Rene Meulensteen is the Socceroos’ assistant coach and one of his main tasks is keeping in contact with the regular 40 or so current European-based players.
Players outside of this core batch, he has no contact with.
Football Australia’s international scouting system is a figment of one’s imagination. There is no system in place by the governing body to identify and monitor potential players who can represent the green and gold – and players are being missed.
Many Australia-born players will likely be lost to major European football nations, where competition for places and qualifying for international tournaments is a lot harder than if they were to represent the nation of their birth.
Football Australia has been advised about scouting setups in Europe by previous coaches.
Guus Hiddink was shocked this was not already set up when he was in charge of the Socceroos in 2006, Holger Osieck four years later also recommended this get put into place as soon as possible.
Yet the organisation has been doing the bare minimum when it comes to international scouting of eligible players for decades, relying heavily on the analysis and views of ex-players and others on the continent.
It’s the equivalent of getting a recommendation from a friend of a friend for a TV series – and not everyone liked Squid Game.
Having recently returned to Australia from several weeks in Eastern Europe, it’s concerning how many players have yet to receive even the most basic of feedback from the county of their birth.
There are close to 100 players across all age groups who would qualify for Australia currently playing club football in the Balkans and its surrounding countries.
It is a part of Europe where there should already be a full-time scout employed – that is fluent in the languages, understands the political minefield, as well as the lay of the land of a part of Europe where so many of the Socceroos’ greatest players have heritage.
In an ideal world there should be at least one full-time scout in east, west, south, north and central Europe, who is able to constantly observe, advise and communicate directly with the player, as well as the relevant Australian national team coach for the corresponding age group.
It is a costly exercise to employ people in various parts of the continent, especially when you factor in flights, accommodation and phone bills – but it needs to be undertaken.
Football Australia’s coffers were topped up to the tune of $12 million with the Socceroos’ qualification for Qatar 2022 – the time is right to start spending it wisely on youth football and international scouting
The governing body has already shown this year they can be proactive rather than reactive, arranging and taking part in underage international tournaments.
A follow-on investment should be the implementation of a long overdue full-time scouting network across Europe.
But that requires Football Australia to spend more money in the hope of making money, something that has always been an issue – as seen by the repeated failures of the youth system, national curriculum, coaching and communication with eligible players.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
it's very expensive to initially implement - thats always been the issue
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
yes that's correct about the mariners but im soley talking about under age players, not adults over the age of 21. if we're talking about over age players, i did exactly the same as i mentioned in my article with juan lescano for brisbane. i had seen the player play live and was very familiar with him in russia, i passed on my views to a good colleague of mine who is an academy coach and explained hes a hold up striker - if he's used to bring others into play he'll be successful. unfortunately he was never used correctly at brisbane due to a number of factors - eg coaches philosophy, formation & injuries i'd also been asked my opinion on prijovic who a lot of people don't know - adelaide were very keen to sign the club couldn't afford him and he moved to western - while adelaide got ibsuki, both clubs got good deals at the end of the day
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
that figure would be on the lower end of the scale
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Mariners if they have a scouting network in Portugal its a joke. At least if you got Portguese players you know their ages are correct. The two African players no way they are 24-25 years old. I could do a better job on youtube hiring players.
Marcel
Guest
Blah blah blah....once again you can't see the wood for the trees... It was a hypothetical to gauge the extent to which folks value authenticity as a part of the Socceroos make up. Do me a favour and just ignore any of my future posts.
Marcel
Guest
Hi Mid....that really is an impressive move from the Mariners..they always seem to have their smarts in place. I think it's an excellent move for an A-League club. What I don't want to see is the Socceroos becoming a halfway house for second/third choice Europeans.... And so funding a junket to pursue that end is not something id see as being of value.
Sports
Guest
There are tangible benefits from a second division for all of Australia.
