Cruel draw starts new beginnings.
Spain, Netherlands and Chile; no it’s not my 2014 Holiday planner it’s the horror draw the Socceroos find themselves with for the World Cup in Brazil next June. All three countries are ranked in the top 15, two of the nations (Spain and Netherlands) played in the last final and Chile are playing close to home and finished a very respectable third in the qualifying stage. What chance do we have to advance to the next stage? Some will say this is an impossible task, and sadly I am forced to agree with most pundits.
I’m sure I wasn’t alone at 4:12 am or whatever ungodly hour it was when Australia were finally drawn out in group ‘B’. I refuse to go down the ‘group of death’ path, we are currently ranked 59th and are the 32nd (last) ranked nation at the tournament; but last Saturday morning wasn’t kind to us.
When you compare our Asian rival Iran’s ‘luck of the draw’ in comparison to ours they face a much easier path and could even be a surprise quarter finalist. Grouped with Argentina, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Nigeria, Iran at least have a small glimmer of light to succeed from their group, and a second place group finish could even see them play France or Switzerland in a round of 16 clash. Of course I am getting ahead of myself and suggesting Iran have a ‘Socceroos 2006’ type run and surprise most football experts, but that is the magic of the World Cup, almost anything can happen under the ‘right time, right place’ course of thinking.
Unfortunately the only way I can see the Socceroos sneaking through would be taking advantage of a nervous Chile team as they face the vast pressures of home, then grabbing a sneaky point against a Spain ‘B’ team as they rest their stars after winning their first two matches. This would ‘reward’ us with a second place group finish and a likely round of 16 clash against host Brazil. Whatever spin you put on it Australia will be leaving Brazil at a relatively early (although highly expected) stage.
Newly appointed head coach Ange Postecoglu has been given a 5 year contract and has two World Cups and a home Asian cup in his current contract, the draw has handed him a tough assignment but essentially a ‘leave pass’ provided we aren’t embarrassed on the world scale like our 6-0 6-0 results that saw the end of Holger’s tenure. Provided Ange avoids results only seen at the first few rounds of women’s grand slams he will come out of the tournament in a better state, even if we fail to gain a point in our group.
Postecoglu should look at this and start building his 5 year plan and use Brazil 2014 as the first building block to qualification to the 2018 World Cup and a successful 2015 Asia Cup. Much has been written about the flaws of our player development since losing to Japan in the Asia cup final in 2011. To most that should have been the final chapter in most of our golden generation’ and a few others, hindsight is a wonderful thing but we also must remember the AFC is a much tougher prospect that when we first joined and achieving a third successful World Cup appearance is no easy feat.
In saying that the impossible World Cup draw should close the chapter on a few playing careers and Ange should be looking ahead now. If we manage to shape a reasonable squad with an eye to Russia in 2018 the future of Australian football will be a lot brighter.
Sadly this means the end of some great Socceroos careers. Ange needs to sit down with the likes of Harry Kewell, Archie Thompson, Luke Wilkshire, Sash Ognenovski and captain Lucas Neill and discuss their playing futures. These five will play no part in 2018 and tough decisions need to be made. All have made great contributions to Australian football and International retirements should be made in a celebrated and dignified matter.
As a nation we must look forward to where our game is headed on the global scale. The importance of competing in the 2014 World Cup and hosting the 2015 Asian Cup should not be lost on us, but we must also make up for some lost time under the Holger years.
In Ange we trust.
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