THWAITE GIVES THUMBS UP TO MAN WITH A PLAN
FORMER Socceroos defender Michael Thwaite has seen first-hand how Graham Arnold operates.
The Cairns Saints product worked closely with Arnold as he came through the national ranks, seeing how the man who always had a plan went about his business through the under-20s, U23s and into the senior Socceroo set-up.
That exposure, and the lessons learned during that time, is why Thwaite believes Arnold has his side right where he wants them as they mount an unlikely assault on the FIFA World Cup’s Round of 16, starting with Argentina on Sunday morning (AEST).
“He was a big part of my transition through the ages, at the U20 World Cup, U23s and the Socceroos,” said Thwaite, who lives at the Gold Coast.
“He’s very much on belief and mindset.
“He’s had a great apprenticeship as well under some top coaches. To add that with his success at Sydney FC and Central Coast Mariners, it’s great to see an Australian coach doing well on the world stage.”
Arnold turned heads, and spurred a few laughs from viewers, in a very short address after Australia’s thrilling 1-0 win against Denmark on Thursday morning (AEST).
“No celebrations, sleep, and no social media,” was the general gist of Arnold’s rather direct message.
As fans in Australia went the direct opposite approach, the belief in this group which, bluntly, was not there during their long qualification process through Asia and a final stop against Peru, was there for all to see.
But the players won’t see much of that, according to Thwaite, who said Arnold would have their focus zeroed in on their task of stopping Lionel Messi, beating Argentina, and keeping alive the unlikeliest of World Cup dreams.
“Social media … it’s a can of worms,” Thwaite said. “He wants to shut down all of that noise from the outside and probably just really focus on what they want to do.
“Positive messages regardless of who they’re playing. The same message would have been portrayed after France.
“He always has a plan.”
As for Thwaite, who was part of Socceroos squads that qualified for World Cups in 2006 and 2014 but was overlooked for the tournament itself, he has never lost faith in this group. “I always believe,” he said.
“It should be part of the Aussie DNA.
“Every group is tough in the World Cup, but I think we’ve been to numerous World Cups now and that should be the expectation now, to go one step better, and I’m sure that’s the message.
“We love to do it the hard way, Australians, we love being the underdog, and with all the negativity around how we qualified and the coaching staff and who got picked, Australia feeds off that.
“Bring it on, it’s always been my mentality as well, growing up in Cairns.”
Thwaite played 13 games for the Socceroos and more than 200 games in the A-league over his long professional career.
His football journey started at Saints in Cairns, and came to a close in 2021 when he announced his retirement 19 years after making his professional debut.
In addition to his employment, Thwaite runs a mentoring company called That’s Football, which works with football clubs and Gold Coast Recreation and Sport.
He has enjoyed watching this World Cup as a fan - for the first time, without playing for a game - and when it comes to Sunday’s showdown with Messi, Thwaite said it would take a total team effort to progress.
“I was on the bench against Argentina when we played in Melbourne and I saw the aura Messi brings,” Thwaite said.
“It will be about the collective, the team effort, everyone fighting for each other.
“We saw what Saudi Arabia did to them – if they can, why can’t we?”