The Socceroos are just one win away from gaining qualification to this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
After failing to secure automatic qualification in the group stage, the Aussies were forced into the do-or-die deciders against the United Arab Emirates and Peru.
The team overcame the UAE on Wednesday, with a brilliant late goal from Ajdin Hrustic sealing the victory 2-1 and moving them within inches of their fifth consecutive World Cup.
Casual Australian football fans are coming out and jumping on the bandwagon as a result, keen to relish the Australian patriotism, but one major question that continues to come up is who is this team?
An article in The Australian this week basically dismissed the Socceroos as a once-good side that is now full of no-name players.
If you don’t know them, you haven’t been paying attention, and it brings up a glaring issue with the nation’s domestic football talents.
Australia is full of up-and-coming players, young talent and certified stars. This was on full display during last year’s Olympics in Tokyo, where the Olyroos managed to down Argentina 2-0.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Melbourne City’s Marco Tilio and Western United’s Lachie Wales netted the goals, and while they may have been the only ones scored in the Olympics campaign, it cemented the young players as ones to be reckoned with.
The majority of the team came from the A-League Men.
The best of that league, the A-League All Stars, took on arguably one of the greatest teams in the world in Barcelona late last month.
Over 70,000 fans came out in Sydney to watch the friendly, where the A-League Men players surprisingly held their own for a 3-2 loss.
In comparison, the A-League Men grand final, which was held just days after, attracted just 22,495 fans.
These were the two best teams in Australian domestic football, close Victorian rivals in a Melbourne derby, battling for the Championship, managing less than a third of what turned out for a friendly.
We know there are so many football fans in Australia, including those who get up at ungodly hours to watch their favourite international teams, and proudly wear their jerseys every chance they get.
They come out in force for their country when they take to the international stage, packing stadiums on weekdays for qualifiers and packing into sports bars for away games.
But when it comes to supporting our home-grown stars, in a league that is a breeding ground for super talent, we can only manage a measly turnout.
(Photo by Dave Hewison/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The 2021-22 A League Men season averaged attendances of 5404. The schedule was impacted heavily by the pandemic and flooding, with many games rescheduled for unfortunate weekday time slots.
But if 70,174 people can turn out on a weekday for a friendly, surely more than 5000 can do it for our national football competition?
A frequent complaint of the A-League Men is that it’s just not as good compared to international competitions.
That may be true, but it will never get better without local support.
Just this week two players from the Central Coast secured multi-year deals with clubs in the Scottish Premier League: Kye Rowles with Heart of Midlothian and Lewis Miller with Hibernian.
They join a host of home-grown talent making their name overseas. Australian football can’t grow and get better without Australian support.
Tuesday’s clash with Peru will almost certainly bring out the casual Australian football fans, and plenty more jumping on the bandwagon.
But those finding their pride for Australia’s national team for the World Cup need to remember our home-grown talent.
Because without supporting football at home, at the grass-roots, NPL and A-Leagues level – it can’t grow.
Ben
Guest
The last time it happened the VFLers were stomped and Barassi copped an ankle injury that he reckons disrupted the rest of his career. Anyway, why would proper footballers waste their time playing against vicballers whose sport requires limited skill, limited tactical nous, can be picked up and played professionally by failed basketballers within a single year and is played by teams representing inner suburban Melbourne train stations?
I am here
Guest
Unfortunately most football fans are not welcoming to people who enjoy other sports. They only want people who are 100% football fans.
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
Some great points. I understand that Europe is the perceived benchmark for football. But in recent times we are seeing their grip on that slipping. The influx of African and Asian players across those European leagues is becoming more and more. Traditional top nations are falling regularly to minnows. This is Italy's second missed world cup in the last 5 cycles and the last time they got out of group was 2006 (granted they won it). When are we going to stop pining over the "quality" and "superiority" of Europe and start taking responsibility for our own game, as you said "Europe and the UK owes nothing to our boys". Develop our own style, our own identity, our own expectations, our own measure for success. You don't become a world leader by following the masses, you do it by being an alternative, doing something different, breaking the mold, pushing the boundaries. We now have the coaches, and we all know that at youth level we have the players. Time to start a Football revolution
Randy
Roar Rookie
no, but everyone is aware that soccer is a global sport and if the public belief is that Australia can't produce world class players then the interest will plummet, as it has. Producing world class players needs to be the number 1 goal of Football Australia, interest in the national team and even success of the domestic competitions will follow from that.
chris
Guest
Some good points there.
chris
Guest
So we should only follow sports and teams where we are world class? What Aussie team sports are they exactly? Swimming relays?
chris
Guest
Brains the difference back then to now, is that back then you only had the newspaper and the FTA channels to get your sports news. Younger people these days don't bother with MSM. Only the 0ver 60's and the gullible read rags like the Australian and Daily Terror etc. And that demographic for the main part, don't like the sokkah.
chris
Guest
Rubbish paper. The sooner that 90 something monster who owns the paper kicks it, the better off we will all be.
Micko
Roar Rookie
I think in hindsight new franchises in Brisbane & Perth would've been better than third franchises in Sydney & Melbourne at this stage. Also would've liked a Canberra franchise (already have a women's franchise) before these ones as well.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
I am not sure that the A-League will get anywhere near as big as many hope, at least in the near future. All we can do is turn up and/r watch on tv; hopefully enough individuals can do this to make the league bigger.