Sports
Guest
Sounds like a great investment for the FA. Strange that it’s not already in place.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Doesn't speak English? Hard enough to find players who dont speak English, let alone with Australian grand parents. Well Piscopo doesn't speak Italian he played for Italy youth teams, so obviously Italy doesnt care. The thing you dont understand is emigration from Australia is very small , there are less Australian living overseas than Kiwis. Australia is never going to be first choice if these players remotely existed.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Nah send him to Sydney :happy: :stoked: :silly: :laughing: ps he learnt young ” he had been expelled after throwing a chair at his teacher, who he said had “disrespected” him”
Midfielder
Roar Guru
M & AA to comment if I am wrong.... The Mariners have developed a scouting network in specific areas / regions.... Portugal is one, their second and third divisions as an example being identified as being of reasonable quality with the salary not that different to the A-L.... plus its full of many players still trying to break into Spain or similar countries... It greatly depends on what you want your visa player to be ... i.e. crowd pulling plus skill... skill.... skill plus help develop juniors in the club... The Mariners have gone for skill with a willingness to help develop younger players... Tis a massive topic in itself... BTW great article AA
Marcel
Guest
Question? Imagine that we could win the WC.....but to do so, every member of our squad is born overseas, doesnt speak english and has never visited Australia...but 1 of their 4 Grandparents are Australian enough to have a passport. Would you take it?
Grem
Roar Rookie
I believe Ronaldo may have qualified for Australia through a grandparent in WA. Is it too late for Perth Glory to make a play for an unhappy player?
Grem
Roar Rookie
Well you’re certainly showing commitment to football in Australia now.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Perhaps division 2 could wait?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I think people dont really know what goes on in South America and the Balkans. A portion of the players get capped in these region not so that they are tied to the national team, a lot get capped so they can be sold overseas. A perfect example the Ecuador striker jets got. The last thing needed is an overseas scout, the players agents themselves will try to work them into the picture. Australia biggest problem is the travel. What really is actually needed is sensible attitude to European clubs and their coaches and in addition with the youth teams. Australia put the fright into Roma by calling up Volpato for youth internationals in the middle of the season. Absolutely dumb thing to do. The sensible thing to do is to contact the coach, saying if they want to give a young player a bit of game time, they have this opportunity. Trying to contact the player directly and get them to make the decision is totally wrong. This business of calling every Euro player to travel to Australia is totally wrong, a home based team can do the job better in some cases. Once clubs are dealt with properly then you wont have these issues. Then you will get first choice instead of others rejects.
Marcel
Guest
I'm guessing with salaries, office space, cars/travel, workcover...overseas posting allowances... You'd he looking at say +$750k per continent as a bare bones startup.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i cant comment on south america, im going to base this on europe (but south america would be the same principle) if you're going to do this properly, 1 scout wont be enough (east, west, north, south, central would be needed in both continents) im on about establishing a full grid where the players can be monitored consistently and detailed information provided to all relevant parties its been talked about in the corridors of the FA - even prior to me doing anything in my role im well aware it was discussed again recently (in the past 18 months) and prior to that was mentioned at a round table of the Socceroos golden generation with the FA board and 2 previous socceroos world cup coaches. the "list creation" happens to a degree, but alot of the time the recommendations are coming from agents of players or intermediators. i've mentioned providing information to overseas clubs about australian junior, professional and semi professional players australia is heavily monitored, all a club has do to for arguments sake - is provide me with some pre requisites (which they do) and i can populate a list of 50 players that meet that initial criteria from there we can narrow it down even further depending on what the club exactly is looking for as an example, dom velardi, enzo campana, kur kur & shung kwok have all signed for serbian clubs in the past 18 months - several other players from across the SA NPL, NSW NPL & VIC NPL have had trials. im not going to say what my role has been in any of those moves, but like i said australia is monitored in terms of over age lists for players recommended to a league clubs, theres certain nationalities that adapt better than others to australian football Eg; spanish, uruguyan, balkan countries while others tend to have more busts - brazillian, dutch, english but thats also dependant on a coaches philosophy and how hungry the player actually is
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
you need to remember that english is not my first language - i make many typos with words :stoked:
Nick Symonds
Guest
Just an idea. I've sometimes wondered if there should be a national youth development league made up of teams representing the football federations, rather than clubs. NSW, QLD, VIC, WA, SA, TAS, ACT, NT + NQ and NNSW