The cheers from the sidelines are for the kids that:
Kick the ball high and far
Try and kick the ball with the first touch
Take no risks and kick the ball out to touch
Bigger faster kids are best
Playing for the team and sacrificing your game for the team

We admonish the kids that:
Dribble with the ball
Hold onto the ball until the right passing opportunity arises
Take risks that may end up conceding a goal but may also score one
That attempts to keep the ball in play
keep the smaller kids on the benches longer

We don't have enough football culture so that our kids grow up with a football at home from young or at school.

In Victoria we have approx 50,000 juniors
6,800 are in the elite NPL
150 of those are in the elite NTC skillaroos and A-League environments
The culture I have identified still pervades!

Worst part of the new coaching class (the ones with AFC Certificates) is that many have gone through the system and are still doing the same crap as listed above.

On the whole we are still (as we always have) developing, safe, efficient, athletic footballers.

I put that down to our lack of Football Culture.
Though I do believe the small number of technical players that are coming through is more to do with a father or family having a strong football background.

As an example Brimmers maternal grandfather played professionally in Scotland and here for Melbourne Croatia and South Melbourne Hellas, his paternal grandfather played semi-pro in Malta and here, his father played state juniors and State League in Melbourne. His brothers are also decent footballers.

No doubt the system and the families football culture had a huge role in his development.
What though is the deciding factor?



Edited by Arthur: 12/11/2015 04:08:57 PM

Rogic is so interesting as he wasnt a huge part of the "Pathway" and from reports was developed playing futsal and identified by the Nike Academy (Is this a lesson for the FFA, State Federations and Clubs about their id processess)

I dont know about Da Silva but from what I know about Ikonomidis I think his father has had a huge hand in his development like Akermanas. Football Culture at work!

The fathers or coaches influence is no doubt strong when it comes to our football culture without that there would be nothing.

Harry Kewell's father was a influence when growing up, have a feeling most former and current Socceroos are in a similar boat.

But this just doesnt apply only to football many of our sport stars come from similar backgrounds where the father/mother would have a strong influence on the player's career, there is quite a small number that go against the norm though.

Only a few minutes left in the u23 friendly with Qatar, losing 3-1 with Amini pegging one back for us, no other news on lineups I can find as of yet.

FT 3-1

Not good , should be battering these !

How much influence does Ange have to get rid of Aurelio Vidmar before January's qualifiers? I think these results are starting to become very worrying. I'm sure Ange would be seeing the performances.

Informative, but sad post.

One point you allude to is the coaching courses at supposed Advanced level.

If one has done a senior C or B licence in the last few years, unless they did what now turns out to be the Skills Certificate that has replaced the old Junior Licence, then coaches haven't really had an up date in coaching technique. There are a number of coaches on here who have that accreditation.

If you are reading this, Steelinho, Possession Football, Melbourne Terrace, TJ Whalan, Some Guy, New Signing, Hawk Saint Victory, Reedy, Deejay, The Football God, et al, how much do you think you learnt about technique when you did your Senior C / or /and B Licences?

The guys I trained with maybe have vastly improved their tactical and structural knowledge, but not their technical knowledge.



One coach who is a 442 member , who has no disclosed publicly PMed me to say he has down a recent C licence but specialised in youth. These were not available a few years ago. It would be interesting to see what he is doing that is different from the guys who have studied the Senior C and B Licences.

Just reading Tim Cahill's autobiography, he did a massive amount of work with a coach called John Doyle, a former Irish national and schoolteacher who played for a few clubs in Sydney. He did a phenomenal amount of work on making him two footed, shooting at targets within a goal with both feet, and coaching on converting crosses. It was like a mini soccer school. Cahill did this day after day.

The other thing he did, which NTC programs have in the past stopped, is played a lot of football matches. Three games a week. One was futsal, one in his club team ,another was in his rep team. In some NTCs they don't let players play in one's school and club as well as futsal,

Out of 24 coaches in my C Licence intake, only 4 of us did a subsequent course ( like the current Skills Certificate) as we were in the FFA rep system. In just 2 days it was as useful, in a different way, than the whole C Licence. This is in the context of having done the KNVB Advanced Youth Certificate. With the NPL clubs when I see them training at senior level, even though the mid to late part of the session is very different from the way they used to coach, the technical part appears to be similar.

