Given you have to run, turn, jump, pass, shimmy and tackle during the game like everyone else wtf do you require specific fitness work, which is apparnetly done in the dressing room ?

I smell something os not quite right.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article Harry Blasts Back At The Press?
HARRY Kewell has lashed out at suggestions he is behind a supposed rift in the Socceroos' camp following Pim Verbeek's failure to bring him on as a substitute during Australia's disastrous 4-0 loss to Germany in its opening World Cup game.

Have your say.

It's a pity Harry has to come out and say this, that in itself is a sign that things are not right.


I've seen that (bold) quote a few times, Moore said the same thing. Seems like Pim still has the change room on his side, which is important.

The players have been constantly annoyed by the OZ media and the public not appreciating their qualification path, now they feel even more unappreciated and alienated from the fans. Hopefully they can use that as motivation to come out firing against Ghana and Serbia. We can still get 6 points.

Imagine if we'd played the Germans last... :-k

In 2006, Guus kept a lid on the media and controlled the information...shame Pim cant do the same. There were very few player interviews as they were locked down.

lol good on harry cockerill is a giant douche

Guys - lets face it, whilst football has become a mainstream game in this country, the footballing media is still a reactionary freakshow conditioned by NSL years where, in all fairness, they probably did know better than some of the goofs running it. But none of them have ever gotten over the fact that those years are gone. It's a professionally administered sport run by people with a knowledge accumulated a bit more formally than "well I hung around XYZ FC until they gave me a job and now I'm the boss". Couple that with the usual range of blow-ins who spent May googling "soccer" in preparation for the world cup and this is what we have got. A journalistic pack consisting of freaks and dimwits, every single one.

Mike Cockerill's last decent effort in the SMH came in approximately 2005. The lead football writer at Australia's most prestigious broadsheet appears to loathe every single person involved in the administration and coaching of the local game (with the exception of such proven winners as John Kosmina) and takes every opportunity to stir up prejudices and divisions because apparently that's journalism. Circus Oz couldn't come up with a bigger bunch of freak-clowns than the idiot panel at TWG. Les, you ought to be the exception but you went and employed Zelko? Give me a frigging break. "Professor" Foster would don the speedos and personally tow Australia in any direction but wherever it is going, if it wasn't for the giant "I wish I was a brazilian-spanish-german-with-a-UEFA-A-licence-and-a-job-at-Real" shaped chip on his shoulder that prevented him from doing any real work (or proper football analysis for that matter), and their continued employment of Fink suggests that "nut-house" in big pink and purple letters was the first slide on the TWG corporate mission statement. With the exception of Hill, the situation at Foxsports isn't all that much better - but in fairness to them, they all approach their jobs with a "we're all just a bunch of boofheads" mentality which fits perfectly with the oft-proven reality.

Against that background, you can understand the frustrations of people like Harry Kewell, who have had a career that not only encompasses some of the best football clubs and coaches in the world, but some of the best footballing media in the world. None of the "greats" of the Australian footballing media would get within a block of the Guardian footballing department without an escort from a proper journalist. The BBC would laugh heartily at the idea of employing them. L'Equip? Non. C'est impossible. Even those yankies with their mid-atlantic dutch and scottish accents over at ESPN smirk to themselves when the Aussie media contingent walk into the room. If the Australian footballing team are treating the Australian footballing media like a bunch of amatuer, provincial, part-time nut jobs trying to further their own petty agendas, then let me tell you boys: take off that crazy clown hair, because the cap fits you perfectly.



Edited by md_: 17/6/2010 09:38:57 AM

Spot on.

quite honestly, all these media distractions and termoil are far from positive for the team.......i hope they arent getting all the info we are, as it can only undermine our chances

Some VERY interesting news from News Ltd's Paul Kent (who's he?): http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/world-cup-2010/players-unhappy-with-verbeek-tactics/story-fn4l4sip-1225880707578

There's more analysis from Kent at the URL, but basically that's the "news" portion of it.

Far out md_, that was one of the most eloquent rants I've ever read!

Well in sir :)

To be honest, Pim never believed we will beat Germany so decided to rest Kewell,Bresh etc. He played defensive to try and minimise the damage in regards to score major fail.

He has always considered Ghana and Serbia as the games we need to win, so kewell and bresh will play no doubt he was just saving them. Easy as that, if we can't beat the two of these teams we don't deserve to go through.

@md_ - Love the description. Its amazing how quickly the media turned... I think Pim made a mistake in his tactics and personnel against germany, but lets put this in perspective. the germans have looked the best of all the teams to play so far... spain lost, italy drew, the dutch looked unconvincing, argentina looked good for the first 30 mins and then faded out, the french drew, and the english were held to a draw with a team that ran us off the park... why couldnt we have ended up in a group with algeria, greece and honduras???

