Following a week of increasingly frenzied speculation since FFA Chairman Frank Lowy declared his intention to appoint an Australian as coach of the Socceroos, and as expected Ange Postecoglou was confirmed as the new Socceroos boss.
For his own part, Postecolgou managed to put his commendable profile in the press to good use in indirectly lobbying for the role, in particular penning a good article in outlining a well articulated vision in relation to the Socceroos.
Since the low-point of his career, following the end of his spell in charge of the national youth teams following a now infamous on-air spat with an agenda-driven Craig Foster, Postecoglpu’s ascension to the senior role has been nothing short of an astounding success.
For his own part, it has been good to see Craig Foster has since matured as well, and instead of blatantly pushing the theory of a pro-Dutch agenda, his experiences of seeing the realities of what Rob Baan and Han Berger actually have (or rather haven’t) brought means he is a little more considered in his opinions.
Even if his enthusiasm for the Barcelona system gets a little excessive at times, his observations of the rather simplistic anti-foreigner discourse that followed the failings of Holger Osieck in Fairfax hit the mark.
What is of concern to this author is that it sounds increasingly like the Australian football fraternity has forgotton the lessons of the Asian Cup in 2007.
What’s even more concerning is the culture of denial that seems to exist as to the steeply declining state of the nation’s talent pool.
The most concerning issue of all, however, is that in their enthusiasm to see the domestic games progress on the park and in the afterglow of the re-invigorating 2012/2013 season, the football fraternity along with the mainstream media seems to have lost all perspective as to how the A-League measures up against the rest of football world.
They seem to think it is in a more advanced state than it actually is.
This has led to a sense of ‘over-excitement’ as they anticipate the impact Ange will bring to the national team and its style of play.
Indeed, the discourse and the current level of excitement reveals just what an excellent populist exercise the appointment of Postecoglou has been on the part of David Gallop and Frank Lowy.
We are instead left to read between the lines of Craig Foster’s cryptic response to Postecoglou’s appointment that once again hits the mark but also hints at why Postecolgou’s appointment isn’t necessarily a good footballing appointment at this time.
Foster skirts around the issues because of his awkward history with Postecoglou, but he is correct in raising the true perspective that in order for an Australian coach to be truly ready for the position they would have to have evolved not just through the ranks of the A-League, but to have gone beyond and carved out an effective coaching career in either greater Asia or in Europe first.
This is without touching on the ’20 year’ reference to fact that the J-League, despite being in a much more advanced state on and off the park than the A-League, has still not produced local coaches generally considered advanced enough to be leading the Japanese national team and closing the gap between AFC nations and the world’s elite.
A proper perspective sees that Postecoglou was able to revolutionise the game within Australia, but his skill had not yet been extended into greater Asia, as evidenced by his all-conquering Roar side failing to make an impact in the AFC Champions League.
Not to mention the fact that Postecoglou’s approach has generally been something of a ‘slow burn’ process that lends itself more towards league-oriented success at club level as opposed to cup or tournament level success which is what international football constitutes.
The lesson of the 2007 Asian Cup was that a head coach who knew the pitfalls of the AFC region was required to make up for the lack of institutional knowledge within the Australian football fraternity.
In the aftermath of the 2007 debacle, Pim Verbeek negotiated Australia through its first Asian oriented World Cup campaign of the modern era exceptionally well. Indeed it seems he did too well because this seems to have lured the football fraternity into a false sense of perspective.
In order to be ready for the job, Postecoglou and any other Australian aspirant would have to, at the very minimum, require extensive experience leading Australian A-League level players though AFC Champions League campaign, learning how to pit such players against AFC level opposition.
In the past, the Socceroos could rely on a strong backbone of highly experienced UEFA-based players to give them the edge over opponents consisting of AFC-based players who are talented (as evidenced by good showings at FIFA youth World Cups), but not quite refined at the top level.
As the last vestiges of the ‘Golden Generation’ retire from international football for the 2018 World Cup campaign and perhaps even beyond, the Socceroos’ qualifying matches will in essence be a matter of a core of AFC level players (with UEFA-based players like Robbie Kruse on the fringes) against opposing AFC level players.
An undercurrent of equalisation between Australia and many other Asian nations has slowly been occurring for several years, and began to break through to the surface in the final group stage of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
The issue that has been overlooked is that while Postecoglou (and Arnold) have both been proficient at nurturing youngsters into promising A-League level talents who are successful in taking the next step (rather than fail and play in greater Asia or the Middle East instead)
The skill of either of them has not yet reached the level of directly nurturing such players into potent AFC or UEFA level talents and being able to pit them against AFC level teams succesffully.
