“Don’t bother chasing women or buses…..Chances are, you’ll miss both” – author unknown.
The same arguably applies to World Cup and tournament football.
The Socceroos’ inspiring 2-1 win over Serbia was brilliant but not enough to earn qualification for the second round of the World Cup. A team only gets three bites of the cherry and Australia effectively wasted one of them against Germany. As such, it was always playing catch up football and needed a miracle to progress.
Having said that, the Socceroos earned some redemption and will go home with their heads held high. Pride in the shirt has been restored and Australia’s second ever World Cup win (and first over a European nation and heavyweight, I might add), removed any doubt they deserve a place on the World’s biggest sporting stage.
The Socceroos were (finally) due some luck at this tournament and they certainly rode it against the Serbs, who were close to their best despite the scoreline. A combination of wasteful finishing, particularly by Milos Krasic, and Mark Schwarzer’s brilliance kept Serbia at bay in a one sided first half. But a dominant second half performance by the boys in green and gold secured the points and some well earned respect.
Tim Cahill returned from suspension to lead the Socceroos’ midfield and as so often is the case, the Everton midfielder broke the deadlock with a trademark towering header when he ghosted into the penalty box and eluded the Serbian defence with just over twenty minutes remaining.
When much maligned midfielder Brett Holman struck his sensational effort from long range just minutes later, the miracle was suddenly on. But the dream was not a reality and the Socceroos were left to rue their fortunes as they were knocked out by a Ghana side who (a) couldn’t manage to beat the Socceroos, notwithstanding playing a majority of their game against them with 10 men; and (b) scored both their goals in the group stage from the penalty spot to advance as group runners-up.
All is not lost though…..With several senior stars expected to announce their international retirement shortly, the performances and emergence of Brett Holman, Carl Valeri, David Carney and Michael Beauchamp as capable internationals both in this match and throughout the tournament has also finally given us some hope for the future when it looked increasingly likely our chances of even qualifying for the 2014 World Cup were slim.
Away from the pitch, the fact the Socceroos won a match in South Africa can only boost Australia’s hopes of hosting the World Cup in 2022. At minimum, it takes away the perceived negative of an unimpressive team and potential future host.
Nevertheless, and like many Australians, I cannot help but sigh, “What if…”
Four years ago, the Socceroos progressed out of the group stage with four points from a win, a draw and a loss with a goal ratio of 5-5.
This time, too, the Socceroos earned four points from a win, a draw and a loss, but unlike four years ago did not progress from the group stage.
The reason? The 4 nil thrashing to Germany in the opening round.
At the risk of labouring the point and reiterating the issues I raised in one of my previous blogs, “Australia vs Germany: We parked the bus but the tyres were flat….”, the blame no doubt lies with Pim Verbeek and the fearful, naive and nonsensical tactics he employed in that match.
Further, Verbeek’s tactics against Germany disarmed the players of their unique and natural cultural qualities, that being their attacking, fighting spirit. With that, he sent them to the slaughter. Put simply, he did not believe in the players. This was confirmed when two days after the debacle in Durban he lambasted a number of the Socceroos players to the Dutch media when he said:
“I have [Nikita] Rukavytsya, who wasn’t good enough for FC Twente’s second team….Because I don’t have any better, I have to use him as a substitute. That is the reality.”
“[Moore] played last season only in the Australian league, not at Real Madrid. And he wasn’t even the worst [player in Durban].”
He chose both players. It was his decision. He cut Scott McDonald and did not even send one of his highly paid assistants on a measly eight hour flight to Asia to assess the progress of Sasa Ognenovski and Eddie Bosnar. And if we don’t need reminding, who is the (Qantas) Socceroos’ major sponsor? McDonald and Ognenovski performed at the highest level in the European and Asian Champions Leagues, respectively.
Not only did Verbeek fail to take responsibility for the loss to the Germans but he went one step further and turned on his own.
This was not the first time Verbeek smashed the players or the Australian game. Lest we forget the insulting and patronising remarks he made about the A-League and the league’s most consistent goal scorer, Archie Thompson when he effectively called him “hopeless”.
But look at what Ricki Herbert did with Wellington Phoenix in disguise, I mean New Zealand….
So we move on.
The chapter is complete and a new one begins.
With it comes the experience of not repeating our previous mistakes and to recruit a new custodian who, unlike Verbeek, understands and is able to harness the cultural qualities of Australia’s players and moreover, believes in them.
Memo to Football Federation Australia – “No more Dutch ‘Courage’ please”.
Mark “The ‘F’ Word” Fiorenti – discussing all things concerning the World Game