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I know you guys know me well and I don’t need to confess I have never been a great fan of Pim Verbeek, but I was just thinking today how quickly I’ve forgotten about him and really don’t miss him.
I’m sure Pim Verbeek was one of those babies that only Mrs Verbeek could love.
My older brother used to say that I was so ugly as a boy, that our dog would only play with me if I had a raw steak tied around my neck. And I think the same must go for Pim.
Anyway, my brother was so ugly, whenever he played in the sand pit, our dog used to bury him in the sand. In fact he was so ugly that he was approached by the health department to be a poster boy for birth control. Wasn’t much of a pet dog to play with either – he was a Doberman and his favourite bone was in my arm.
Pim Verbeek – what a personality – that man had no personality, really, and his Australian fan club has probably already disbanded and hitched up to the Holger Osieck bandwagon.
But to be fair, you have to give Pim some credit and the credit seems to be in getting results.
As Socceroos coach, Pim Verbeek has a pretty good record. In fact, one of the best win loss/ratios – a draw counting as not losing.
Verbeek’s results-driven agenda and choice of conservative play, with two defensive holding midfielders and one or no strikers, over flair and attack helped to achieve those results. Yet it has brought remarkable criticism for a man, who has guided Australia to both the World Cup and Asian Cup finals on his first attempt and finishing top of our group for each qualification round.
In his two and a half years in charge, he boasts a winning strike rate of 55 per cent in 27 matches, and has presided over only four defeats in that time.
The defensive qualities critics use to bucket Verbeek have helped earn 17 clean sheets under Verbeek and the Socceroos the proud mantle of having Asia’s most stingy defence throughout the World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers.
Verbeek wasn’t first choice for the job, either. Not even second.
He only got his chance after fellow Dutchman Dick Advocaat reneged on a deal to coach the Socceroos and left for Russian club Zenit St Petersburg instead. Other higher-profile candidates had also turned Australia down, leaving Verbeek as one of the last standing.
What will Pim Verbeek be remembered for – his results, his personality, his attack on the A-League, his tactics against Germany in the World Cup?
I bear no grudges against Pim – he did his best work with the Socceroos and did what the FFA asked him to do with weeks to spare.
But I will always remember Pim for his attacks on the A-League and the criticism of “hopeless” Australian football players who had served this country so well.
Pim has made his place in Australian football history. Let’s move on and look forward to the exciting next few chapters of that history book to be written by Holger Osieck and the young emerging Socceroos.
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