Socceroos hit road to Qatar with invitation for next generation to step up
Eight years, nine months and eight days since Fifa controversially awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, Australia finally begin their long journey towards qualification. That their second-round AFC opponents look, on paper, very beatable is of little consequence – as previous campaigns have shown, arduous travel and conditions in foreign climes are often the greatest battle.
The mind-numbing time spent in airport queues only becomes apparent on 50th iteration. The soreness that creeps into muscles across a long domestic season only becomes keenly apparent after 15 hours of long-haul flight.
Australia face on Tuesday an opponent in Kuwait over 100 world ranking places below them. But every second round qualification phase since Australia rejoined the Asian confederation features one commonality: a shock loss away in West Asia.
During 2015-16, Ange Postecoglou’s chargers walked the second round at a doddle, with home wins of 5-1, 3-0, 7-0 and 5-0 against their group stage opponents. Yet in the heat and din of Amman, they lost 2-0 to Jordan. In 2011-12 Holger Osieck’s men picked up their sole defeat in Oman; in 2008 Pim Verbeek’s squad went down 1-0 to Iraq during the most testing second round of all.
For all the technical progress over the past decade in the field of sports science (Aaron Mooy in blue-light shades, anyone?) Australia still have a problem when it comes to West Asia – and with two trips to both Kuwait and Jordan on the horizon this looms as an important battle-within-a-battle for Graham Arnold and his staff.
Kuwait, Jordan, Chinese Taipei and Nepal. Hardly names to instil fear in opponents around world football, but as we’ve seen across Asia in the past decade it’s a continent rising and at a tempo that is fast outstripping Australia, especially at youth level.
Australian fans may not be keenly aware of the relative strengths of the domestic leagues of China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India or Indonesia, but the fact remains that players from these so called “minnow” nations are playing week-in, week-out alongside players like Hulk, Marek Hamsik and until recently, Xavi.
It’s within this context that coach Arnold has fired a jaw-jutting salvo before a single ball has even been kicked as he announced his squad. “In my mindset, I believe that at the end of this we’ll be the greatest Socceroos team ever,” Arnold said.
The key word here is of course “mindset”. With his much-documented adherence to the teaching of the “coach whisperer” Bradley C. Stubbs, the remoulded Arnie v2.0 is all about strongly articulated positivity.
Yet in football, as in all sports, coaches are often hoisted by their own petards. The aura around Postecoglou’s Socceroos – duly earned with Asian Cup triumph in 2015 and the exhilarating manner in which they pushed top nations at the 2014 World Cup – began to fade during the long away days of Asian qualification. Increasingly grouchy defences anchored in stats portraying attacking intent or possessional dominance lost their potency after unconvincing draws on the road in Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Iraq.
After his own less than inspiring showing at the 2019 Asian Cup, Arnold will do well not to invite too much pressure upon his side too early – especially given the youthful nature of this squad, which is very much in transition. And yet the comparison has been made, and therefore begged: could this become “the greatest Socceroos team ever”?
Across the top five leagues of Europe so far this season only three Socceroos have featured regularly: Mathew Ryan, Mathew Leckie and
Brandon Borello. In terms of top-end talent it’s a far cry from the days when Australians like Harry Kewell or Mark Viduka played not just for top Premier League teams, but were being chased by the biggest clubs on earth.
When Kewell was at his pomp at Liverpool there were no less than nine Socceroos appearing regularly in the Premier League – today there are only two. In Serie A, Marc Bresciano was starring for Parma with Vince Grella and Zejklo Kalac also featuring for giant Italian clubs. Socceroos were regulars across the top leagues of Spain, Germany, Italy and England. Today in Spain and Italy, there are none.
History can have a shackling effect. Ask Tomi Juric (or even Lachlan Scott) what carrying the tag of “the next Viduka” can feel like. With 14 players with under 15 caps, Arnold’s cry can been seen as an invitation for these players to realise their full potential. Little over 18 months ago New Zealander Sarpreet Singh was handed his first full start in the A-League; this week he has been named in Bayern Munich Champion’s League squad.
Players like Awer Mabil and Brandon Borello have spoken of their desire to step up from “promising youngsters” to Socceroo stalwarts. Aged 23 and 24 the time is right for them to do so. With no Tim Cahill to shoulder the nation’s expectations players like Adjin Hrustic or Adam Taggart have the opportunity to embrace such responsibility.
With Mark Milligan’s late withdrawal through injury, no starting player will be over 30. The era of the venerable beard, Mile Jedinak, has been assigned to the past. Players like Massimo Luongo and Jackson Irvine need to evolve from solid second-tier English performers to Asian confederation supremos.
As a nation that notoriously “plays up”, the biggest challenge for this Socceroos squad is to lift when the opponents are below their level. If they can gel as a fearless, effective unit and dispel the historical West Asian wobbles, Arnold’s men might just take that first step. But “greatness” remains a long way down the path yet.