Crawl, Walk, Run
Are we still basking in the glory of losing 3-1 to Chile? Sure it was another admiral loss displaying the fighting qualities of every Australian sporting performance in history. Yes, the men that took the challenge up to Chile were brave; showing a fantastic spirit, but history will tell us Chile 3 – Australia 1. This is the stark reality that is World Cup football.
The Socceroos were never expected to do anything in Brazil but the Chilean match was our ‘World Cup final’. This was our biggest chance of taking a point from Brazil, even a win if we dare to dream that highly. Sure, we had our chances, Cahill was just offside when he found the net for the second time, Bresciano was denied by a world class save by their keeper. On a different day the result could’ve been very different. We could be entering our final two pool matches with a realistic chance of qualification, and a Round of 16 clash against hosts Brazil. When you think of the possibilities we are once again reminded of how cruel football can be.
Watching the game with the mindset of winning against Chile made it very difficult at times for a Socceroos fan to watch. The disastrous start virtually ended our chances in the first 14 minutes of the campaign. The ‘First team to arrive, First team to leave’ was ringing true before our players began to settle. On the surface this was to be expected with such an inexperienced squad. Not many of these players would’ve experienced an atmosphere like playing in a World Cup opener before.
After the initial fourteen minutes Australia produced some good football, and some of our younger players gained valuable experience. Maybe I wasn’t watching the clash through rose coloured glasses like so many were. I was still chasing the end result rather than watching the start of the journey we are currently undertaking. Mulling over the situation for the next few days I began to look at the bigger picture and the current shape our national team is at. Many pin point the 2011 Asian Cup as our time to let go of the golden generation and start the new cycle of players coming through the Socceroos system.
Whether it was or not is pretty irrelevant at this stage now, plenty of water has passed under that bridge. We could play the ‘What if’ game all day, but I’m sure some of you have jobs to get to, or unfinished tasks that have been neglected whilst watching hours of world cup action at the moment. The Socceroos reached a screeching halt just after successfully qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. We are now finally beginning to crawl under Postecoglu, and this will be a long process. If we are to compete with the likes of Spain and Netherlands we must be at the ‘running’ stage, we are only crawling at present, and will be lucky to be walking before we host the 2015 Asian Cup.
The next week will be very tough to watch for the Socceroos and without sounding negative I will probably take a pair of 3-0 losses at this stage of development. I don’t want to see scores that resemble a first round women’s match at Wimbledon, but also cannot rule this out. Am I being too negative? Probably, but I also think I am being realistic. The task ahead is monumental and we must respect that. Sure I will let off steam with some unkind tweets regarding certain squad selections, or substitutions that Ange makes; That’s human nature, it won’t have any bearing on the future development of Australian football, I’m just an unfit bloke sitting on my couch providing my uninformed opinion on our nation’s most important sporting team; The Socceroos.
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