After Barcelona, Is Australia One Big Let Down?

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Matthew Hall

Let's face it - the so-called "Beautiful Game" can be pretty ugly a lot of the time.

This was no more in evidence than in Barcelona's emphatic UEFA Champions League Final win in the early hours of Thursday morning, Australian time.

Pep Guardiola's team dismantled Manchester United so conclusively that no sane observer would, or should, debate the result or Barcelona's worthiness to be called Champions.

I won't gush about the Catalan team's performance too much - there's been enough high-praise elsewhere - but that itself is worthy of exploration.

Why the love affair with Barcelona - or at least its way of play under Guardiola, who remember is a rookie coach in just his first year at the helm of an elite team?

It's simple. Barcelona played the way we all crave but rarely witness.

This was partly why Chelsea's claims to have been dealt injustice in the semi-final were swatted away by pretty much everyone except the Premier League team's fans.

Yes, Barcelona rode their luck and Chelsea had valid claims for penalties. But, really? Would you rather watch Barcelona in full flight or Chelsea, pragmatically negative under Guus Hiddink, be rewarded for smothering tactics?

Although last week's game occurred on the other side of the world and featured no Australian players (although Korean Park Ji-Sung put in a shift for United, staking a serious claim to be the Asian Football Confederations best player) Barcelona's football lesson does have implications for Australia's national team.

One is aesthetic. There's been much said of Pim Verbeek's pragmatic approach to games, winning ugly if it achieves a positive outcome on paper.

The other is somewhat spiritual. Barcelona's win has been lauded because of their approach - damning pragmatism for risk, adventure, and entertainment. It looks good. It feels good. It is good.

It is a style, or at least a spirit, that Australians undeniably want from their own national team.

So, it was amid the rushed international calendar of the past week - Newcastle United's deserved relegation, the Champions League love-in, and this weekend's FA Cup Final - that Verbeek announced his squad for June's World Cup qualifiers.

Talking points were quickly skipped over. Guess what? Mark Viduka still doesn't know whether he wants to play. But, more intriguingly, Verbeek chose two defenders who play in England and Italy's third divisions over a Newcastle Jet, under the age of 30, who is impressing in the Asian Champions League.

Making those decisions, of course, are Verbeek's bread and butter and why he gets paid the big bucks but the issues cuts a little deeper.

This same player who missed the call up - Ljubo Milicevic - told me recently he attended Australia's last World Cup qualifier in Sydney against Uzbekistan as a fan. He left at half-time, claiming to have never seen Australia play so boring.

Milicevic, one of few Australians to have played in the Champions League, was not alone - media and fans expressed similar opinions.

Football Federation Australia is billing the up-coming month as (another) "Super June" and this time next week the Socceroos could have qualified for next year's World Cup if they can secure a draw against Qatar in Doha.

Hooray, cue fireworks, etc.

It's a great achievement on paper and one that Verbeek should be proud of, having fulfilled his brief way ahead of the curve. But for the aesthetes, it has definitely not occurred with style.

But does that matter? After the excitement of 2006 and being spoilt by the spectacle of Barcelona, are the expectations of Australian fans now too high?

Do we want to see Australia as care-free Barcelona, flame-killer Chelsea, or just turn up and do the job?

(PS I'll tell you one thing I'd love to see - an Australian striker with the ruthless ability of Samuel Ett'o in front of goal).

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COMMENTS

Its the question we cannot resolve at present. One of the the keys to Barca's success is that they inculcate their footballers with the club's philosophy and style of football from an early age. Hence six (7 if you include Messi) of the team from the Euro final were products of their junior system. With this example in mind, it may take several generations for us to develop similar talent, able to play such high level football.

by SW on May 31, 2009 at 10:16 AM

Verbeek chose two defenders who play in England and Italy's third divisions over a Newcastle Jet, under the age of 30, who is a major disruptive element in his current team and does a good imitation of someone who suffers from Tourette's.

by Stephen on May 31, 2009 at 03:49 PM

expectations are far too high, even in England, with the press saying that more english clubs should have the Barca model... this is very unrealistic, the club model, but also the style of football. Barca is an institution where it's being built into the players they produce. That can somewhat replicated through youth systems, especially the national set ups and academies alike to the French academy in Clairefontaine, but with club systems that's difficult to replicate. The theology with Barca is that the manager is to build on or better Cruyff's legacy, not easy to do by any means but Guardiola after one season is.

Also with Ett'o, thats the one department where Australia struggles at the moment. The only player you could say is anywhere near ruthless is McDonald but he's far from the quality of a Ett'o or a Torres. It's got something to do about the emphasis on being a team player in Australia, a striker needs to be two things, selfish and ruthless, things that are discouraged at Grassroots level.

by thom on May 31, 2009 at 07:09 PM

Barca have a football model and development system that we need to aspire to - no cringing, its something that could be achieved in 15-20 years if we are smart and bold where technique and skill are rewarded and cultured ahead of guts and grind

agree with Thom that we are lacking any depth in clinical strike finishers - I hope that for 2014 and well beyond the likes of Kofi Danning and Nikita Rukavytsya
are brought into the fold and nutured

we have great depth in terms of central defenders and Ljubo's claim is part of sizeable waiting/stand by list for after Moore retires etc

by Pablo on June 01, 2009 at 03:37 PM

All I want is for Aust to turn up and qualify.

Have seen too many misses over the years to worry about how we get there...to qualify is all that matters.

Any other country would be cock-a hoop to be in our position a full year out.

by Peter on June 05, 2009 at 08:14 AM

The Sun-Herald

Matthew Hall

After Barcelona, Is Australia One Big Let Down?

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