Courtesy: Herald Sun


Steps Australia’s Socceroos must take to work their way back to success post Brazil 2014 World Cup

The World Cup has been fascinating for punters and purists alike and, for Australia, the post-Socceroos knockout phase has been just as educational.

Football’s globalisation has narrowed the gap from nations 1 to 32, yet when it came to the crunch the heavyweights remained with Germany and Argentina — five World Cups between them — in the final and five-time champion Brazil hosting three-time runner-up the Netherlands in tomorrow’s playoff for third.

Since 2006 Australia has adopted a Dutch template — seen as crucial for implementing philosophical change from physicality to a technical focus.
With Australia’s official 4-3-3 structure (this is taught in Spain, Belgium as well as the Netherlands) in place, taught from under-12s up, now’s the time to reassess and add layers.

ANGE Postecoglou’s appointment was timely.

His approach mirrored Brisbane Roar’s maiden Asian Champions League campaign of 2012, when it fell well short of Asia’s best.

In both cases it was risky but brave, going blow for blow against the best to paint a more accurate picture rather than play a conservative, counter-attacking game that may well have yielded better short-term results.

Conceding nine goals and losing all three games, the Socceroos were far from disgraced and regained their identity, leading to universal praise for a proactive approach against superior opposition.

Postecoglou, Australia’s youth team coach for six years, will now oversee junior national teams to ensure a uniform, attacking approach.

“We don’t need an overhaul but we need to keep improving,’’ Postecoglou said.

“We’re set in stone in terms of the way we want to play. We’ve been tested now and we need more depth.

“Our underage national teams will be a key part of that, that’s why FFA (Football Federation Australia) has allowed me to get involved — the more exposure we can give these guys at international level the better.’’


TAILOR-MADE
POSTECOGLOU gets close to the finished product at Socceroos level, with research indicating a player learns the bulk of his skills before the age of 12.

Brazil, the country that’s produced Pele, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Neymar, has arguably the best talent factory in the world, despite its 7-1 semi-final embarrassment.

Skills are learnt on the futsal (5 v 5) courts, where they play until the age of 12, before switching to 11 v 11, while retaining a futsal component.

Brazil-based Australian agent Steve Panapoulos said this was where players instinctively learnt the art of skills, positioning and movement.

“In Australia it’s kick and run (in juniors) with parents yelling at kids to go get the ball. It doesn’t happen here,’’ Panapoulos said.

“The kids play futsal, which is about close control, protecting the ball and making angles. There’s so much movement and the field is so small you can’t play a long ball.

“It’s about confined space. Brazilian players always move off the ball, Australians aren’t taught that.

“There’s intangibles, things you can’t imitate, which is why Australia can’t base it totally on the Brazil system.

“You can’t imitate society — kids in a favela with rocks on the ground, putting newspaper in a sock to play, or kids that see parents suffering and their overriding motivation is to get out of poverty.’’


THE DUTCH LEGACY
Han Berger will leave his FFA technical director’s post after almost six years in charge, and he has polarised opinion.

While it was far from perfect, to say his philosophy didn’t work or he had no impact is blinkered. The language used now in Australia compared with pre-2006, the curriculum and the coach education system are all indicators of the seismic progress made.

“Those sorts of processes, history shows, take at least a generation, so that’s at least 10 years. So we’re only halfway,’’ Berger said.

“One of the frustrations (in Australia) was that things take so long. I come from a climate and culture where everybody thinks in the interests of the game and the players.

“That’s unfortunately not always the case in Australia.

“My advice is to stick to the philosophy and structure that’s now in place.

“The worst thing Australia can do is change it all again and implement another philosophy.’’


SPANISH INQUEST
As with Brazil, the Spanish public was baying for blood after their group stage exit.

Respected Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague said the Spanish FA had not panicked, backing the approach that brought them the past three major trophies, starting with Euro 2008.

“The federation have got a very clear idea. The difficult times is when you challenge that idea and (Vicente) Del Bosque is staying which means the same thing will continue,’’ Balague said.

“People are saying we don’t want this style, even though we won with it. They say they’re bored of this style, we want the Real Madrid style.’’

Balague was impressed with Australia’s World Cup.

“I was very impressed with the way they passed the ball against Holland,’’ he said.

“The right questions are being asked. Why have we let so much influence to a certain culture? Why you move from culture to culture? Why don’t we absorb from all of the multicultural countries.

“I think you are in a good position to change and to learn the lessons from Barcelona and Spain, where technical ability and individual skill are prime.

“You should be looking for players that have got that, not the size.’’


CLUB CHOICES
Panapoulos, who played under Postecoglou at South Melbourne, said the booming Asian football economy had clouded matters for Australia.

While positive from a competition viewpoint, he said Asia — where dozens of his players are based — was not an ideal market for players.

“As an agent it’s fantastic, but when I was playing, the top players went to Europe. Now anyone that scores a few goals or has a half decent year goes to Korea, China, Japan, and that’s not good for development,’’ he said.

“They’re going to leagues which are maybe even technically inferior but financially superior. It’s different losing Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell to Leeds or Eddie Krncevic to Belgium.

“If the Asian option was there for Mark Bresciano, would he have gone to Italy or Guangzhou Evergrande? Financially China would’ve been great, but would he have been the same player?”







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com