When FFA appointed Dutchman Bert van Marwijk as coach back in January we all knew what we were getting.
A gun for hire. A short-term approach. A man who made no bones about his mandate – to get Australia out of Group C at the FIFA World Cup. Long-term plans were to be shelved. Short-term thinking was now in vogue.
How else can you explain the decision to leave Jamie Maclaren, Australia’s most in-form striker anywhere in the world, out of the 26-man World Cup squad to travel to Turkey for the pre-tournament training camp?
It is a baffling decision however you look at it. Let’s just look at the cold hard facts.
Maclaren has scored eight goals for Hibernian in 22 matches since joining in January, averaging a goal every 131 minutes. The next best of those named as a forward in van Marwijk’s initial squad is Andrew Nabbout with a goal every 212, followed by Apo Giannou (goal every 231 minutes) and Nikita Rukavystya (goal every 235 minutes).
At this moment in time, Australia doesn’t have a better goal scorer anywhere on the planet. And off the back of his incredible hattrick against Rangers on the weekend, making it five goals in as many matches to finish off the Scottish season, his confidence is sky high.
Maclaren is a confidence player, there is no better time to bring him back into the Socceroos setup than now. This is his time to shine and cement his spot in the side for the foreseeable future.
But not according to van Marwijk.
So if he misses out, who takes his spot? Rightly or wrongly this will now be pitched as a battle between Maclaren and Tim Cahill. Van Marwijk even admitted when naming his 32-man squad last week that Cahill, who has barely played since leaving Melbourne City for Millwall, is a ‘special case’. Make of that what you will.
Debate raged on social media on Monday morning about the merits of selecting one over the other. I am firmly in the camp that if it is a choice between the two, and given the other attacking options almost select themselves it pretty much is, that it has to be Maclaren every day of the week.
It beggars belief that you would select a 38-year-old who has played a grand total of 157 minutes of club football this season, in which he failed to find the back of the net (in fact Cahill’s last goal at club level was back in April 2017), ahead of a 24-year-old in arguably the best form of his career.
No one doubts Cahill’s contribution to Australian football. He will rightly be remembered as a legend of the game in Australia. His legacy, pardon the pun, is well and truly intact. But as Brisbane Times journalist Cameron Atfield tweeted on Monday, “…the World Cup isn’t a testimonial match.”
Tim Cahill of Australia (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
For all that Cahill has done for the green and gold, no one owns a Socceroos jersey. It was that very attitude and culture that Ange Postecoglou was tasked with changing after the ignominious end of the so-called Golden Generation.
Yet here we are again just a few short years later. A player, with barely any club football under his belt in the last 12 months, taking the place of a younger, more deserving player simply because of his past exploits.
But where does it end? How long do you keep taking the safe option? And what message does this send to the younger generation coming through? We’re constantly fed the message that you need to be playing regularly and playing well to earn your spot at the World Cup. But it seems that rule applies only to some.
And yet this was entirely predictable the moment FFA threw the long-term out the window when it appointed van Marwijk. His mandate is to get Australia out of its group at the World Cup. He cares not for the future of the game in Australia beyond July. Pragmatism will always win out in that scenario.
That’s what made Postecoglou so refreshing in his four years in charge. There was always an eye on the future. Pragmatism was replaced with daring. There’s not a chance that Maclaren, in his current form, would’ve missed the cut under Postecoglou. He valued players in such form.
Oh to have him back in charge. Where art thou, Postecoglou? I’m sure as he sits on a beach somewhere in the world, watching the World Cup on TV rather than experiencing it in person, Maclaren is asking himself that same question.
Socceroos 26-man squad for pre-World Cup training camp
Goalkeepers
Brad Jones, Mat Ryan, Danny Vukovic
Defenders
Aziz Behich, Josh Brillante, Milos Degenek, Fran Karacic, Matt Jurman, James Meredith, Mark Milligan, Josh Risdon, Trent Sainsbury
Midfielders
Jackson Irvine, Mile Jedinak, Massimo Luongo, Aaron Mooy, Dimitri Petratos, Tom Rogic, James Troisi
Forwards
Daniel Arzani, Tim Cahill, Tomi Juric, Robbie Kruse, Mat Leckie, Andrew Nabbout, Nikita Rukavytsya
Johnno
Guest
35 is not old, soccer is an 18-40 sport for outfield players now... And for goalies it's an 18-45 sport... Italy have used loads of veterans over the years and did just fine as have france.. Experience is important, Baresi and maldini as two examples that played for years, Baresi was 34 at USA 94 and was fine and his leadership was good.. I agree Holger should of cleaned out some deadwood in 2011, but Mark schwarcher should of gone to 2014 WC, he was playing for chelsea and would have been better choice than Matt Ryan.. He kept playing to like 2015 with Leister..
