Say what you like about the Socceroos chances at the World Cup in Brazil, early signs are positive.
Ange Postecoglou’s regeneration of the national team, following an uninspiring few years, means things are now looking up for the boys in green and gold.
After an uncomfortable World Cup qualifying campaign under Holger Osieck, which included losses to Oman and Jordan, as well as multiple lacklustre draws on home soil, it took an 83rd minute header from relative veteran Josh Kennedy to ensure yet another intercontinental play off was avoided.
This averted the possible disaster of failing to make the cut for Brazil.
Despite Osieck managing to guide the Socceroos to a third-consecutive World Cup, the need to breathe new life into the side was obvious following two 6-0 defeats at the hands of France and Brazil, ultimately leading to Oseick’s contract being terminated by the FFA.
Since replacing Osieck in October last year, Postecoglou has rectified the growing rot that had been converging on the squad since the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The rebuilding process never occurred, leading to many people questioning whether Australia had the talent necessary to build for another golden generation.
Now though, this rebuild has been officially backed by the FFA, through to the five-year contract deal given to the former Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory manager.
The wheels have been set in motion for the development of a thriving national team set up.
It hasn’t taken long to see the effect of the man who led both South Melbourne and Brisbane Roar to two NSL and A-League championships respectively.
The highly attractive and high-tempo Postecoglou style of play, which led to his Brisbane side of 2011 being dubbed ‘Roarcelona’, has been evident during the first three games under Postecoglou.
This was most noticeably in the first half against Ecuador in March and in a frantic opening half hour against South Africa on Monday.
While most people chose to take a ‘glass half empty’ approach in reviewing the game against South Africa in Sydney earlier this week, the obvious flaws in a slightly disjointed and often erratic performance can be attributed largely to inexperience and a lack of team chemistry.
What else was to be expected?
The young squad though showed glimpses of the exciting future for Australian football under Ange in a match where both fatigue, caused by a heavy training regime, as well as pitch conditions on the much criticised ANZ Stadium surface made it difficult for the young Roos to get into a truly efficient groove.
Regardless of conditions though, the 50,000 strong crowd should have been impressed with the work of FC Utrecht midfielder Tommy Oar and fellow attacker, former Adelaide United youngster Matthew Leckie, who both showed promising signs against a depleted Bafana Bafana outfit.
Aided by the evergreen Tim Cahill, who captained his country for the first time and provided a trademark goal and assault of a corner flag, both Oar and Leckie would be hoping to create troubles against Australia’s much more fancied opponents in Brazil.
While the nations collective expectations ahead of our Group of Death fixtures seem to lie somewhere between sheer hope and downright fear of what may happen, the success of the Postecoglou rebuild was never going to be defined by Brazil.
However, as noted by Mark Milligan, the injection of youth should mean the Socceroos carry an element of fearlessness into the Cup.
A similar fearlessness is what supporters should take into the tournament. While it might prove easy to pick out weaknesses in the team if things go as so many predict it will for Australia, one eye should be kept on the future.
For the Australian players who will forge this future, like Oar, Leckie, Tom Rogic, Jason Davidson and Preston North End’s Bailey Wright, Brazil will prove to be the ultimate learning curve ahead of the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia and the 2018 World Cup.
The next month will hopefully provide great view into the talent of the current crop of Australian youngsters. Who’s to say history might not look back on this World Cup as an experience which kick-started Australia’s rise onto the forefront of the global football landscape?
Let’s wait and see.
Tomas
Guest
The wallabies play rugby stevo. You don't have to be scared of soccer mate, it is just a game.
j binnie
Guest
Fadida - You are playing on words."younger" means "less in years than". "Young" as a descriptive adjective takes in a whole and as I pointed out this squad is just below what would be regarded as the "norm" were squads to be assessed against an average life span of any player at the top. OK? Now, let's see if our "younger than last time" squad can do better than the 2006 lot.Pleased??? jb
Fadida
Guest
But it is much "younger" than what it jb, which is the point
j binnie
Guest
Mid - Just a slight correction to your historical content.The football revolution we had to have actually began in 1974 when an English coach was brought here to set up a National Coaching scheme. It was from this man I first heard the suggestion of juniors playing in small-sided games,on smaller fields,with smaller goals to defend.He also had a plethora of ideas on how the game could be broken down into "subject matter" that allowed for better teaching and he set about getting coaches installed in every state in Australia.These men were to run seminars and courses for embryo coaches. Despite his efforts he was constantly being sidetracked by those in power and the truth of the matter was that it was money,or the lack of it,allied to almost complete ignorance of modern coaching methods by those who controlled the game,that started to break down any gains being made.State Federations had to pick up the costs for their coaches and this did not go down too well either.The final blow came when the government of the day banned cigarette advertising in the sporting arena and with the national coach being funded by Rothmans the die was cast. All across the country the coaching idea was breaking down and so another great idea almost passed into oblivion. You will note I said "almost" for in 1973,pre- Natinal Curriculum, I was actively coaching a small sided team in a 14 team league of like clubs.There was an excellent Hungarian coach at that time going around these church,yes I said church,leagues showing how the kids could be taught in a fun,enjoyable environment,so the idea hadn't actually died. It came then as no surprise when the new chairman of the HAL,Frank Lowy,who by the way had been forced away from the game in1984 by these same people who lacked his vision,almost immediately set up the creation of a national coaching scheme. That brings us up to date. Your mate jb
j binnie
Guest
Punter - I am not comparing what might have been I am simply saying that with an average age of around 25.9 this squad cannot rightly be deemed "young". I cannot see any of the "29 years up" players being "cut "in the final four,so if Bresciano,Cahill,Wilkshire,Mackay,Kennedy,& Jedinak stay in the final 23 that "average age" should rise to something over 26.To me that is not "young". It is simple maths,if a normal playing career is seen for a player as approx. 20-35 years of age,the 'average" age is therefore 27.5. The fact that AP has included a couple of 21 year old players in his original 30 makes good sense,they are gaining valuable experience but lets not call the final 23 something that it is clearly not . ok???? jb
Punter
Guest
JB its a young squad compared to the squad we could've had under Holger, with Neill, Schwartzer, Holman, Sasa, Carney & Archie Thompson.
