is what should be one of the key components of the debate.
It’s just a game.
Indeed, for all the associated trappings that come with it, professional football is played for no other reason than to entertain a paying public.
So if the paying public is saying ‘enough is enough’ when it comes to poor performances, perhaps it’s time someone at FFA headquarters took note.
Lucas Neill should have been asked to step aside from the national team a long time ago, but there was no one inside Football Federation Australia or indeed the media with the chutzpah to say it.
And that is the crux of the problem Gallop faces.
The Socceroos need a coach with the authority to take charge and make the hard decisions.
They have one under their nose in Ange Postecoglou, but it’s pointless appointing him if it’s only a short-term fix.
It’s high-time for some forward thinking – and that should include a plan to reach at least the final four of the Asian Cup.
Otherwise all this hand-wringing is for nothing and we’ll have wasted yet another chance to regenerate the national team.
mahonjt
Guest
As I see it Mike: (1) A 'gus' type international = WC band aid. Effective, but only in short term and at a very big proce. (2) Arnie = an "honourable transition" where we may eek something out at the WC and head towards the Asia Cup building a style of play to be compeditive. (3) Ange = POSSIBLEWC disaster, but long-term (on and off the pitch) structures put in place to the benefit of the game ofr generations to come. I don't want to loose him and appriciate that a strong Asia Cup may do the TV rights wonders next time - but I still think Ange is the man.
Johnno
Guest
Talk of stability is a myth and finding a long term coach all nonsense. Mexico who are now gonna play NZ in the World cup play off, have just sacked there coach and have now hired there 4th coach in 6weeks. Stability is not what the socceroos need it's results.
Simoc
Guest
I thought Bosnich was criticising Neills current playing ability, not his commitment. The committed turtle only catches the hare when the hare goes to sleep. Neill will continue to cash in until shown the exit.
BP
Guest
Yes Lucas was lucky enough to be entitled to both English and Irish passports through his father. I think someone should point that out to him before he criticises young players for not playing their football in Europe like he did. For many of these players it simply isn't an option. I'm sure there are many of other examples, but I believe Mark Milligan has struggled to obtain a work visa to play in Europe, even though I am sure he was talented enough to play there. As shown by the interest Crystal Palace showed in him, the path for many of these players these days is through the A-league, then Asia and playing for the National Team. No longer are our players the sons of first generation immigrants, such as many of the 'golden generation', and therefore the path to European is going to be a lot harder for our youth. Hence it is important we have a strong domestic competition, and not to look down on those playing in it. Many of these players would be just as talented, if not more, than many past players who played in the European leagues, however, they are just unlucky enough not to qualify for an EU passport.
Arto
Guest
I think in general, the public swings in positive support of the NT more often than a public park playset - in March this year, we were in the midst of crucifying the NT & especially it's defensive abilities after the abysmal display against Oman, only to glorify the same team (almost to a man) for the efforts against Japan & Jordan and then swing back to slagging them off for performances against Iraq and more recently Brazil & France. This is the nature of the beast as populism is an easy path for 'the great unwashed'. So Mike's article needs to be seen in that context - a lot of mainstream media will try to align its content towards satiating this populism without cutting off its long-term connection to media bites from the NT. As for Neill's comments and the resulting criticism, well to a certain extent he's right - Postecoglu has also issued a rallying call to more pride & passion in the shirt - however, the message is kind of blunted when it comes from him given his performances since leaving the EPL. It's one thing to demand more of others in order to ensure regeneration of the NT doesn't result in the dip in performance we have seen, but that requires the moral backbone to put oneself into the critical spotlight and every time Neill (& other outspoken players such as Thompson, Cahill, Schwarzer, and Wilkshere) bristle at the criticism of their performances and whether it's time for them to finish their international careers shows that they lack such a backbone! Yes, you're a very long time retired, but it's the team that comes first, not the player. The only other thing I would add to this is that they have been let down by a management team that either hasn't had the will or the ability to make the tough decision for these players. Schwarzer and Cahill may have continued to be great performers and Thompson has certainly had decisive positive impacts from the bench (contrasted to his limp performances when starting!), IMO all these players as well as a couple of others would have had a benefit from being dropped to the bench or left out of the squad for a match or 2 in order to be shaken out of their NT lethargy and state of expectancy.
Johnno
Guest
Tom and OneJay Bee. Long term contracts? football is not a very safe job security. Look at Chelsea, and the Mexico national soccer side have been through about 3 coaches this campaign, and Real Madrid go through coaches fas if there not performing. If Holger was getting results in Italy he'd been shown the door much earlier, or Brazil. Latin American nations sack coaches all the time and swiftly if they are underperforming. Also in the middle east, look how fast coaches in Saudi Arabia get sacked if there not performing, 1 game sometimes if they stuff up, there sacked. Harden up.