Rolly
Guest
All the adds and promos would have been made way in advance by Caltex so Caltex knew Timmy was in the squad way before we did yet team gets announced same day as Caltex adds appear with Timmy face on them .so you really think that Caltex made their advertising organised all the print media and tV commercials were all shot the same morning the team was announced .
chris
Guest
Mark I think JM is experiencing the same reason why he was not required at Darmstadt. Ie a striker who can play off the shoulder of last defenders but can't really be a target/back to goal player. Obviously BvM will play a holding type of striker who can bring in our midfielders (where our strengths are).
hogdriller
Roar Rookie
Think you'll find that Maclaren has scored 5 of his last 8 goals within the last 20 minutes of the game, then again....why cant we just have both Cahill and Maclaren in the squad?
j binnie
Guest
Waz - I watched a full match recently ,the local Edinburgh derby, and like you I would have loved to say Jamie played well but, apart from scoring a goal, I don't think he "touched a ball" before being substituted. Getting back to statistics, what does his recent hat-trick against Rangers tell us about the defensive performances of both teams with the end result being 5-5?, Without knowing what is going on in "Bert's mind" at this point in time as to how he is going to approach our World Cup games it is almost impossible to fathom his line-ups. Shane Smeltz has asked a good question this morning ,"where are the goals going to come from?". Maybe in that question lies the answer, "are we going to play to score a lot of goals". cheers jb.
Neil
Guest
I agree
Mark
Guest
Flawed reasoning? I think the fact that when Maclaren has played for the Socceroos he has been a total waste of space is about as valid reasoning as you can get.
Churchman72
Guest
Why keep the superannuated golden generation on at the start- Osieck should have transitioned them out over the previous two years. Ange took over after those players got hammered twice and the the centre half combination had a combined age of over 70. That team was already the second oldest at the South Africa World Cup and was well past it by the time he took over. He really didn’t have a choice, if he took the squad he inherited to Brazil they would have been slaughtered.
pacman
Guest
YES!
Churchman72
Guest
He played in a championship side that’s had a good run this season also, playing in the champions league and qualifying for the Europa League next season. He’s clearly done enough at club level to warrant a chance.
Churchman72
Guest
There are stories about that Southampton want him for next season. Remember he has quite an injury record so clubs will want to see that he can go some months at least without injury so that they know that he can get through a season. Now he has shown this year that he can perform in Europe and get through a decent run of games, he will be in demand. If he has a good World Cup, then interest will only increase.
pacman
Guest
I found Maccers frustrating when he played for Roar. Much clueless running with relatively few shots at goal. Without the penalties he netted, his goal scoring record would have aproached the mediocre level. The next couple of years are make or break for him. He needs to have a coach/manager who can simplify attacking methodolgy for him, and he then needs to understand his part in the process. Watching the highlights of his hat trick for Hibs suggests that he may at last be getting the "smarts". But he needs to prove he is not a one hat trick wonder.
Churchman72
Guest
He doesn’t need to play off a target man, that’s not how he was used at Brisbane. He is more a “fox in the box” style striker who hangs off the shoulder of the last defender and uses his pace to get in behind and onto through balls. Works best as part of a front three that’s highly mobile and can stretch defensive lines and press from the front. Much as I wanted him to be there, if that’s not BVM’s style, he probably won’t get much opportunity.
realfootball
Guest
Frankly, I wouldn't take either Cahill or McClaren. But to suggest that FFA has locked this in for commercial reason is far from a far fetched conspiracy theory, if only because it is simply a common sense thing to do. I am very, very far from a conspiracy theorist, but in a previous life spent enough time working with senior corporate management (as a creative) on branding campaigns to opine, on the basis of experience, that it is indeed highly likely that Cahill was a lock-in. Companies like Caltex do not gamble that kind of money. They would only have done it if they were sure that Cahill would be selected. As I said, this is not a conspiracy theory. This is simply realism. I've been there. I know how big money brand campaigns work, and they do not take chances.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
I'm not saying that Cahill is a swap for McLaren, other people are asking why Cahill made it in and McLaren didn't. I'm just suggesting why Aussie Bert may have picked him and yes it may have something to do with the Cahilltex promotion. You'd have to ask Aussie Bert why he left out McLaren.
LuckyEddie
Guest
What have Kruse or the rest done to earn their place? Cahill last scored a year ago, although I would still pick him. You seem to have a certain dislike of McLaren and Scotland which you are trying hard to validate under flawed reasoning. If the Scottish League is so bad leave Rogic out of the team. As for stats in the dodgy big Ange era you fail to take into account when he came on, what players were around him or did Ange pick him to keep the media happy. He is doing what Ange waffled on about, playing at a decent level and scoring goals. I mean our great leader 'no skills' Jedinak is slogging away in the English second division and still cannot control or pass a ball.
LuckyEddie
Guest
So should Rogic be in the team? Why have not an EPL side chased Rogic? Should we pick players from the English and German 2nd and 3rd division. A lot of European teams are not that great if you watch them. There are the obvious stand outs but after that there are a lot of ordinary teams in Europe. I think what is coming out is we just have one or two players playing in top competitions and the rest are maybes at best or never gunna be's. We just have a serious lack of high class talent.
MarkfromCroydon
Roar Pro
I'm sorry but it's a poor article. Please, discuss and analyse the actual football and style of play if you want to criticise the team selection. What type of player is JMac? From what I've seen he's a limited, goal poacher type finisher who relies on a certain type of service. If you've seen him change since he's been in Scotland tell us how and tell us how he fits in with the team style with the players behind him. Simply quoting stats doesn't cut the mustard.
me too
Guest
getting out of the world cup group is an end in itself. that is the type of success we have been after when we first appointed postecoglu - long term success from the current crop - such as making it out of group stage at this world cup. they appointed bert because he was seen the likliest candidate of those on offer to do just that. arnold wasn't even available, so shouldn't be part of the conversation.
AGO74
Guest
Yep, according to the likes of Rolly we now have Caltex as well as FFA selecting the national team.....yeah right.