The discontent surrounding Australia’s ailing World Cup qualifying campaign is increasing, with former Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Bosnich suggesting it’s time to replace Graham Arnold as coach.
The Socceroos’ draw with Oman earlier this week leaves them facing an uphill battle to qualify for the Qatar World Cup, and needing to beat Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away in their final two games.
“You should not be drawing with Oman in an important World Cup qualifier, you should not be drawing with China in an important World Cup qualifier,” Bosnich said on SEN radio.
“Right now, we’re in big trouble in terms if we come third. If we come third my belief, and I’ve said this before, is that we will not qualify. This comes down to the manager. I have known Graham Arnold since I was 14 years of age, we have had good and bad moments.
Graham Arnold (Francois Nel/Getty Images)
“I had a crack at him after I heard him come out and say after they got one point out of six against Saudi Arabia and Japan that everything is going fine – no, it’s not Graham. And you always told me you had a plan B, plan C, plan D – it’s quite apparent that you don’t.
“I really do think that Football Australia have to have a serious think if we go into the playoff – is Graham Arnold is the right man to lead us into those playoff games?
“After what I have seen during the World Cup qualifiers, as well as the Asian Championships, the answer to that question right now in my opinion is no.
“You are accountable as the manager for your team’s performance. That’s the way it always has been.”
If the Socceroos finish third they face two rounds of playoffs to make the finals.
Bosnich added his voice to those believing football has lost its way in player development.
“We are producing completely robotic players,” he said.
Meanwhile former Socceroo Robbie Cornthwaite told SEN pressure was mounting on Arnold.
“There’s every chance they don’t go (to the World Cup),” Cornthwaite said.
“Everyone has come to expect the Socceroos at World Cups, they’ve made the last four and done it quite comfortably at times.
“The pressure is mounting on Graham Arnold because he’s very one dimensional in the way he plays football. He’s stuck with basically the same eleven players for nearly every single match.
“There was only one change from the mid-week game against Vietnam, you travel away to the Middle East to take on Oman, he only changed one player, and then in the post-game when they asked Graham Arnold what he thought of the game, he said he was disappointed with the physical qualities of his side.
“I just think, ‘Well, you haven’t really freshened things up, Arnie’. I think there was a couple of other changes you could have made.
“Ajdin Hrustic could have come in, (Jimmy) Jeggo, Craig Goodwin is obviously doing good things for Adelaide United, and Rhyan Grant was the big one at right-back. I thought for sure he would start, he didn’t, and the man who started in his place, Karacic, gave away the penalty in the dying stages when fatigue was playing a massive factor.
“Pressure is mounting on Arnie and I think he got this one wrong if I’m honest.
“Arnie’s all about fitness levels, get the ball in wide areas and transition moments. We have enough players with enough quality to be a little bit braver.
“At the moment, I think it’s a little bit directionless.”
Malo
Guest
Yeah only a couple of the Socceroos would make the Boreham Wood side
AJ73
Roar Rookie
have you actually looked at the papers? Herald-Sun, SMH, ABC, Fox sports, etc all covered the game, even the name change to the competition for next year. Victory won 2-1
AJ73
Roar Rookie
Beg to differ News Ltd (Herald-Sun) https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/ffa-cup-2022-result-melbourne-victory-defeats-central-coast-mariners-21-in-final/news-story/b754f38767208b3c932ee7e9ccd6d22a News https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/why-not-tony-popovic-has-faith-in-melbourne-victory-after-ffa-cup-triumph/news-story/9d8506c355d299e7548810d76aef465f ABC https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-06/melbourne-victory-beat-central-coast-mariners-for-ffa-cup-glory/100808226 Fox Sports https://www.foxsports.com.au/video/football/a-league/victory-claim-2nd-ffa-cup-glory!819108 Fairfax (SMH) https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/victory-shoot-for-silverware-in-ffa-cup-final-20220205-p59u12.html
me too
Roar Rookie
Ange scraped into a world cup via third place on the back of a cahill brace and a syrian shot hitting the post at the death, then a brace of penalties against honduras. His much better socceroos team struggled as much as the current crop. A home Asian cup was a good triumph (we finished runner up after extra time in the previous tournament in qatar) but also his only success with the socceroos. Whether a fan or not, his footballing style is not suited to sporadic coaching opportunities. So Arnie has emulated his 2017 run, like then lets hope we make it, but realistically i think we all know Arnold is a very limited national coach and we'll need a lot of luck to go our way, as it did in 2017.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Yep, Bozza is right about Arnold. However, he made similar comments on Ange also. Ange Postecoglou has always been more creative. He wanted Socceroos to play in a new way: wingers to play full backs, not fullbacks to play wingers. As for Arnold, no change, and he achieves nothing from Asian Cup, Olympics and World Cup.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
AJ73. Check out today’s Australian online news, not one mention of last nights FFA cup game. Did I say bias I’d call it censorship.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
AFL is the biggest code in the southern states, NRL is the biggest code in Queensland and NSW and Football has the largest participation number. Surely that counts for some thing.
