Graham Arnold’s tenure as Socceroos coach will be unresolved for at least a month as Football Australia review the World Cup campaign.
Arnold’s contract ended when the Socceroos were knocked out in Qatar with a 2-1 loss to Argentina in a round of 16 clash. The Socceroos boss is now on holiday as he weighs his future.
“I just want to go away, have a good holiday, have a break and see what happens,” Arnold said after the Argentina game.
“I haven’t even thought about it (my future). I need a rest and no doubt I will have good discussions then with the organisation.”
FA chief executive James Johnson said those discussions and other staffing matters would be part of an in-depth review into Australia’s cup campaign.
“We look forward to discussing our plans for the next World Cup cycle with Graham when he returns to Australia following a well-deserved break,” Johnson said.
“This thorough review will take place over the coming weeks and be presented to the board of Football Australia for consideration in the New Year.”
Arnold has called for more government funding, focused on junior development, to build on the momentum of the Socceroos’ World Cup run.
Arnold’s Aussies were just the second Socceroos outfit to advance to the knockout phase, following the 2006 edition.
His Socceroos were the first to win two games at a single edition and also the first to keep consecutive clean sheets.
The Australians, ranked 38th in the world, downed Tunisia and Denmark while losing to reigning title holders and world No.4 France and world No.3 Argentina.
Arnold wants a headquarters built for Australia’s national teams and an expanded A-League to offer greater opportunity for young footballers to turn professional.
“There’s only one thing the A-League needs to do and it’s play more football,” he said. “They don’t play enough, 25, 26 games (in a season) isn’t enough, 12 teams isn’t enough.
“We need to give kids more opportunity to be professional footballers and play more football. The quality of the A-League … the boys here have shown, they have come from the A-League and they can match it on the world stage.
“I’m a firm believer in it. And we have got those young kids coming through, they have got to be ready.”
FA chief Johnson lauded the achievements of Arnold and his players. “The performance … has demonstrated we can compete on the world stage,” Johnson said. “There has never been a more exciting time for Australian football.
“We will now use this platform to continue forging forward and grow as a football nation, with player development at the centre of this.”
The Socceroos players backed the idea. Craig Goodwin returned from a career abroad in the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia to rejoin Adelaide United, and proved that domestic players can cut it on the biggest stage by scoring twice at the World Cup.
“We hope that we have inspired the young generation to push themselves,” said Goodwin. ‘We hope that what we have achieved can help grow the game back home.
“Because the A-League is better than it is perceived. The quality of Australian football is better than it’s perceived. It has been that way for a long time but hopefully what we have achieved can put Australian football on the map and help the game grow.
“It comes from the grassroots of Australian football. The more we can do and the better we can build to train and coach the young players to match it with the best in the world, then the better chance we have in the future of doing even better at these tournaments.
“We have the Aussie DNA, the Aussie spirit. But if we can produce the same level of technical ability and tactical ability as some of the European nations, some of the South American nations, if we can hit that mark in those aspects, and then have the Aussie DNA, then we have a real chance to do something special.
“We always believe in ourselves but there’s work to be done.”
Jamie Maclaren, who underwent a similar career trajectory in Scotland and Germany, but is now back in Australia with Melbourne City, agreed.
“Hopefully we can inspire more younger players to want to play for their country and play at this level,” he said.
“I hope it puts fire in the belly for fans and really inspires kids and families to come watch our games. I just hope there is going to be a generational shift, that us boys coming back from the World Cup can inspire younger kids and families to come to games because that is we need.
“We have been knocked out of the tournament by one of the best nations in the world (Argentina) and we lost to the defending champions (France) in the group stage.
“We have proved to a lot of people that we can really compete at the top level. There’s not that many people that really believed that … but we just showed how much heart we really do have.
“We might not be, in the world scale, the best individual players but I do believe we’re the best team collectively … we achieved what no one thought we could ever achieve.”
Freddy Jones
Guest
I have spent the last 10 years in NSW from SAP to A League (NPL clubs, A league academies) taking my boy to training and games and skills technique and building up skills competency levels year on year is nowhere to be seen. I have seen in some boys their span of skills diminish and not much improvement. This is effectively deskilling in many areas of the game and is covered by boys athletic prowess or connections. I look at the heavens at these young A League players on TV demonstrate to the audience how they cannot turn, target kick accurately goals and penalties or pass competently with both feet or play off the ball well. The EPL shows a level of skill competency that we should aspire to in coaching youth players.