At the last Regional Conference there was a lot more information provided by FFA about specific exercises for technique development with the whole team.

Ome FFA staff coach I know is emphatic that Rogic was a part of the NTC Capital Football set up. I've read an article where Rogic discusses his coaching. He mentioned one name I did not recognise, and Ron Smith doing a lot of work with him.

A good question.

I've posed this to a FFA staff coach a few days ago.

Ange now oversees the national program from Socceroos down to the under 20s. He has taken over from Berger in this role.

Luke Casserley is the performance analyst. The decision could rest between them.

That is a worrying loss going down to Qatar.

not great losing to qatar

results have some limited meaning at that age

Actually what is Ange himself doing in January. Put him in charge.

Why is it surprising that we lost to Qatar? All the Asian countries are way ahead of Australia in relation to player numbers and resources being put into development.

See link below to what Qatar are doing to make themselves a force in World football.

http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/football/2012/06/201266101250200113.html

Good point

Another article on what lengths Qatar are going to, for a competitive team for the World Cup.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/qatar-aspire-academy-world-cup-2014-7

Results don't matter though, just like they didn't at the last World Cup when we lost 3. It's all about passing out from the back.

Results not great considering they lost to Macedonia, Korea 2 twice and now Qatar but a bit like the Socceroos i will judge them in January for the under 23 Asian Cup.

Remember the Socceroos suffered some similar results last prior to the main thing and we know what happens next.

Anybody know who started/played in this game ?
looked like a pretty decent squad but defence could be a worry ,conceding 3 is not very good .

All I know so far is Amini scored and Maclaren got 30 minutes but expects to start against Iran.

I agree wholeheartedly BUT Vidmar doesnt have the points that Ange had on the board (Brisbane and Victory). 2 olympics on the line

we are unlikely to have a coach of ange's calibre coaching youth in the near future

But I suppose we should give any new coach that tries a cultured style a dozen or more games to get things right.

I think Vidmar isn't the greatest but is ok and I think Ikon isn't good enough. We really need a second division to increase the coaching talent pool

Sack vidmar

Insert Alistair Edwards.

I thought alistair edwards did a better job than the other two. I think it would be more logical to replace okon

https://twitter.com/brookster81

Line up is here third post down.

Edited by lebo_roo: 13/11/2015 12:04:28 PM

Good point.

Some coaches use friendlies for diagnostic purposes. Ange certainly did.

After having a look at the squad, there are plenty of glaring omissions.

Recently Irvine, Brillante, Ikonomidis, have all been selected for the senior Socceroos. Surely they are good enough to play for the under 23s then? They were on the bench.:?

McLaren one of the top goal scorers in the current season in the HAL, is definitely on Ange's radar for the senior Socceroos. Yet he was on the bench.:?

Geria is a HAl regular, yet was on the bench.:?

Also O'Neill and Borello are playing well in in the top current sides in the HAL.Surely they are good enough for the under 23s?:?

Where was Smith who has recently played senior Socceroo football?:?

Ansell and Donachie who have also been HAL and ACL regulars were also missing. They were the CBs last tournament , I think. They may be injured.



Who are Ken Dougall and Gallifucio?

To me there are 10 players not in the starting line up who should arguably be there.

Connor Pain is very lazy I would be concerned with any team starting with him.
If you travel to make life easy for all you potential opponents then expect not just to lose but undermine your chances at the tournament.

If he doesn't rotate the squad for the second match than questions should be asked.

Strong line up.

So we obviously played our second string guys against the perceived weaker of the two teams we are playing in the friendlies. And they got spanked it seems. A lot of players in that squad who simply aren't good enough to be representing Australia at that level. Maybe they'll develop later in their careers but nearly all of the team's stars were on the bench.

I don't mind using the occasional friendly to test depth, as in qualifying tournaments you HAVE to rotate your squads. The problem is our depth kinda sucks at this level currently.