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
Yep - I agree with Bozza :thumbup:
Dan
Guest
Though I agree with selection and tactics , I think bozza talks cod shit most of the time. He's a head hunter . It's not just Arnold, development and the A league are at 3rd world country level . No decent foreign signings for yrs , sub par level, no $$$ , no interest . Problems won't go away after Arnold is no longer at the helm.
Saffi
Roar Rookie
I agree about changing coaches. However, one observation on player development. About 4 years ago the A League clubs and FFA (I think Gallop) dumped Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) participation for club youth and club academies. AIS participants include John Aloisi, Mark Bresciano, Simon Colosimo, Oscar Crino,Brett Emerton, Adam Federici, Vince Grella, Josh Kennedy, Robbie Kruse, Mark Milligan, Craig Moore, Lucas Neill, Trent Sainsbury, Carl Valeri, Mark Viduka etc etc mainly under the tutorship of two guys named Ron Smith and Steve O’Connor. Just saying, what’s happened since?
David V
Guest
With the exception of Rugby, golf, tennis and sailing, the sports you mentioned are primarily confined to the English-speaking world. And basketball and volleyball are also popular and widely followed in Europe, their fanbases overlapping and practically indistinguishable from football.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
AFL sucks no resources at all , its participation numbers are made up. Cricket actual numbers were found to be 270k, only 30% what was stated and its a lot less exagerrated than AFL. AFL gets players that cant make it in football and basketball. Australia has the highest football junior rego fees in the world by a massive margin. Thats Australias one and only problem at the moment. Competition from AFL, rugby, rugby league for players might have been half relevant 40 years ago but is not longer a factor .
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The USA gets to play most of its games in the evenings in the tropics. if they really wanted to get the USA they would be playing them in the middle of day. Honduras played its games afternoon against all opponents in last qualification and most opponents were from tropical countries. This time the US played evening away in Honduras so what are they whining about. USA has only got a fraction of the difficulties Australia has yet endlessly whine. They are a much shorter flight from Europe, and have a bigger local league. Costa Rica and Honduras they no longer have big European contingents, Canada now have the biggest Euro contingent, probably due to their big refugee and immigrant population .
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Yes, but how many Rugby, Hockey, Netball, Cricket, 20-20, League World Cups have Hungry and Sweden won? How many America's Cups, Davis Cups, golfing majors, tennis majors, etc. have they won compared to Australia? Are they as adept at basketball, baseball, volleyball, etc.? Australia's capacity to compete across most major sports globally is astounding. You may not understand this because you only follow one sport. And....that's before you add in AFL — a game unique to Australia that sucks up a vast amount of corporate sponsorship, talent and publicity. Imagine the damage we'd do if it never existed?...
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
"His point is that the elite choose AFL & cricket." I didn't say that at all. If you ask nicely, I can explain this further. You may even learn something. If not, it saves me a few minutes of my time.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
I get it. You don't like other sports. However, there are three types of truths: 1. Personal 2. Political 3. Objective What I said was an objective truth. Yours...subjective. You won't find a solution to most issues unless you understand the problem. Objective truths help in this regard.
AJ73
Roar Rookie
I'm a troll, am I? Yes, I grew up playing Australian Rules Football and am passionate about the game. I also enjoy watching and playing Soccer now. I have no problem in accepting all codes of football and other sports, unlike many others on The Roar. My children play Soccer (my daughter is quite good at the game) and watch the AFL, sometimes the NRL and will watch the Wallabies. I enjoy seeing my kids play the game you so passionately love and playing myself. Yes, I love watching Australian Rules and will watch it over soccer if a clash, but I still watch the game and admire the skill. I will watch the local park games as well because it is sport, but not the be-all-and-end-all. The "elite" as you put it in this country have proper pathways to the AFL, NRL & cricket and of course, when you can stay at home playing a game you enjoy, why not? Who said the "elites" can only play soccer? The pathways in soccer make it hard and I have seen it first hand with my daughter and to a lesser extent my son. There is a chance she will choose cricket over soccer because of the pathways in place, as much as I think she could go far in soccer given everything being equal being a left-footer with a strong boot.
chris
Guest
lol - I know you're right Andy!
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
Yes Chris, I agree with all of your points. I still think we will get there. We need to see more structure across the backline (5 at the back) with more possession, build up attacks from the back line. Show more hunger in the midfield. The front third need to take their chances, back themselves, with first time strikes, less of the first touch then shoot. Hit the target with first time shots on the run. Show the hunger, to get the job done. And maybe, with a bit more luck we will qualify.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
#dontfeedthetroll rookie mistake :laughing: