Socceroos face injuries, high expectations

Reuters
Last updated 15:04 19/05/2010

Four years after Australia swept into the second round of the World Cup, their ageing squad head to South Africa burdened by fitness concerns and high expectations.

Dutch coach Pim Verbeek's defence-based tactics led to seven clean sheets and no defeats in their last eight qualifiers.

It also generated complaints about 'ugly' football and a dearth of goal-scoring flair, and local fans fear that while the Socceroos may be able to bully Gulf states and central Asian nations, they will not trouble the world's best.

This hand-wringing has not hosed down expectations, however, and the team are under pressure at least to match their surprise appearance in the knockout round in 2006 when they lost to eventual champions Italy after a last-minute penalty.

"We certainly want to achieve what we achieved last time and go beyond that," Football Federation Australia chief Ben Buckley told local media. "If we don't aspire to that I think people should be critical of us."

As Australia are ranked 20th in the world, the target would not seem unreasonable. Scratch the surface, however, and the Socceroos' chances of emerging from Group D - arguably the toughest with Germany, Serbia and Ghana - look bleaker.

Like his predecessor and fellow Dutchman Guus Hiddink, Verbeek will rely on a core of Europe-based players who won admirers in Germany with their pressing game and refusal to be intimidated by better-known sides.

But players who were spring-heeled in their mid- to late-20s are now in the twilight of their careers. No fewer than nine of Verbeek's likely starting side, including midfielders Tim Cahill and Brett Emerton and defenders Lucas Neill and Scott Chipperfield, are in their thirties.

Several have had large portions of their European seasons interrupted by injuries and a question mark remains over forward Harry Kewell, 31, who had groin surgery earlier in the year.

Midfield enforcer Vince Grella and playmaker Mark Bresciano have also played precious little football in the lead-up to the finals.

While experienced heads may compensate for creaking bones in defence and midfield, the Socceroos face a dilemma further up the field now that the former Middlesbrough and Newcastle United forward Mark Viduka has retired from international football.

In his absence, Josh Kennedy, a beanpole striker unveiled by Hiddink at the German finals and now playing for Nagoya in Japan's top flight, is expected to lead the line.

Despite flashes of brilliance during qualifying, Kennedy struggled in a stint with Karlsruhe in the Bundesliga although his record of six goals in 17 internationals is respectable.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-cup/3715136/Socceroos-face-injuries-high-expectations

Young unknowns Australia's x-factor

Daniel Garb
15:00 AEST Thu Mar 4 2010

A sprinkling of youth in Pim Verbeek's provisional 31 man squad may just be the tonic that helps drive on an experienced, but ageing, first XI to replicate their second round performance of four years ago.

Youngsters Rhys Williams, Tommy Oar, James Holland, Nikita Rukavytsya, Dario Vidosic and Shane Lowry may only have a total of 14 national team caps between them, but what they do possess is the ability to develop exponentially in the high performance environment that is the World Cup training camp.

Rewind four years ago and the opening match of our campaign in Germany.

When the team sheet was distributed for the clash against Japan, many Socceroos fans were bemused when Luke Wilkshire's name appeared.

A virtual unknown who was plodding away with Bristol City in England's lower leagues, Wilkshire was identified by Guus Hiddink as a player whose talent had yet to be fully realised and thrown into football's hottest cauldron.

He didn't put a foot wrong the whole tournament and is now not only one of the first names jotted on Australia's team sheet, but also one of our highest paid players as a regular for Russian giants Dynamo Moscow.

While some of the aforementioned players will be hard pressed to make the final cut of 23 (never mind start in South Africa), there's every chance they'll thrive being surrounded by Cahill, Kewell, Neill and company... and crucially, put pressure on the expected first XI which has an average age of 31.5.

It was a shrewd move by Verbeek.

Without disrespecting some of the older players overlooked for the squad - Mile Sterjovski, Jacob Burns, Chris Coyne, Eddy Bosnar, Simon Colosimo - to name a few, Verbeek has seen what they can do and the chance of them improving to a level where they can challenge for a starting spot is slim.

On the flipside, young players have the potential to enhance their performance dramatically in a short period of time and with such a settled first XI, the risk in selecting them in the expanded squad was minimal.

While the prescence of youth is a benefit, the squad's reserve stocks in the central defensive position are disturbingly weak.

Mark Milligan seems to be the first choice substitute should Lucas Neill or Craig Moore suffer an injury and while he's performed with distinction in his nine Socceroos appearances, he does ply his trade in Japan's second division and that's not exactly one of the world's toughest leagues.

Michael Beauchamp was picked to add height to an undersized defence, but if needed in South Africa he will come up against strikers of a much higher quality than those he's recently faced in club football in the United Arab Emirates.

Jade North's last ditch move to Norway helped him book a spot in the expanded squad after failing to win regular game time in Korea and while his versatility appeals to Verbeek it's unlikely the boss will have confidence in him snuffing out a top class forward.

With that in mind I have no reservation in declaring Neill our most important player for this World Cup campaign.

While there's no doubt Cahill is our best player, we should have more confidence in a Kewell, Kennedy, Bresciano or McDonald picking up the slack if the midfield maestro is out of sorts.

That leaves the spotlight on our defenders and I'm just not confident those defensive reserves could stifle a top class attack in the absence of our skipper.

Likely first XI for opening clash against Germany.

Schwarzer
Wilkshire, Neill, Moore, Chipperfield
Grella, Culina
Emerton, Cahill, Bresciano
Kewell

How do you rate the Socceroos squad?
Has Pim Verbeek made any mistakes?
Can the Socceroos match their heroics in Germany four years ago?

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1054479