So while the Australian football fraternity may be rubbing their hands at the thought of Postecoglou nurturing some of the next generation of youngsters, and while he has done well at A-League level, his inexperience at pitting such youngsters against AFC level opponents and learning how to gauge them may mean the going will be quite tough when it comes to qualifying for Russia in 2018.
Lenore
Guest
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Simoc
Guest
AP will be judged on results. Osieck got Australia to the World Cup finals. That is what people expect in the easiest region to qualify in.
Jean Smith
Guest
Myself personally I was hoping they would have gone for Guus Hiddink but now Melbourne Victory's coach has been selected we need to give him a chance. Who knows he may do well in that appointment, he might surprise everyone and when he gets to know how the Socceroos have played he can add his expertise to help with their game plan to make them even more successful. Time will tell on how well they adapt to their new coach but I wouldn't put him down before he even has a chance to prove himself.
Robbie Mase
Guest
Frothing on this squad!! I would like to see Jedinak tried at centre-back though. I've been disappointed by all the negativity surrounding him
fadida
Guest
Pretty sure Lowry remains uncapped Fuss, but had pledged his future to Australia?
fadida
Guest
Agree about the benefit of AP and GA having possibly a greater impact on development at club level. I wouldn't have been unhappy had a Bielsa type taken the reigns with AP assisting while remaining at MV. In terms of NT morale and feel good factor hopefully the AP appointment will compensate for that. Who knows, fresh eyes and a positive approach to the job may push some of our NT players on in club terms eg Langerak, Leckie, Paine etc may be in the WC now, perform brilliantly and leapfrog to better leagues, bigger clubs or starting spots (Langerak)
mahonjt
Guest
I agree with the broad tenor of this article about avoiding the hype and remaining rational and managing our expectations - but also think some old myths are being replaced with new ones. I won't go into those in a lot of detail here as others have. However, I would make the following observations with respect to the generally agreed idea that making comparisons about sporting teams (or between teams) across games and generations is a fool’s errand. So I want to build on that concept a little with respect to football teams, and national teams in particular. First of all the world of football is changing. Asia and her leagues and national teams is rising and Europe / South America and her leagues and national teams are experiencing some significant and patchy variability and in some areas worrying decline in relative and actual terms. At the global, aggregate level these patterns are apparent in the broader economy and society within which football operates. It’s not much of a surprise really. OK, so what does this all mean for Australian football. Well in my opinion it means our improvement can no longer simply measured with reference to the leagues and national teams of Europe and South America. In my view any such analysis fails not only to acknowledge the broader social and economic tides in the world and their impacts of football nations in ABSOLUTE terms - but it fails to respond in a more nuanced way to these patterns in RELATIVE terms within and across regions and the globe. It is even more meaningless to draw hard conclusions with respect to any individual team – let alone the relative qualities of individual players over this incredibly dynamic period for the world and her great game. It is my view that carving out a career at the top of Europe is much harder for Australians today for a number of reasons. The pathways are being rebuilt here sure (as they need to be) and this is impacting on our production line, but I also hold this view because the competition for European contacts is much greater than ever before because of the rise of Asia, the slow emergence of Africa (except in football where it has been explosive in player contract terms) and to a lesser extent the wider Americas. Far be it for me to suggest that the so called "Golden Generation" had it easy – they did not. But I put it to you that the current and emerging generation of footballers have it much tougher cracking Europe for social and economic reasons well beyond the scope of the FFA, this country or western nations more broadly. The result of this is that much of the debate about the performance of Australia, her national teams, her youth development and the individuals concerned is unfortunately and unfairly conducted within a static, Eurocentric and historical prism that is itself no longer reflective of the contemporary football world. The good news for Australian football (and Australia more generally) is that, as always, we are the ‘lucky country’ yet again as we ride the rise of Asia by dent of fortuitous historical circumstances and geography. So I sat come on the Socceroos. I have faith in you. More importantly, I have the patience to enjoy it without measuring our domestic game and players as substandard in IMPERIAL units. :-)
Griffo
Roar Guru
Traore is not eligible for the Socceroos - his status was recently confirmed (he didn't have dual nationality when representing youth level for Ivory Coast). 442 article a few weeks ago had some details....
jimmymac
Guest
though Ange will have a list as long as his arm, his first task is to nationalise Adama Traore!
