How can it not be a personal affront though with such stupid and blatently biased reporting on an ongoing basis? Its about winning hearts and minds. This does nothing to help that.

The game in this country is in a very difficult place. Its dog eat dog and unfortunately there is not 1 pro-football print media outlet in this country and only really only SBS and Fox Sports having a major football emphasis.

Edited by Heart_fan: 16/6/2010 02:10:51 AM

That's the thing though. In australia if we don't get a favourable review then all of a sudden it's "AFL/NRL biased papers trying to kill the sport". Rather than telling it like it is.

The reporting needs to be less naive and more objective, yes. But football fans need to stop taking it like some kind of personal affront.

To be fair, that's what we expect. We need the media to be more critical of performances to make the coach more accountable. See nations like Argentina or England where the press is extrememly critical of national team performance.

Australia's credibility was at stake the moment we qualifed with the coach we have.

Australia's credibility at stake after German thrashing

A fair showing four years ago inspired thoughts of hosting future World Cups but football's reputation remains fragile in a land not short of popular sports

Australia's striker Tim Cahill after his sending off against Germany Tim Cahill's sending off against Germany capped a disastrous night that could have wider repercussions for football in Australia. Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images

As the burgeoning, brilliant Germans buzzed relentlessly around the hapless Socceroos on Sunday night, it was not only the Aussies' goal difference that was unravelling. Both within and without our shores, the fragile parapet of Australia's footballing reputation, having been largely built on the frail foundations of an admirable showing in Germany in 2006, is seriously undermined in the wake of the Durban disaster.

Before 2006, the Australian football team was a nonentity in world football, punctuated only by a brief ripple or two when thrashing Pacific island minnows and occasional eyebrow-raising friendly performances before being routinely banished back to anonymity in World Cup play-offs.

All of that changed with qualification for the 2006 finals and unlikely group progression to the final 16. The Aussies had won modest admiration by the time of their unlucky exit at the hands of Italy.

Australia's newfound confidence on the world stage has translated into a strong bid to host the 2022 World Cup. Fifa heavyweights have been schmoozed in South Africa by an impressive delegation led by shopping-centre mogul Frank Lowy and adorned by the no-less impressive Australian Sports Minister and supermodel-in-disguise, Kate Ellis.

And yet, no gloss or glamour will remedy the buffeting encountered in Durban. These Soceroos barely looked classier than the rank amateurs who fell three goals short of West Germany during Australia's World Cup debut in 1974. How much will Sunday's sight of lumbering Aussies chasing German tails around the Moses Mabhida Stadium weigh on Fifa, no doubt already concerned about the unfriendly time zones and tyranny of distance which already compromise the Australian bid?

If stocks are wavering on a global scale, the damage within Australia could be even greater. The sports community embraced the 2006 Socceroos but as a nation used to success, albeit at minor sports, and with a long-held preference for other football codes, the German thrashing will threaten hard-won credibility.

"Soccer" has weathered a long, dusty path for mainstream acceptance but the class of 2006 garnered idol status for Cahill, Kewell and co. In the wake of Sunday's 4-0 drubbing, however, casual converts to the round-ball code were quick to defect. It wasn't just the sleep-deprived returning from 4.30am reveries across bars, pubs and mass gatherings who were keen to sink the slipper, as the great unwashed unhitched from the bandwagon. "Ok. Back to reality. Socceroos suck", mused John of Dandenong in commenting on this article.

It's a bitter reality for football supporters in this country that an islander mentality still colours the national psyche and holds us back from embracing the world game. Blind devotion to sporting pursuits we are better at, like cricket and rugby league or beloved homegrown institutions like Australian Rules football, serve to pull down the shutters on the unknown names and customs of an unknown code.

Australia's remaining fixtures are critical and pivotal. Outgoing Aussie coach, Pim Verbeek, faces a tall enough task in reviving his ageing, ailing troops but I'm not sure he appreciates how telling the stakes really are. Across several dimensions, our football fate may depend on it.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/jun/15/world-cup-2010-australia