AGO74
Guest
He didn't leave Australia till after the 2000 Olympics.
fadida
Guest
Agree again Fuss. It's a hard myth to debunk!
AGO74
Guest
If memory serves me correct we drew 0-0 with brazil earlier in that tournament.....on the back of a Bozza MOM performance.
Paul
Guest
Fair enough, you're probably right. I seem to remember him actually saying that he wanted to establish himself overseas and was going to hold off on national commitments, but that may not count some early caps. Wonder what Lucas would say about that attitude these days haha
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"You did forget Emerton though in your list, he was at Feyenord." I have Emerton making his first appearance for the AUS NT in 1998, when he came on as a substitute at Olympic Park (Melb) in a friendly against Chile. AUS NT played 9 matches in 1998 & Emerton played in 5 matches. At that stage, in 1998, Emerton was still playing in the NSL for Sydney Olympic.
Paul
Guest
You are right, when they first got capped a lot of them weren't at top clubs. Viduka for example was capped first when he was with the Knights. By the time they are capped a lot though they have advanced to bigger clubs like Celtic etc. You did forget Emerton though in your list, he was at Feyenord. Of course most of these guys were part of the youth system before that and had success. Our youth system has been a failure for a while, I'm sure that hadn't helped our full squad throughout these lean years
The Bear
Guest
Thumbs up....Lucas is re writing history here!
The Bear
Guest
I've seen that look hundreds of times from the guy!
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@Lamby You've provided a list of clubs where players were in 2006. I'm talking about the clubs when they started playing for the National Team. The current hypothesis is that: "players are not playing at big clubs, so they don't deserve to be picked for Australia". This is nonsense. Apart from the players I mentioned in my original post, everyone from Cahill, to Emerton, to Schwarzer, etc. etc. were playing either NSL or low leagues in Europe when they were picked to represent Australia. Then, after representing AUS, they started getting noticed by bigger, more prestigious clubs. Do the research - it's not that difficult with the internet - & you will be surprised.
Lamby
Roar Rookie
It is no myth. Look at the 2006 squad and almost everyone was in either an A grade comp, EPL, La Liga, Siera A, or playing in a B grade comp that was playing Champions League (or Europa). There are only 6 players in the squad not playing in that category. And not many of those players were not regular starters (Kalac the exception). I don't think we have 6 current players in that A Grade team. Mark Schwarzer England Middlesbrough Lucas Neill England Blackburn Rovers Craig Moore England Newcastle United Tim Cahill England Everton Jason Čulina Netherlands PSV Eindhoven (Champions League) Brett Emerton England Blackburn Rovers Josip Skoko England Wigan Athletic Mark Viduka England Middlesbrough Harry Kewell England Liverpool Stan Lazaridis England Birmingham City Vincenzo Grella Italy Parma Scott Chipperfield Switzerland Basel (CL) John Aloisi Spain Alavés Željko Kalac Italy Milan Joshua Kennedy Germany Dynamo Dresden (Was this Div 1?) Mile Sterjovski Switzerland Basel (CL) MF Mark Bresciano Italy Parma Not A grade league or CL/Europa B grade league: Tony Popovic England Crystal Palace Ante Čović Sweden Hammarby Michael Beauchamp Australia Central Coast Mariners Archie Thompson Australia Melbourne Victory Luke Wilkshire England Bristol City Mark Milligan Australia Sydney FC
fadida
Guest
I agree fuss. There seems to be this rewriting of history that our "golden gen" all started at the top and were capped. They were integrate into the NT, often while at 2nd tier clubs. They were given time and opportunity. Anyone notice the difference between then and now? Most of our young guys seem to be working only on a plan A btw. Our older players are going plan B
JohnL
Guest
You will find that 6-0 loss to Brasil at the Confed Cup we played with 10 men against 11 of Brasil.
OneJayBee
Roar Rookie
Tom. Absolutely right - maybe we need to start taking the approach Premier League sides like Arsenal do in the "League" cup and not run their normal side - it would be controversial but maybe the Asian Cup qualifiers are the time to do that? At least blend in more young guys...
Tom
Guest
The reason the Socceroos haven't been " evolving " is because every coach employed is given a short term task of immediate results. Our aging players are allowed to linger on because these coaches are afraid of blooding young ones in case we lose some games.Now we lose games for exactly this reason. Furthermore these coaches are also reluctant to make changes earlier in the games where we're struggling so by the time they do make changes the incoming player doesn't have time to blend in and show his wares. The buck always stops with the coach, if he is hesitant it catches on with the players. The way I've seen Ange operating he would not stand for any nonsense from senior players who don't perform. I'd give him a fixed term of 3 years and free rein. Short term solutions won't give us results in the WC. The WC should now be used for experience ,both for the new coach and younger players. Anybody thinking that we're a team other than making up numbers is in Lalaland. The Asian Cup should be our resurgence.