Cup countdown
SBS CALLERS ARE READY WHEN THE WHISTLE SOUNDS
It is no secret the odds will be stacked against the Socceroos when the FIFA World Cup kicks off next week. The Australian national football team barely scraped into its fifth straight appearance at the world’s most-watched sporting event, having done it the hardest way possible.
After a promising early qualifying campaign in one of the two Asia groups, the Graham Arnold-coached team tailed off late and was eventually driven to a playoff with Peru, which it snatched in a penalty shootout after the extra time had finished nil-all.
In addition to that, the Socceroos’ opponents in their group are placed higher than their world ranking of 38. There is the mighty but mercurial France, a two-time winner (and defending champion) and currently rated the fourth best team in the world.
Then there is Denmark, ranked at No.10, and a tightly bonded unit after midfielder-turned-talisman Christian Eriksen collapsed and almost died in last year’s Euro 2020. And do not discount the tricky Tunisia, ranked at 30, which will be desperate to progress from the group stage for the first time in six attempts.
So can a Socceroos unit that is light on household names and genuine stars win its first World Cup game since 2010 and go deep into this year’s event?
“I reckon it’ll all come down to how much they can harness the momentum of getting through from that penalty shootout against Peru, considering most people thought they were gone,” says commentator Richard Bayliss, who will be part of the SBS team that will broadcast all 64 games live.
“That was a while ago now, though. We’ve only very rarely played since then and the group itself hasn’t really been together. So I think it’s an unknown for everybody – probably within the squad and externally – where we sit. Then throw in the fact that, yet again, we have been given a group that kind of gives you nightmares.
“The expectations around the national team . . . are quite low, but maybe that’s where we’re best suited and maybe we can go in as the underdog and cause some surprises.”
Fellow SBS pundit Niav Owens says it might not be a bad thing for the Socceroos to be kicking off their campaign against France at 6am on November 23, pointing out that its stars did not play to their potential during the Euros and the team comes into this World Cup with some serious injury concerns.
“While they are a force, they are also kind of unpredictable,” Owens says. “So you never know. With Denmark, I think they are a hugely cohesive unit – they don’t necessarily have goals a plenty in them but they are a team and I think they will be so tough. But then there’s Tunisia . . . and if there’s a spot in the playoffs on the line, then anything can happen. That’s why we love football.”
Regardless of how they perform on the pitch, Owens is proud of the Socceroos for the statement they made last month raising concerns about the “suffering” of migrant workers in host nation Qatar as well as that country’s record of human rights and in the inability of LGBTQI+ people there “to love the people they choose”.
“I thought it was really brave,” Owens says. “I was quite emotional watching the players themselves voice their concerns and then also talk about those universal values – respect and dignity and trust and courage. And I thought it was quite courageous.”
Between the Socceroos’ efforts and the recent player-power concerns from the national cricket and netball teams about sponsors, she welcomes professional sportspeople showing more of themselves and their beliefs.
“I think we so often say to players that we want to see more of them. We want to hear their stories. We want to know what makes them tick and what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks is players doing that in a powerful and authentic way. And I think it’s a really wonderful thing, athletes using their voice and that position they have in the community to fight for change,” she says.
As much as Owens and Bayliss will be cheering on the green and gold, they agree footballing powerhouse, and five-time World Cup winner, Brazil is the team to beat this year.
“They haven’t won since 2002, which for a nation like Brazil is pretty remarkable, considering their World Cup history and pedigree,” Bayliss says.
“I think they have the quality to win and they have the momentum to win it. You could say eight to 10 teams have a claim to this, but very few of them are coming in with the momentum required to win the tournament and I think that’s what sets Brazil apart.”
With two of the greatest players of their generation, Lionel Messi and Christian Ronaldo, likely to be playing their last World Cups after stellar careers, Owens says she’s also hoping for a fairytale farewell for the Argentinian superstar.
“I will be 100 per cent behind Messi every step of the way,” she says. “There’s a real feeling of togetherness and unity within that side as well. I think a lot of people are really hoping that Messi can go out – if indeed it does end up being his last World Cup – in the kind of exceptional way that we’ve seen him conduct himself on a football field and throughout his career.”
And while the Socceroos will be going through their final training sessions to arrive in tip-top form for their opening match, Bayliss is also sprinting to the finishing line with some last-minute prep work for the SBS team.
“My training basically consists of listening to football podcasts, reading football articles and books, and talking about football with my mates during every waking minute when I don’t have to do other, less important, life tasks like being a father,” he says.
“Football is just all-consuming for me, so being around it all the time every day is the best possible preparation.”
... maybe we can go in as the underdog and cause some surprises