=d> =d> =d> =d> =d> =d> Great post. I realise now why Football was a rotting corpse of a sport for decades. All these negative, unrealistic, arm chair experts were running it. All right the team had a shocker. Get over it!!

And another thing. How dare the SBS royalty accuse our team of being boring. You blokes would send a carton of Reb Bull to sleep.

Football will never get any traction in Australia while His Royal Dullness Les Murray and his old school soccer mates are presenting it!

Paul Kent is a Rugby League Jurno that the Telegraph sent to South Africa to right stories on the Cup. I think that says it all really!

Paul Kent is a Kent.

If the 'roos win against Ghana (I still honestly believe they will) and Kewell actually goes out on the field, what will people be writing about...

Who cares what the media are saying, focus on the job at hand. The media are doing there job by speculating and speaking shit, Kewell should do his job of playing football.

So it looks like Vinnie was disappointed at being subbed off, and Bresco was disappointed to be benched 90 mins, and they asked Pim about his decisions and he explained it and THEY ARE OK WITH IT.

And it looks like that was all it took for the press to start writing stories about "Discontent in the change room".

Well, if that's all there is to it, let's move on. Only 62 hours and 10 mins till kickoff against Ghana!!!

This whole is the Asian Cup all over again. Poor performance from the players, weird decisions from the coach, rumors of infighting, and the involvement of Graham Arnold - and now one (or more) of the players becoming overly defensive.

There IS something more going on - it was obvious last night and there is a history to back it up.

It's time for the football fans of this country to unite.

We were beaten by a great team, our tactics were poor and we paid the price.

It's not over by a long shot and we need to get positive and to show the media and all doubters that we are here to stay and not just here for the WC Circus.

We are football fans forever!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ErEk2720CA

One thing that should be clear about Pim is that he is a straight, honest talker. That is the Dutch way. It is in their culture. There is no sarcasm or mindgames, just honesty. It's honesty to the point where Australians can get offended (and have) but I'm convinced that if a player asked Pim why he was not put on the field he would have been given an honest, if not confronting, answer.

That is the beauty and also danger of appointing Dutch coaches. If you want someone who says what people want to hear then don't appoint someone who is Dutch.

Md - hat's off mate - you are right on the money. The non-football media are looking to put us down again. The champagne corks will be popping over at AFL house.

I do think the whole linching of the team and coach is counterproductive.

The players have been saying for a long time that they felt that Australians did not appreciate their efforts in qualifying for the World Cup and the Asian Cup. This would no doubt be fed by media reports but also them getting a sniff of what people like us are saying on the web.

Is this a good thing? Are we unappreciative, given that our team is just the sum of its parts and we can't make them better than they are?

Looks like Harry was after Cockerill's hide. I didn't notice his quotes on any Fox report.

http://www.smh.com.au/world-cup-2010/world-cup-news/livid-kewell-demands-fairfax-football-writer-shows-himself-20100617-ygtl.html?autostart=1



Australian football has a propensity to self harm like no enemy could hope to achieve in a lifetime.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

what would have been the point of risking Harry when the game was lost in the first half hour?

precisely.

Considering the A-league is literally ignored by the press, we should be happy that the game is focused on us. Who cares what they are saying the tabloid press just get on with the job. Best way to respond to criticism is to win.

Maybe it's just part and parcel of Australia evolving as a football nation?

Just look at the hammering the UK players get from press and public.

Or then take a look at what the Spanish papers and fans are saying right now, not to mention Italy, France, and any other team that hasn't lived up to expectations (yet).

There will always be reporters looking for sensational stories, there will always be fans who know better than the coach, etc. If there are more of these people than 4 years ago in Australian, maybe that's a good thing.

It could've been 4-0 whichever way Pim played it. Pim took a gamble on the way to most likely get a point and we almost caught them while they worked it out.

Let's not forget that the 23 man squad is the best we have and within that 23 there isn't anyone (outside of Cahill, Emerton and Schwarzer) that aren't easily replaceable with someone else. We don't have any "world class" strikers or centre halves. Lets make the most of being there and get behind them as they give it a shake.

Cockerill >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> daylight>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> anyone on this forum.

I find it hilarious that Sydney FC fans in particular have some sort of vendetta against the game (particularly their team).

Mike Cockerill has been, and remains, the #1 football journo in the country by lightyears.


Trax -
"@md_ - Love the description. Its amazing how quickly the media turned..."

True - only the 'fans' (bandwagoning "I told you so brigade) turned quicker.

thanks for that, mike.

There is a huge gulf between public expectation and reality.

The mainstream press writes for the unwashed masses who think the Sokkah World Cup is a quaint little event held every 4 years. They think that by Australia qualifying we should win it. The mainstream press then perpetuates this by writing crap articles with a hidden "hate" of the sport. When Australia comes up short, the knives come out.

