Don't write off Class of '06 yet

MICHAEL COCKERILL IN JOHANNESBURG
June 13, 2010

THE best quote from a player during the Socceroos' long, often tedious build-up towards tonight's World Cup opening game against Germany was barely a quote at all.

''Look, I don't want to be here answering questions about injuries, all I want to do is get out there and play a game,'' snapped Tim Cahill before abruptly storming out of the press conference on Wednesday.

That some in the press corps were annoyed by his premature exit does not matter a jot. That Cahill was magnanimous and returned, unscheduled, the next day having regained his composure was equally irrelevant.

What really mattered was that Australia's most important player at the World Cup - the one man who can score the goals to give the Socceroos a fighting chance - had had enough. Enough of the phoney war, enough of the talking. Cahill has his game face on, his big game face. The one that makes him run faster, tackle harder, jump higher.

A wound-up Cahill - although not Leo Bertos-type wound-up - is a huge plus for the Socceroos. Having the second oldest team at the tournament can be seen as either a strength or a weakness. German star Lukas Podolski was quizzed during the week about the contrast between Australia and his own team, which is one of the youngest. ''Age doesn't come into it, just good, or bad,'' he replied.

True enough. But experience does count at this rarefied level. Pim Verbeek is banking on it, given he could well start the opening game with 10 of the 11 players who started the last World Cup against Japan four years ago. It's a show of faith, but perhaps also a leap of faith. Not that it's seen that way inside the dressing room. When asked this week if he sensed the big-name players in the squad were ready to have big games against the Germans, Vince Grella's eyes lit up: ''Yeah, you're 100 per cent right.''

The die has been cast, then. In 2½⁄ years at the helm, Verbeek has been unable to groom a new generation of talent. He claims the the talent's not there. Others will say he has not tried hard enough. Either way, it is the old heads who will lead Australia into battle against the Germans. It was always likely to be thus.

But while Verbeek has stayed loyal, the sense is that loyalty will last only another 90 minutes. Grella's position has been under threat from Carl Valeri. During the warm-up games against New Zealand, Denmark and the US there were also signs of frailty from Craig Moore and Mark Bresciano. Valeri has not been the only fringe player to put the pressure on. Michael Beauchamp, Dario Vidosic, Richard Garcia and Brett Holman have all shown signs, at last, that they are ready to take more responsibility.

So the Class of '06 could well be on its last chance. The result against Germany is important, but not necessarily critical. ''I'm not going to say if we lose the game we still can't go through,'' Moore said. And it's true there will be time for redemption against Ghana and Serbia.

Certainly the global view - and at times even the Australian view - is that getting even a point against Germany will be a bridge too far. But that's being dismissive of the greatest strength of this group of players: a palpable, powerful, self-belief. It was there in the last World Cup, it was there when the backs were against the wall in places like Yokohama, Manama and Tashkent during this qualifying campaign. And it will be there again in Durban, when few give the Socceroos a hope. That is, except the Socceroos themselves.

http://www.smh.com.au/world-cup-2010/world-cup-news/dont-write-off-class-of-06-yet-20100612-y4l9.html