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
It's a very steep challenge How will he solve the LB position etc as well? I recall Hiddink scrapped a game against Colombia to simply run a training camp, perhaps he should consider doing the same Though the Costa Rica friendly seems to be an FFA PR move to introduce him to the public as much as anything, though I think I'll discuss that when part 2 comes out
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
Yeah with that middle paragraph, one thing that was good about Arnold and Ange is that at A League level they were able to rejuvenate some flagging careers, setting them up for a second chance. Milligan being a good example and it would have been interesting to see how Troisi went Naturally then it is easy to see why people are excited about the prospect of him being NT manager, but my inclination was to think that it is easier to do if at club level and there is week to week contact, nurturing and games, wheras there's only the occasional contact and games at NT level. This is why i wrote in an article it may be better to keep them where they are where both are adding to talent pool and not having to utilise it The 2015 Asian cup will give some prolongued contact so there is an opportunity perhaps, outside of that it was only an absolute master like Hiddink who comes to mind in terms of improving players in a NT head coach guise
Punter
Guest
Yes I hope someone breaks out, but I'm more looking at Rogic, Amini, your boy Caceres, De Silva, Juric, Gamerio & Mabil having the breakout seasons.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Another young player - who rejected being capped by Ireland - is waiting for his chance. He can play either Left Back, or Centre Back. Shane Lowry has no regrets choosing Australia over Ireland http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/285950,shane-lowry-ive-no-roo-regrets.aspx Remember, Lucas was playing with Millwall in the 3rd tier of England, when he was given his 1st AUS cap. Timmy was playing with Millwall in the 2nd tier.
titch
Guest
Ange is between a rock and a hard place. And the writers here are all asking does he stick with the squad which got us to the Brazil - albeit unconvincingly - or does he inject some new blood in to the squad? And has he the time to stamp his authority on the team in such a short span of time? I think we all feel for him. I agree with most writers here and am not expecting miracles. What I hope Ange does is get the team to play with some desperation and without fear.
The Bear
Guest
The Rainmaker effect? More inspiring to Aussie youngsters than possibly all other affordable and available NT candidates at present. Wish their were more friendlies between now and March. Now it's up to the older lads to accept the challenge of holding their place in the starting line-up.
The Bear
Guest
I'm all for this. I'll give Ange the same critical eye that I will give any NT Coach. I just happen to think this is a very positive appointment, and I don't expect miracles either. Evolution is the way o go...revolution is for suckers.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
The young lads have a spring in their step with the announcement of Ange as Head Coach. SBS TWG is reporting Mustafa Amini is getting noticed at BVB. Amini, 20, has been earning plaudits for Borussia Dortmund II, impressing in a breakout season & scored in the 2-1 win over Duisburg in front of 22,000 last month ... (he) regularly plays in front of crowds in excess of 10,000 for a Dortmund II side loaded with youngsters. "I’ve learned a huge amount since coming here, how could you not at one of the top clubs in the world?” said Amini, who often trains with the first team with Klopp watching on. Fulls story: http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1171479/Amini-dreams-of-Socceroos-call-up
Midfielder
Guest
Punter HHHMMMMM maybe you'er right re me and Fozzie .... on Troisi he is my Nicky Carle [remember all those that wanted NC picked] time may prove me wrong... up front we are at our weakest TBH I hope someone jumps out of the box and just grabs the spot ...
Midfielder
Guest
NUFCMVFC The money thing is very important ... yes we have the money for a top coach say 5 million a year ... but if we spend the money on the coach what do we not spent the money on...
fadida
Guest
I'd argue that the players going to the middle east/Asia, Spiranovic excepted, are either a) on the downhill slide having reached their peak eg Bresc, Brosque, Holman, Neill, Kewell and are looking for an easier life/last payday or b) those who have realised they are not good enough for the top echelons and have moved to leagues that match their talent and pay well eg Wilkinson, Og, Corndog (above his level), McGowan etc Kruse, Oar, Langerak, Leckie, Sarota, Ryan, Williams, Davidson, Holland, Jedinak (despite his technical failings), Troisi, Amini etc are all aiming for the top. Some are just taking longer to get there! There is fall back, but most (young) talented players aren't interested in it. There are a few Devere, Burns, who have made poor career choices, but with the intention of moving forward, not plateauing