The reality is that we are merely a minnow in this sport with about two dozen teams better than us. The group we are in is a tough group and our first game was against a team playing good football, we got dudded a penalty call and a dubious send off and things just went downhill after that. Looking at the other games, I think Germany will be at least a semi-finalist if not winner of the gold blob.

Looking at the other top sides. They are battling for draws and narrow one goal wins against probably easier opponents than Australia.

Pim's tactics in the first game was probably to limit the damage (at least I hope and he did not have a fucking mental breakdown). It backfired. He didn't play Harry, Marco or Jesus, because, well, there was no point risking these players for nothing to be gained. Look at the players that did start and did come on as subs. You could see he wasn't trying to risk much.

I just hope we play our A-Team against Ghana in their preferred positions and they bring their A-game.

If they do we will have our confidence back for another Balkan opponent.

If not, well, the Australian press can continue sticking their knives in.

Edited by hotrod: 17/6/2010 11:15:20 AM

sugoibaka - Yeah, f*ckwit. Far be it from anyone to defend him in his absence.

And what's more - "where there's smoke, there's fire" is one of the stupidist, overused idioms in the history of the planet.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

My thoughts exactly!

Cockerill has some good inside contacts and gets some good scoops, but when he cannot get a story he clutches at straws. =d> =d>

His absense was the entire problem mate. It was yet another in a long line of ridiculous articles designed to make Mike Cockerill the story but then Iron Mike opts out of the Kewell presser and the chance to hear the subject of his malignant little story set the facts right. If you think that proper journalism mate, may I suggest Phil Rothfield and Rebecca Wilson as some others you might like.

I wouldn't call 'mainstream' media those screaming the loudest since the loss to Germany in calling for Pim's head, making ridiculous demands for Pim's coaching decisions to be "passed" by a board of former players, claiming team disharmony and looking to scapegoat a player that's not set foot on the pitch, all while competing in the WC finals and with the world's media watching on. They are in fact, football media, journalists and former players come part time commentators.

As I said before, we don't need others from outside the game to do the damage when we do it very well ourselves from inside.

Edited by skeptic: 17/6/2010 11:35:48 AM

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1071155

if you care to see a couple interviews with harry kewell. he is very calm.

look at his face when he's asked about being in a rift with the manager - total surprise. this is all a load of crap

Cockerill is an able and professional journalist. Just because he doesn't write what you want to hear doesn't mean that he is incompetent. MD, you comments are admirably articulated, but I simply don't agree with you about Cockerill. I am absolutely on the spot, however, with the problems with SBS. You only have to compare Les and co to the livewire format and presenters on Fox. I simply don't watch The World Game anymore.

I don't have sound on this PC - can anyone tell me what Cockerill is saying here>

http://www.smh.com.au/world-cup-2010/world-cup-news/livid-kewell-demands-fairfax-football-writer-show-himself-20100617-ygtl.html?autostart=1

Md - A sydney fan with an anti-cockerill agenda. You're a dime a dozen.

Gaz - Cockerill has made it as the country's best football reporter, you blog (poorly) on a site frequented by 16-yr-olds. Tall Poppy syndrome, much?

Moreover, I find it f*cking hilarious that everyone on here is taking offense that the Australia media are "sticking the knives in".

That's all people have been doing on here for the best part of the last two years!!

LOL.

Talk about hypocrisy.

IMO Les is, and will forever be Mr Football in this country, but i agree that Foster is losing it, especially his calls to sack the coach when Pim's contract ends soon. If we fire him now it will probably cost us hundreds of thousands. And the last thing we want to do is have a 'player revolt' as Foster suggested. Stick together!

Which is why having Kewell come out is exactly what was needed. Give the media a serving. I know the media couldn’t give a $hit.. if anything, it’s another story for them to write. But it does re-assure the public... and that’s what counts.

Just imagine if one of our Socceroos said what Andrew John's said the other week... Mainstream media would eat them alive.

Your ability to turn any topic on to Sydney FC is truly remarkable and slightly embarrassing for someone who claims to hate them so much.

Did Alex Brosque have a threesome with your mum and sister or something? Did some girl from Sydney break your heart?

You really are an unintelligible fuckwit of the highest order.


Edited by Keyser Söze: 17/6/2010 12:21:27 PM

The same Cockerill that wrote Fowler had signed for Sydney or the Gold Coast were pullling out of the comp?

