The Sun-Herald

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Socceroos: Verbeek's Chance to Show Some Style

There are, according to those that know (that's the players, by the way), no more excuses.

Australia's World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan in Sydney on Wednesday looms as the most important match the national team has played (outside of the World Cup finals in Germany) since that historic qualifier against Uruguay almost four years ago.

Not because this is a one-off chance for qualification but for exactly the opposite reason. Coach Pim Verbeek has carefully crafted Australia's qualifying position to remain unbeaten in this final group stage.

With points in the bag, Australia is in a rare and luxurious position of playing a game that, with a little help from results elsewhere, could see it become the first team to qualify for South Africa next year.

This is a most important match because it finally provides Verbeek the chance to qualify with style. That word has been an irritant to Verbeek since dour results-driven performances frustrated fans that favour a more swashbuckling, but less successful, national team.

But on Wednesday, the cards have fallen for Verbeek to unleash his most glamorous beast. While FIFA dates have messed with Australia's potentially disastrous Asian Cup qualifying campaign, this match has given Verbeek's squad an entire week together.

No jet lag, no tiredness, time to prepare. Not that those things should be used as an excuse, apparently.

"Players in Europe are used to travelling," Harry Kewell told me a few weeks ago when we met in Istanbul. "It is part and parcel of the game. Yes, it is difficult to fly 24 hours to Australia but we have the medical staff and we have everything that we need to perform."

Not to mention first class flights.

"It's not as if we are going and living in a caravan park," Kewell agreed. "We have the best available to us. We have masseurs and the food that we want. There are no excuses for a bad performance. No player will make excuses.

"Only if we have a bad game."

(He laughed at the last line).

Verbeek, then, has the chance to right the wrongs of recent performances against Indonesia and Kuwait and reward those fans who were tortured on television (and in the crowd) watching his players work hard to grind out results away from home.

To be blunt, this is Verbeek's chance to show the Australian public what, in perfect conditions, his idea of the Socceroos really can be.

It will not get any more perfect than this.

"It's going to be a win," Jason Culina said last week.

Maybe, but what sort of win?

As an aside, it's worth looking at the team Guus Hiddink selected for the Sydney leg of the qualifier against Uruguay three and a half years ago. It's interesting to note there has been little movement at the station. Barring retirements, once you're in the team, it's more difficult to get out.

The line up that night, with substitutes in brackets: Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Scott Chipperfield, Tim Cahill, Tony Vidmar, Tony Popovic (Harry Kewell 31), Brett Emerton (Josip Skoko 110), Mark Viduka, Vince Grella, Jason Culina, Mark Bresciano (John Aloisi 96)

Vidmar, Popovic, and Skoko have retired. Emerton and Grella are injured but would be in the current side otherwise. Injured and flaky Mark Viduka may have played his last game for Australia, while John Aloisi, a substitute that penalty-taking night, has fallen off the radar since joining the A-League.

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• by Matthew Hall at 01:13 AM
• Comments (12)

Saturday, March 21, 2009

The A-League Is A Kindergarten

It's official. If you're an A-League player you're not good enough for the national team.

That's the conclusion from the list of players selected by national coach Pim Verbeek for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan.

But it's not all bad news for locals. We just have to adjust our sights, even if the target is not what we thought it was.

There was one telling factor in the media release issued by Football Federation Australia announcing the squad.

Next to each player's name are their club and then the country they play in. The word 'Australia' did not appear once.

Instead, we were told this particular group of Socceroos plays in Denmark, Italy, Romania, England, Switzerland, Holland, Turkey, Germany, Scotland, South Korea, and Russia.

Not one locally-based player from the entire squad selected for the match against Kuwait earlier this month was retained.

Slap in the face? Maybe but Verbeek is also pragmatic and here's the truth: the squad chosen for the Asian Cup qualifiers, with their shirt numbers hitting triple figures, are neither up to scratch technically nor experienced enough (except the injured veteran Craig Moore).

The A-League's off-season doesn't help any either.

Perhaps the shining example of how the A-League does actually work can be found in Ankara, Turkey.

There, on Genclerbirligi's training pitch, you can watch three Australians going through their paces - Bruce Djite, James Troisi, and Mile Jedinak.

Jedinak joined the Turkish club from Central Coast Mariners in January. Talented, motivated, but also intelligent, Jedinak stepped into the starting line-up directly after spending the Turkish Super Lig's mid-season break with the club.

Soon, he was respected enough to take the team's free-kicks. What do you know? He scored the winner against Fenerbahce, league giants and title challengers.

Jedinak knows first-hand the difference between the A-League and playing in Turkey. It's high-pressure games, a longer season, and a lack of familiarity. Comfort zone? Lifestyle choice? No, thank you.

"Playing in a European league, you've got other pressures to deal with," he told me. "Even with us at Genclerbirligi, for example, if we are in a relegation battle, that's another pressure, week in, week out.

"The league goes for longer her than in Australia. It's 34 games - whereas it's 21 games back home. If you can get through the process mentally and physically, then you'll be in good stead if you're called on for the national team.

"Speaking from experience, being in the A League and then going to a national team camp and seeing what the level is like, you are in awe of a lot of those players. It takes you a little bit of time to adapt, to the speed of the game and speed of thought, even a training session.

"It may sound ridiculous but it's the truth. It's a massive advantage for your prospects in the national team if you're going to be playing overseas."