Adam
Guest
Fair dinkum, are you serious??!! - Australia NEVER had any players such as you have mentioned EXCEPT Harry Kewell - playing at such a level at a young age. I thought you generally spoke sense, but you must be a post 2006 fan, as you obviously think Australia should have a production line of Messi's, Ronaldos, Neymars coming through. get a clue, your speaking rubbish!!! lol
j binnie
Guest
Chris - you seem to be commenting on a debate I am having with Adam about the labelling of our squad as "young". You state here you think there will be a few players starting who are under the age of 22.You do realise there are only 3 players left in the squad who fill that description,Taggart at 21,Halloran at 22,and Bailey Wright also at 22. That's yer lot as they used to say and remember there are still 4 to be "cut" from the WC playing squad, so any one of these three could "suffer" that fate. jb
AZ_RBB
Guest
Bring it on! They're good but like mvfc proved earlier this year, they're not invincible. The Guangzhou fans will bring some noise and stiff competition for the RBB.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Off topic, but BREAKING NEWS The ACL Quarter Final Draw has just completed in KL. Big news for WSW - they will host the current Champions of Asia, Guangzhou Evergrande at Parramatta Stadium on 20 August. Having been at Docklands for the Group match MVFC v Guangzhou, this will be a night to remember - on & off the park - for anyone who attends. But, taking it one tournament at a time ... for now we focus on Brasil.
Jason Polak
Guest
Excellent article Riley. I like your "glass half full" point of view. I agree that a lot of positives will come out of this campaign regardless of the results in Brazil and sometimes it's amazing what players can achieve when youthful energy is combined with a relatively modest expectation.
Phoebe
Guest
I like this article you are really clever
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I don't think anyone is saying the World Cup doesn't matter, but the truth is that Australia are the lowest ranked country in the World Cup, playing in a group with the two finalists from last time plus Chile who are currently ranked 13 in the world (higher than The Netherlands) and thus nobody gives us a lot of chance of making a huge impact. I think there'll be a few players starting for Australia under the age of 22 who'll have an awesome opportunity to show how good they are against the best in the world and could really surprise some people and possibly earn themselves a nice contract in the process.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
That is a big thing. Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton were both offered contracts at the same time, Harry took because his parentage allowed him too, Brett's didn't so it was a few more years before he could get there. Unfortunately, in that I think we lost a few good players who went to Europe using their ancestry to get in, and then ended up playing for those European countries their parents were from rather than Australia. All the more reason for Australia needing to have the A-League at the best level possible so that players who aren't able to develop as much as possible here as they may not be able to get into Europe as easily as young as they used to.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
That is true, but those sorts of players generally are the exception rather than the rule, most countries only have those sorts of players who are exceptional at such an early age come around every now and then. Even those top footballing nations only have a couple of players here and there on that list. Australia had Kewell who fit that bill, and it'll probably be a while before we unearth another. Most other players take a few more years to develop. I'd love to see Australia producing a slew of players who are world class as teenagers, but it's not realistic to expect it to happen more than very occasionally.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I do think it's the biggest problem for them though, and the average age just doesn't show that up. We have players who are past their best and players who are a few years from their best but few, if any, players actually in the prime of their careers. It's a huge hole.
Fadida
Guest
I enjoyed the positivity. Football is sport after all, not war. Risks need to be taken and there is absolutely no shame in aiming high and failing. Aiming for damage minimisation is pointless
ciudadmarron
Guest
So you keep saying Stevo. Who is it? Put your money where your mouth is. You keep saying we'll be humiliated as if there was something we could do about the current crop - what is your suggestion? And if it doesn't bother you, why do you keep saying it?
j binnie
Guest
Adam- Didn't quite catch your age so I'll throw in another few "young" players to join Maradonna and Messi, who were playing for their countries in their late teens, Pele,(17), Neymar(18), Ronaldo (18), Ronaldhino(19),& Kaka (20) all for Brazil.Ronaldo (18) for Portugal and Aguerro(18) & Tevez (20) for Argentine and Suarez (20) for Uruguay.These to me are young players who are playing at their respective countries top level. What teenage player do we have playing at that same level??? Cheers jb.
j binnie
Guest
Real - plus Bresciano 34,Kennedy 31,& Jedinak 29 ,joining Tim to push up the average.Your mate jb