Nick Bendel
Is Asia’s leading team good enough to make the World Cup?
June 29th 2008 06:26
If all that is difficult to comprehend, the task confronting the Socceroos appears even harder. Admittedly, they might have been handed more challenging opponents than Japan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain and Qatar, but they could also have received an easier draw. While Australia will expect to defeat Bahrain and Qatar at home, a poor record in the Middle East suggests that the away fixtures will be tricky. As for Japan and Uzbekistan, they possess no shortage of talent, making them a genuine threat in both legs. So finishing in the top two will not be easy.
Optimists will point to Australia’s position as the number one Asian team, but this ranking is deceptive. For there were more negatives than positives to come from the ties against Qatar, Iraq and China. The return to form of Harry Kewell, the continued improvement of Carl Valeri, the emergence of Jade North, and the blooding of Matthew Spiranovic are some of the positives that Pim Verbeek will draw from those six matches.
But those pieces of good news were overridden by the Socceroos’ one great failing: their inability to consistently produce a style of football involving fluid passing and intelligent movement. There may have been occasions when they showed the wherewithal to keep the ball, but too often the players lacked either the skill or patience to do so.
The last quarter of the game away to Iraq was a case in point. The Australians were invited to attack, as the home side sat on its 1-0 lead. Having been gifted control of the middle of the park, one would have expected them to patiently work the ball, probing the Iraqi defence for openings and looking for ways in which to whip in crosses. Instead, there came a succession of senseless long balls to the lone striker, Josh Kennedy, which were either comfortably dealt with by his markers, or headed, thanks to the defensive pressure, to nobody in particular. And thus the initiative, which the Iraqis had conceded, was handed straight back.
Verbeek’s role in his charges’ inconsistent play must be called into question. Although his experience of the Asian game has proven important, and although many of his tactical decisions have paid off, one can only wonder why he has tolerated such unimaginative football. Is the Dutchman instructing his team to kick the ball away? And if not, why doesn’t he rise from the bench and berate the players when they repeatedly do so?
To watch the Russians light up Euro 2008 was to be shown how the Socceroos should be playing- and reminded of how they once did, just a couple of years earlier. Guus Hiddink’s Russians, just like Guus Hiddink’s Australians before them, had been coached to control the tempo of a game. The player with the ball would search for an open man; the players without the ball would make space for him. As the ball was thoughtfully moved around, the opposition defence would be stretched and openings created.
If the Australians hope to qualify for the World Cup, they need to quickly learn how to control games. And if they hope to control games, they need to quickly learn the value of possession. As obvious as it is, the truism is worth repeating: you can’t score if you don’t have the ball. Surrender the ball to the opposition and you surrender the chance to score. This was something that happened with alarming frequency against Qatar, Iraq and China.
Should Australia fail to finish in the top two, all is not lost. A third place finish would result in a playoff against the third placed team from the other group, consisting of Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and the United Arab Emirates. The winner of that tie would then do battle with the Oceania champions- most probably New Zealand- for the right to go to the World Cup.
However, supporters will be hoping that it doesn’t come to that. And not simply because they want to avoid the tension. Rather, they know that if their team fails to finish in the top two of the group, it will probably be because the Socceroos still haven’t worked out how they ought to be playing.
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