We will call it soccer for ease of identification though we know it offends followers of the game that seems to saturate coverage of sport all around the world. The exception might be the US where sport fans are besotted by games which include spitting and flag throwing competitions.

But just for the sake of convenience and clarity it is soccer in this column today — and today only. A point of difference is required because we will be referring to other football codes. So please soccer fans do not take it personally though past experiences suggest that might be an instantly rejected request and already The Australian building is under siege.

Anyway, the unpleasant point we need to make about soccer is that in Australia the world game will never go close to being the game of power and influence it is in other parts of the world. Never Numero Uno. In fact Australia’s international team is ranked 48, which is their average position since world rankings were introduced. In 47th place are Ivory Coast and in 49th Ghana.

Soccer will not even dominate sport in Australia. Not in the way the indigenous game does. Not in the way rugby league and the State of Origin package does. It might have rugby union covered, for that is a sport that runs around shooting holes in its head.

In a game of no strategic importance 95,569 people turned up at the MCG just to watch Argentina’s Lionel Messi play a friendly match against Brazil. Days later fewer than 50,000 fans sit in the stands at the MCG to watch Australia humiliated by Brazil — the first goal of the game was in the book after 12 seconds.

Twice as many people watched a match not involving Australia than a critical game — in terms of experience and growth — involving the Socceroos and Brazil.

From Brazil’s instant goal the Socceroos limitations were opened up for all to see.

The Australian’s soccer expert Ray Gatt, wrote this after Tuesday night’s game against Brazil:“It was a case of men against boys as Brazil flexed their muscles to dispose of Australia 4-0 in their friendly at the MCG last night.

“While not at their best, the South American giants provided a masterclass in skill, vision, retention of possession and goalscoring as the Socceroos never recovered from a disastrous start that saw them give away a goal after just 12 seconds.” Gatt, the boffin, of course got it just right.

But even the fans who watch the games without Gatt’s eye for detail saw one undeniable horror. Brazil were an infinitely more naturally gifted team of athletes than Australia. We see it as a general deficiency in athleticism but the experts interpret it as a barrier to doing what the best teams do. As Gatt distilled it he saw the difference as “skill, vision, retention of possession and goalscoring.” That’s almost like telling a batsman his weakness is he cannot bat.

The other obvious and crippling problem is that soccer will never get the players in usable numbers to ever play at the level of Argentina and Brazil, the two sides we have seen close up this month. More proof if you like is the struggling 3-2 defeat of Saudi Arabia in their World Cup qualifying match.

Because of the hold the AFL and NRL have on sport across Australia, soccer has little chance of getting the best of our young male and female athletes. Soccer’s task is made even more difficult because cricket is in the mix up to its helmet too, wooing the talented that might have missed the dredging of the talent pool by the football codes.

That is the lesson learnt from this past fortnight of soccer. Australia are not good enough to be influential in the best company. And might never will be.

Brazil were an infinitely more naturally gifted team of athletes than Australia. We see it as a general deficiency in athleticism but the experts interpret it as a barrier to doing what the best teams do. As Gatt distilled it he saw the difference as “skill, vision, retention of possession and goalscoring.” That’s almost like telling a batsman his weakness is he cannot bat.

But even the fans who watch the games without Gatt’s eye for detail saw one undeniable horror. Brazil were an infinitely more naturally gifted team of athletes than Australia. We see it as a general deficiency in athleticism but the experts interpret it as a barrier to doing what the best teams do. As Gatt distilled it he saw the difference as “skill, vision, retention of possession and goalscoring.” That’s almost like telling a batsman his weakness is he cannot bat.
The other obvious and crippling problem is that soccer will never get the players in usable numbers to ever play at the level of Argentina and Brazil, the two sides we have seen close up this month. More proof if you like is the struggling 3-2 defeat of Saudi Arabia in their World Cup qualifying match.
Because of the hold the AFL and NRL have on sport across Australia, soccer has little chance of getting the best of our young male and female athletes. Soccer’s task is made even more difficult because cricket is in the mix up to its helmet too, wooing the talented that might have missed the dredging of the talent pool by the football codes.