Six months ago, as a Central Coast Mariner, Jedinak would have been unlikely to be called up for the game against Uzbekistan. Three months in a tough high school playground like Turkey's Super Lig and Verbeek is starting to like what he sees with Jedinak.

As far as the national team is concerned, the A-League's current role is to prepare players with the skills and (importantly) mentality for a career overseas.

That is what will put them in Verbeek's sights.

It's kind of like a kindergarten, preparing a kid for school.

It's not an opinion. It's a fact.

Verbeek's selections make that clear.

• by Matthew Hall at 02:23 AM
• Comments (28)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Harry Kewell Is Turkish Delight

They love Harry Kewell in Istanbul - at least the parts of town that support Galatasaray.

Outside the Ali Sami Yen Stadium before a game last weekend, most fans were in agreement. Harry Kewell? Love him. They even have a song about how much they love him. The words are simple: Harry Kewell, over and over and over.

Kewell is different to other foreign imports, they said. Mainly, and this was a continuing theme over the next few days in Istanbul, the Australian was so professional.

He worked hard, he did his job, he stayed out of the spotlight, he was a family man (this point was important, it seemed).

Then there was the female Galatasaray fan, drinking beer in a stadium back street with her friends and a group of boys (this is in so-called conservative Turkey, remember) who said, bursting into laughter: "What I want to say about Harry Kewell is best not said in public."

We turned off the camera (I was with a TV crew) and she boldly told us what she wanted to say. She was right. It is best not said - nor written - in public.

But after last Thursday's UEFA Cup match against Hamburg, they love Kewell even more.

With the score at 1-1 just after half-time, Galatasaray defender Emre Asik was sent off. Who stuck up his hand to volunteer as a centre-back? Don't tell Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek whatever you do. It was Harry Kewell.

In front of Australia's assistant coach Henk Duut, former Socceroo Ned Zelic, and scouts from European clubs keeping an eye on his complete rehabilitation after the trauma of Liverpool, Kewell marshalled the Cim Bom (as Galatasaray is also known) defence and kept Hamburg from scoring again.

Galatasaray coach Bulent Korkmaz was so impressed by Kewell's improvisation that he pulled our guy aside after the game and asked him to consider taking on the role again in this week's up-coming second-leg at home.

Bulent's opinion matters. Although not so successful as a coach at other clubs, he is a legend at Galatasaray, known as "Braveheart" for the entire career he spent in the middle of the team's defence.

He played the 2000 UEFA Cup Final, famously won by Galatasaray against Arsenal, with his arm in a sling after dislocating his shoulder. It's fair to say he knows his defenders.

So more twists and turns in the career of Harry Kewell. The legend grows. Next up, maybe the best bet for Mark Schwarzer's rival has been under our nose all along.

Has anybody asked Harry if he can play in goal?

• by Matthew Hall at 08:16 AM
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Sunday, March 8, 2009

The Spotlight Just Got Brighter

What if Pim Verbeek's name was actually Frank Farina?

In other words, should the knives be now out for Verbeek as they were for his (permanent) predecessor four years ago?

That was just one of the thoughts that went through my mind in the wake of Australia's loss to Kuwait last week.

It's a question that's worth asking because, rather than decide whether Farina is a better coach than Verbeek, the answer is one that says much about the current state of Australian football.

That is, unfortunately for Farina, there's no comparison between where the Socceroos were four years ago and where they are in 2009. Back then seems like another life.

We had just seen the launch of the A-League and Sydney was all about Bling FC before it became, well, we haven't quite worked out exactly what yet except that it's a club with more talk than walk.

Australia had yet to qualify for the World Cup; as far as Australian fans were concerned Guus Hiddink was some Dutch guy who might have coached South Korea sometime in the past.

The list goes on: In 2005, Graham Arnold was a legend; Pim Verbeek was unheard of, Uruguay remained a nemesis, and the Asian Cup was a far off fantasy land.

Ah, the Asian Cup. Ah, Thursday's performance by the so-called Socceroos. Ah, what to do about it?

A lot has been written and discussed since Thursday but here's what we know. Australia were hopeless against Kuwait. Embarrassingly so.

How must Melbourne Victory's Archie Thompson be wishing he hadn't been such a smarty pants before the game when responding to Verbeek's claim the striker had been "hopeless" against Indonesia last month?

"I start my hopeless training on Tuesday, move on to more hopeless on Wednesday and hopefully get as hopeless as possible by Thursday," said Thompson, who may make a good media pundit in the not too distant future with that sort of foresight.

Unlike the disintegrating Farina in 2005, Verbeek will escape too much carnage from Thursday's results. But the troops are on alert even if we're poised to qualify for the 2010 World Cup (whether we do so with style is now up for debate, too).

It's what Verbeek was not hired to do that is causing him problems. The 2011 Asian Cup and his associated dilemmas - such as the Asian Football Confederation's calendar not being synchronised withFIFA's own official match dates.

For if Australia's first 11 players, even top 24, were available for the game against Kuwait, we would not currently be picking over the carcass of the A-League's clearly questionable standard.

That said, the spotlight just got brighter on Verbeek.

Australian football may not be as good as we think we are but it's now up to the coach to show us that the same can't be said for him.

Frank Farina's 2005 firing will remind Verbeek that FFA Chairman Frank Lowy is not afraid to make big decisions.

• by Matthew Hall at 02:54 AM
• Comments (2)