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Socceroos
- Thread starter Tigerfan
- Start date
Yeah, Carney did look promising. Had good vision to set up that goal. Milligan played a few good balls and helped construct a few good passages. I idn't think there were many other young players that were that impressive.Doolz85 said:
Michael Lynch
August 18, 2006
NEW coach Graham Arnold has warned that the days when Australia had an A-team and B-team with European-based players taking the top spots must be consigned to the past if the Socceroos are to move up the world rankings.
His predecessor and mentor, Guus Hiddink, admitted soon after the World Cup that he felt he could rely on only 14 or 15 of the 23-man party he took to Germany, such was the gulf in ability and experience.
Arnold, preparing to select a team for the third Asian Cup qualifier in Kuwait City next month, is determined to close that gap and believes that the A-League can play a crucial role.
He insists that the men who did Australia proud in Germany cannot rest on their laurels and believes that the Socceroos will need a nucleus of 30 high-quality players if they are to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa in four years and do themselves justice.
And Arnold believes that a handful of the players who did the job in the 2-0 victory against Kuwait on Wednesday night can put pressure on the established stars.
They could snare a spot in what will be a "best of the best" squad for the friendly against Paraguay in Brisbane and the Asia Cup qualifier against Bahrain in Sydney in October.
Arnold nominated debutant and goalscorer Travis Dodd and the versatile Mark Milligan as two such examples, although Sydney wide man David Carney also impressed against Kuwait, particularly with his crafting of Dodd's opening goal.
"These players have shown they can handle international football," he said "My whole idea before the Asian Cup was to have two sides, one playing the games in the Middle East from Europe and one playing the games here in Australia made up the Aussie boys and exposing those players to international football.
"Now they have got that one game out of the way, hopefully they will be a little more relaxed next time. They have shown that they can step up. You always have to look out which players can perform under pressure and it's always hard to know if they can handle the pressure unless you put them in that environment.
"It was all new for a lot of the players, playing a different type of football to that which they do at their clubs, with pushing on much further, higher up the park, so it was great for them."
Arnold believes that with the future of so many of Australia's experienced players still up in the air, planning for the next World Cup campaign cannot start soon enough.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/soccer/put-pressure-on-stars-says-arnold/2006/08/17/1155407955564.html
If anyone heard John O'Neill during the week on SEN mention that Guus is till in the mix regarding the Socceroos job.
Interesting, in that are we waiting for Hiddink's 2 years at Russia to finish, then go for him?
Are we risking missing out on someone else because we might be holding-out for Hiddink's return?
What happens if Hiddink has a good 2 years in Russia, guiding them to Euro glory, and Russia then make him an offer he can't refuse.....what then?
is Arnold good enough to keep the main job...do we need someone from overseas?
Interesting times ahead for the 'Roos...
Interesting, in that are we waiting for Hiddink's 2 years at Russia to finish, then go for him?
Are we risking missing out on someone else because we might be holding-out for Hiddink's return?
What happens if Hiddink has a good 2 years in Russia, guiding them to Euro glory, and Russia then make him an offer he can't refuse.....what then?
is Arnold good enough to keep the main job...do we need someone from overseas?
Interesting times ahead for the 'Roos...
not sure if has been mentioned on this thread, but arnie finished top of the class in a recent FIFA coaches conferance type thing.
id be a little worried though if we are waiting for guus to complete two years in russia. makes me a little uneasy, sounds a little like the FA of old.
id be a little worried though if we are waiting for guus to complete two years in russia. makes me a little uneasy, sounds a little like the FA of old.
DirtyDogTiger said:
Wrong, DDT. The qualification games for the World Cup are separate to the Asian Cup and begin in 2008. But we should do well in the Asian Cup to prime us up for World Cup qualification - it is a guide as we have to finish in the top four in Asia to qualify automatically in the World Cup qualifiers.
Cmon Socceroos!!!!
Liverpool said:
It looks as though the FFA will keep Arnold until after the Asian Cup next year. This will save us money to throw at a big name coach to take us through WC qualifiers in 2008-9 and into South Africa 2010.
I think its a good strategy - why pay big bucks for a guy who is not needed yet? The FFA is going well but is still not exactly flush with cash.
It will give Guus an option to come back and is still far out enough from the Cup to allow us to get someone else with enough time to build the squad.
Much prefer that than to paying some overpriced hack like Houllier too much money for four years.
In the meantime, FORZA ARNIE'S SOCCEROOS!
antman said:
That's fair enough Antman.
Probably the only thing that worries me a bit about this scenario though is that we're putting our national future 'on hold' because of what one man might or might not do.
Should the national-team be under a caretaker coach for 2 whole years because the FFA is waiting for a decision from Guus?
Are we focusing on Guus too much?
Liverpool said:
Sure - in an ideal world we could pay Guus or whoever enough for the whole four years.
I don't think we should wait for Guus, but I don't mind Arnie running the show for two years and then get the best available - if that is Guus, great.
sorry about that Antman. I thought my wikpedia info was good.
but our world cup qualifier games will be against the teams from the Asia cup won't they?
but our world cup qualifier games will be against the teams from the Asia cup won't they?
DirtyDogTiger said:
Yeah sorry DDT - we are now in Asia so we will qualify through Asia against the Asian teams. Our result in the Asian Cup will not affect how we qualify however - except that it may affect how we are seeded so we may not have to play in the first qualifying round for the the weaker Asian nations.
This is how the AFC qualifications were set up for WC 2006 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_%28AFC%29
It will probably be similar to this except there are still a few things to be sorted out by FIFA - for example FIFA might take a spot away from Asia, or even add a spot to Asia. I reckon it will stay at 4.5 spots however.
After the Asian Cup the AFC will have a draw to put the Asian nations into qualification groups - like I said Australia will skip the first round and start participating from the second round on.
Ant
im really looking forward to seeing who will be in the upcoming squad. i keep hearing how they are going to picking a blend of fringe players with a few players that didnt get much time on the pitch during the world cup. i hope kisnorbo plays well and is selected
Doolz85 said:
I believe Kennedy is out til at least Christmas - achilles injuries take time and lots of it.
The squad is:
John Aloisi (Alaves, Spain), Michael Beauchamp (FC Nurnberg, Germany), Jacob Burns (TS Wisla Krakow, Poland), Scott Chipperfield (FC Basel, Switzerland), Ante Covic (Hammarby, Sweden), Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven, Holland), Ahmad Elrich (Fulham, England), Ryan Griffiths (AFC Rapid Bucuresti, Romania), Brett Holman (NEC Nijmegen, Holland), Patrick Kisnorbo (Leicester City, England), Scott McDonald (Motherwell, Scotland), Jonathan McKain (FC Politechnica AEK Timisoara, Romania), Ljubo Milicevic (BSC Young Boys, Switzerland), Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough, England), Josip Skoko (Wigan Athletic, England), Mile Sterjovski (FC Basel, Switzerland), Nick Ward (Queens Park Rangers, England), Luke Wilkshire (FC Twente, Holland)
Very strong squad.
Some of our WC heroes (Aloisi, Schwarzer, Chippers, Culina, Wilkshire) and bench players (Skoko, Covic). The rest are our European based "B" players and up and comers in smaller leagues around Europe.
You can see the philosophy - play A-League guys for home games when the big names can't come, and play the European-based players for away games, or at least games in the Middle East which is closer to Europe. Its great for developing players and giving players caps for Australia - meaning they can't switch to another country like Seric and Simunic did in the dark old days.
I'd give the armband to Aloisi or Schwarzer.