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
Never bought the Australian in my life - i read it at the Library and only cos i was looking for articles in all the papers re the Socceroos match - of course there wasnt much at all as i pointed out
Stevo
Roar Rookie
But there was such a game in 1964. Truth is stranger than fiction. http://neososmos.blogspot.com/2012/04/game-that-never-happened.html https://sport.optus.com.au/articles/os21234/football-belongs-clash-of-cultures
Ian Halliday
Guest
I'm not sure whether I got this right or not but the Australian soccer powers that be call for support for our National team. But it seems they made the choice to chase the dollars so many fans they did have can no longer watch the games unless they change telcos. Is this correct?
Poldark
Roar Rookie
Thank you for your article Katrina, far from it being a rehash it is a timely reminder to all TRUE football fans to get behind the game you love whether you support local grassroots football or the more professional leagues. Football has been ‘my game ‘ for over 70 years and I have seen all the highs and lows. For me I am enjoying seeing the youngsters coming through at the Mariners and I pray that I will have a few more years to enjoy the following groups coming through and going on to greater heights. Let’s all remember to KEEP THE FAITH.
Wise Old Elf
Guest
Ahh, the good old Australian. Owned by an American, who renounced his Australian citizenship to make a lot of money but still wanted to control the politics of his birth nation. Question is, why would you bother with a newspaper which has such a small readership. If a lot of Australians actually read that paper then why did the election result go the way it did? In short that paper never made a profit from it's inception and is only there to somehow control the nation's narrative. Ignore it if you have half a brain.
Wise Old Elf
Guest
Sir, you are very correct. As a person who has lived and worked in Europe a small, but HUGELY important piece of the puzzle is missing from even plying your trade over there. As an Australian, you are not allowed to work anywhere in Europe, including the UK without a valid work visa. That is why you get a lot of duel citizens making squads over there and few Australian only. To be eligible to play in the UK, you need to play a lot of national team matches. So that rules out a lot of players. So, what are your options then? Beg for squad position anywhere in Europe against locals, South Americans and Africans who are probably better or come home? Europe and the UK owes nothing to our boys, they have plenty of their own kids BETTER than us. Always remember that.
mwm
Guest
Support for football in this country has always been more complicated than people care to admit. People in Australia will always support a national team - and people will always support celebrities. It’s why Adele can come here and play to packed out arenas…yet that awesome musician you heard in a pub can barely scrape by. The A League was a top down creation. It was hoisted onto fans ( for good or bad), it didn’t develop organically like leagues around the world. It was made by lawyers and marketeers , not collections of fans, communities and fans. Also due to the peculiarities of our history, rugby league and Australian rules established successful leagues first which carry a lot of both cultural and generational support. Because of this , most Aussies don’t have a natural inclination to support local leagues. That’s why so many kids play football , yet go home and support a NRL and AFL team - it’s part of our culture. A person in Europe/ South America has next to no options competing for their attention. We have 3 different types of football, each with varying degrees of popularity - it will always dilute the fan base. They have had generations of people grow up with football being their sole cultural outlet…where as I for example have been in my current career for longer than the Aleague has been in existence. The way to reverse it is just build it slowly bit by bit. Make it look like other leagues around the world, allow for transfer fees, allow some form of P/R. Allow for active support ( within reason- no violence). Build a fan base through a small stadium. Make tickets the cheapest going around. Pay ( if you have to) for media coverage in all major outlets. Allow the history of the NSL to be included in the Aleague. Connect local leagues to local teams and their a league teams ( eg build the pyramid)….and for god sake….stop creating soulless….bland….corporatized franchise teams. There are enough teams out there already !
David V
Guest
But the MLS has still evolved into a viable, respectable competition. Admittedly it has had far more time to do so than the A-League, and in the 90s when it was founded, was probably a little easier to do so. But the cynics might view it as being that Australia, America and Asia are viewed by football as "new markets" and their inhabitants as being no more than "consumers" of product, i.e. EPL, EFL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, etc.
Randy
Roar Rookie
"but the reality is that when it comes to having socceroos playing in quality leagues, we are at a 25 year historic low." and theres your answer to the general low interest in football
Bludger
Guest
It is true what you say, there is a lot less interest this time around for this World Cup qualifier. The reason is, Australia has qualified since 2006. Just qualifying is no longer a great accomplishment. Going deep into the World Cup is what we expect now. That is up to Australian soccer to deal with. Do you expect the AFL to do it for you? As for joining Asia, it's been wonderful for us. I grew up with Oceania and the situation there was diabolical. That confederation is a dumping ground for the minnows of these Pacific islands. It is remarkable we managed to escape Oceania, the only thing left is to cut the NZ team from the A-League and we are free. Them being in our league is like getting a fish bone stuck in your throat. Get them out! In an ideal world there would be no confederations. But that is how they designed it, so we have to play somewhere. I'd prefer South America to be honest. We would be pounded for a few decades until we learned the game. But we would never be admitted, not for all the oil in Saudi Arabia. Even nations on the South American continent are not admitted, like Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. It's an exclusive club. So, it is up to the Australian soccer community to improve from within. And it is getting better and better.