Pim Verbeek finally shows he has balls by criticising mess he left

Former Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek has been quoted in Qatari media as saying Australian football faces a bleak period as the brightest stars in Australian football history are slowly extinguished.

Well, you'd know, Pim.

His Aussie tenure was marked by Viking-style honesty. Did you ever meet someone so honest that every conversation you had with them ended up revolving around your faults? That's honesty to a fault, and that's Pim Verbeek. And despite their limitations, players like Danny Allsopp and Archie Thompson were hardly likely to produce positive results after such brutal “encouragement”.

How's that "promotion" to Morocco's U-21s working out, Pim?
Courtesy dohasportsplusqatar.com

While his latest assertions verge towards the correct – developing Australian footballers aren't of the same quality as those of fifteen years hence – Australia should still qualify for Brazil if their squad is managed adeptly.

Part of the blame for this dearth of top-end talent can be laid at Verbeek's size twelves. The Dutchman controlled Australia for three years, culminating in a morbid showing in the group of terminal illness at the Big Dance in 2010. During that time, he was relentless in his beliefs: not living in Australia, playing defensive formations and deploying far-flung experience at the expense of A-League promise.

The defining moment of his tenure in Australia wasn't a match, result or player evolution but a formation. In the Socceroos' ignominious defeat to Germany in their first match in South Africa, the team lined up in a 4-6-0 with untested Richard Garcia leading the line from the centre of midfield (and playing hideously out of position).

The Green and Gold Army was not only content but joyful at his departure. His time at the top left football in Australia without a legacy; in a period in which Australian soccer should have been building on the wonderful success of their 2006 World Cup campaign, his refusal to integrate local youth into an aging team was not only short-sighted but almost wilfully negligent.

His half-hidden attempt to parlay short-term Socceroo success into a bigger job was hardly surprising, but still disappointing because he was bequeathed a good team with a chance to establish something of real substance.

Perhaps Verbeek now feels able to comment because he recognises some of the same traits in Australian football as he, it's one-time figurehead, displayed as boss.  Yes, the country's footballing stocks are going through a changing phase, but as a smaller football nation that's the norm.  It's also a phase that was delayed nearly four years during his time in charge.

A new coach, a new beginning

Australia under Holger Osieck are proving a very different proposition than their time under the overly-watchful eye of Pim Verbeek. Where the Dutchman was cautious to a (large) fault, the German has endowed Australia with sensible selection policy, good play from his A-League complement and even the occasional 4-4-2 formation. He is the Anti-Pim and the players seem to be responding.

Of course the Socceroos have since the days of Terry Venables been able to compete - and sometimes win - against good opposition. Under Verbeek they managed several creditable results but it was obvious to fans that Verbeek's skill lay not in winning matches, but saving them. It seemed he thought success came not through craftsmanship but took the opposite, utilitarian direction. Perhaps, like Roy Hodgson's alleged Liverpool crimes, he is better at producing draws than either wins or losses.

As a manager, there isn't a better opportunity infuse your breed of football into a team than to prove it's efficacy against a bogey-side. Yesterday's win in Moenchengladbach was just that - further validation of Osieck's appointment and Australian management's insistence on a manger who could nurture growth in the Socceroo squad.

When Australia lined up against Germany in Durban for their first World Cup match, they fielded a 4-6-0 formation with the main intent being damage control. In that formation both Richard Garcia - in his first competitive international - and Tim Cahill played out of position and turned in almost career-worst nights. The Socceroos were soundly defeated 4-0 and any hopes of making the second round from the Group of Terminal Illness were quashed. The Green and Gold army scoffed at an obvious lack of trust - and received a performance, hamstrung by a complete absence of forwards, could be read one of two ways. The cautious would suggest the inoffensive formation actually prevented even more of a mauling; those favouring a more balanced lineup would just suggest players don't perform when they're not trusted.

Yesterday - in enemy, rather than neutral, territory - the Socceroos stayed with a 4-4-2 the entire match, having both the resilience and chutzpah to absorb German forays and then return the attack. The result was 2-1 and only the most miserly would deny Australia's achievement against a strong Teutonic team. Osieck's stock is rising after an impressive Asian Cup campaign and should he continue to drink from Guus Hiddink's "You can do anything" juice, the Socceroos will continue to remain challenging for a Top-20 berth in the FIFA World Rankings.

Too late a call-up, too short a season

The story of behemoth Aussie Central Defender Sasa Ognenovski is a curious one. The thirty-one year old epitome of the word "Colossus" was recently selected on the five-man shortlist for the Asian Footballer of the Year award due to his performances for Seongnam in the K-League and made his Full International debut.

After a career in the Australian NSL and it's associated minor leagues - and a cup of coffee with Panachaiki in Greece - Ognenovski was among the earliest players selected for the fledgling A-League's first season in 2006-07 and proved a rock in defence for the Queensland Roar. After eighteen months he moved to Adelaide to compete in the Asian Champions League where his star shone brightly. Given his gargantuan frame and above-average athleticism when compared to his opponents, the Big Fella excelled in Asia and suddenly became the hottest property in AFC football and was the subject of bids from two K-League squads.

He chose Seongnam over FC Seoul and has recently led that squad to the Asian Football Confederation Champions' League title. For some reason though he remained unable to crack the Australian international squad even when that team had to be comprised of only Asian-based players. Recent national managers - yes, Pim Verbeek, I mean you - ignored him despite dominant form and a paucity of other options while searching for a foil for Lucas Neill at the heart of the Australian defence. Given his excelling in Asia, it was puzzling to watch clubless and speedless Craig Moore partner captain Neill at this year's World Cup but by not calling the leviathan up sooner Verbeek had left himself no option. It's no coincidence that Australia was exposed for position in South Africa: without pace Moore couldn't get to the right spots and without the requisite size Neill struggled to deal with opponents in the air.

There's no question that Big Sasa's an Aussie but snub after snub despite his good form brought the 6'5 defender to despair and nearly to accepting a call-up from the Macedonian national team, the country in which his parents were born. Indeed, Macedonia wanted him and he was voted in 2008 that country's second best player behind Inter Milan's Goran Pandev. It took a nomination for AFC Player of the Year to secure his international bow and thankfully new coach Holger Osieck last week stopped the rot to give the 31-year old his first Cap in the Socceroo's 3-0 loss to Egypt.

A mistake, surely, and one that's now been rectified, at least in part. But given 33 year-old striker Kevin Davies made his debut for England last month and The Leviathan's relatively late start in the big-time, there remains hope that Ognenovski will prove as effective in International Competition as he has in Asia. His hope - and probably the Green and Gold Army's - should not be to just play in the 2011 Asian Cup but to to emulate Moore and partner Matthew Spiranovic or Rhys Williams at 35 years of age to the 2014 Brazil World Cup.