Freddy Jones
Guest
FQ youth development system sounds good, getting results at a national level and tailored to Queensland situation and circumstances. It is the 16-23 years where we fail miserably compared to other countries who are pushing through waves of players to top leagues.
Freddy Jones
Guest
Remember, if you study the national youth teams you will find that very few Joeys become Socceroos. Similar historical study of Young Socceroos and Australia U23 will show that it is those players who, by luck and/or parent and agent entrepreneurship, get players into good clubs and leagues overseas in the UK or Europe who get selected. So, so many potentially great young Australian players are failed by the player development system in Australia. As many people always say at FIFA World Cup time, please fail so that serious major reviews and reforms are imposed on the game of football in Australia. The 2022 WC achievements will become a smoke screen for ignoring the player development problems that are highlighted day after day in discussions here on The Roar.
Freddy Jones
Guest
The federal Government handing the AIS over to the FFA is insanity. Any financial due diligence done on the FFA would show that they are not worthy or financially competent enough to be GIVEN such a national public asset. Let's get the debate back on earth, please. The history of national football in this country from the ASF to the FFA is a history of sports and financial administrative incompetence. How many football clubs and organisations have their own earned real estate assets because of good long-term strategic and operational management? This excludes bequests from wills. It is always the begging bowl to local, state and federal government! As a taxpayer, I want to know when football in Australia is paying back the $42mill the federal government contributed in the 2022 World Cup bid that got 1 vote!
chris
Guest
I wouldn't go that far that we are stuffed lol I mean how do you teach a kid what some of the Brazilians etc are doing. At the very least though we should be coaching the coaches on the fundamentals. If the whole idea of the curriculum is to provide a template why is there 0 time allocated to teaching technique?
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
Well, when FOX shut the door on Australian football there were concerns about how the national teams could meet their bills. Fortunately, CBS came to the rescue.
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
Fair enough comment. His pragmatic yes, but against world-class opponents, you just can't throw caution to the win. Although I think we gave Argentina too much respect when in the closing stages of the match they were glad to hold on to the 2-1 win.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I don’t disagree with anything you wrote. Ange was interesting - they played some bright football at the World Cup 2014 and then won the Asian Cup, again playing nice football. However, their qualification for 2018 was not that good. We couldn’t get past Japan and Saudi Arabia and had troubles scoring goals against Thailand, etc. Perhaps Muscat is the person to do the job. I believe an Australian is the way to go and he has a bit of Arnie and Ange about him.
Ad-O
Guest
Nonsense. The A-League is already poor quality, expanding it will just dilute it further. Neither do I believe that the Govt should be in the business of funding professional sport. I'd rather have a tax cut thanks. So nice job with the Socceroos Arnie but stick to your day job.
Winston
Guest
My point is, it's chicken and egg so which one do you fix first? If our top pro league doesn't generate revenue, there's no money to then fund development. But if you don't have better development, you don't have the infrastructure in place to grow our top league. So the only way then is to rely on external funding.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Yes!
Winston
Guest
Then we're stuffed. As someone coaching NPL1 to say you rarely see technique being taught. We will never be a chance!
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Fair enough mate...
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Now is the time to strike. Personally I like the progression and relegation model for the competition. That breeds a tribal following. Sure in some cases it will ebb and flow but the victories will taste sweeter!
Redondo
Roar Rookie
Well, so much for that - no Tuchel for you!
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
I think they did
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
I think you're over-reacting on Arnie. His contract expires. Normal practice applies.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
"Arnold will be the 12th highest paid coach in Qatar" Maybe, Arnold's salary is not high enough. If FFA pays him 8 million US dollars a year, Socceroos may win the next World Cup. Haha!
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
I too have seen that. If we want technical players we need to explicitly teach them the correct gross and fine motor skills to be technical. Body position, weight, technique…..
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
I think FQ have been working towards this with their TSP program. Players are selected as part of their TSP academy (13-16) They stay with the club team for weekly training and Games and train every fortnight or 3 weeks throughout the season with TSP. There is a centre in Metro, wide bay, Rockhampton , Townsville and cairns possibly?? They then meet each school holiday period for a 4 day tournament pitting each region against each other and inviting a few NPL teams to fill out the games. This way they are closely monitoring about 100 elite players across each age group across the state. They also come to see the kids play at their clubs throughout the year allowing them to see other players that are perhaps not in the program also. This is why QLD cleaned up at the recent national titles I reckon. They seem to have the foundations of a solid state scouting and development system. Not perfect, but potential.