I don't really know where to go with this one re: Kewell's mini outburst. I mean, heaven forbid if he was up against the English or Italian Press. And I know, I know, we are not at that level. But we bloody well should aspire to be. I think where there's smoke there is some fire and I think Pim's tactics rightful put some players off-guard.
I must say, to people who now want to turn on Foster for all the Socceros problems- what are you smoking? He's a passionate ex-player who always takes a greater perspective on how we play and he says the game wasn't good enough. Ok, he went a bit over the top with the panel overlooking the coach suggestion, but the FFA should take a long hard look at who takes the reigns after the cup. Because we only get 3-4 weeks to show the world what we're about, and I'm damn embarrassed and pissed off our ultra conservative coach decided on a pointless 4-6-0. As Fozzie said- it's unAustralian not to have a go. And by that I dont mean throwing 3 Strikers on, but playing with purpose and some form of offense.

I'm counting down the days till he goes to Morocco. It can't come soon enough. For me- Vinnie, Culina, Moore, Garcia out. Lets play Harry, Vidosic, Milligan and someone else. Lets have a bloody crack

Guus - hidduik great coach had Australia playing top quality football and out playing good oppisition

Verbeerk - prime example of how a shit coach can get the least out of professional footballers. As well as how to select a shocking line up with Moore as my witness

Cockerill wrote Fowler would be Sydney FCs next marquee - but Perth Glory outdid, and out-bid them.

He also broke the news that Nick Carle would be Circus FC's new marquee - and that happened.

Clive Palmer, and by extension, Gold Coast United were a Bee's dick away from pulling out of the comp, yes (you can choose to believe the PR spin to the contrary, if you like)

At least Cockerill is out there sourcing stories, coming up with the BIG exclusives.

Scoops he's got 'wrong' - >3
Scoops he's got right - 1000000000000000000000000



Alex Brosque would need a d*ck to do that, and we all know men from Sydney are sparse in that regard.

Case and point - You.
Maybe Being dickless has helped you become a giant c*nt. Who knows.

Who cares what the media is saying it is there job to discuss all things football whether you agree with it or not. Answer your critics on the pitch.
Maybe if we spent more time focusing on playing and less worrying about the media then we wouldn't have got hammered by Germany.

Ouch! Well you certainly showed me by stooping to question my manhood.

You are not even even able to admit to which club you support. Easier to sit and take pot shots at others. That's real hardcore.

No skin off Sydney's teeth if you want to continue to turn articles on Harry Kewell or the Socceroos into being about Sydney. We thank you for caring so much



Edited by Keyser Söze: 17/6/2010 01:16:01 PM

Yeah, I almost, AMOST stooped to your level of intellect.

It's actually an article on Mike Cockerill, and Sydney fans have claimed he's had a vandetta against them for years.

Like always, I'm here to show how f*cking retarded Sydney FC fans are (it's just so easy!)

Why is Harry and the team still allow to talk to the media? Surely they should be in lock down now concentrating on their training rather than worrying about what the press is writing about them! Another sign that Pim is a hopeless coach.

Why is Harry and the team still allow to talk to the media? Surely they should be in lock down now concentrating on their training rather than worrying about what the press is writing about them! Another sign that Pim is a hopeless coach.

I remember back in 2006, at this stage of the tournament, only the coach and captain made occasional press conference. The rest of the team were completely locked down.

Anyone...?

Nothing unexpected. Just that Harry has had a lot of unfair hype around him for too long and it's time for him to step up and prove that he is still the player that Australia need him to be.

He also said that he can't see any evidence of splits in the ranks and changeroom disunity.

Well doesn't that sort of prove that he was making up shit??? :shock:


Edited by GazGoldCoast: 17/6/2010 01:45:31 PM

Source to what?

As much as I hate defending him, Cockring isn't reporting on splits and arguments in the camp, that was someone else. He wrote an opinion piece that Harry needs to stand up and be counted as a footballer before a celebrity.

With respect, 'people' on here don't have the eyes of Australia or the world's media at the WC watching the knives being stuck in. To quote yourself, only those eyes "on a site frequented by 16-yr-olds"

Sorry, edited out that line after I wrote it. You are right. Harry wasn't calling Cockerill out for the talk about disunity but for his personal attack on Harry.

It's others who have been pusing the disunity line.

If Reason isn't annoying you enough, try this.

http://bit.ly/a5xbXG

Edited by md_: 17/6/2010 03:32:10 PM

It's also the "Dutch way" to have dissent in the dressing room at World Cups.

My wings are like a shield of steel

Jesus, "Reason" is the voice of idiocy once again.

Can this guy ever make an eloquent, accurate point?

has anyone ever heard the saying 'IT'S ONLY A GAME?' The complete over-reaction to our loss by both the fans and media has both amazed and disgusted me. I still can't believe that anyone thought we were a chance of getting any points off Germany. Our side, compared to others, is crap. End of story. We have no good strikers, and our defenders are either too old or too inexperienced. And anyone who says Viduka is the answer is an idiot, why would you play a player who hasn't played football for 1.5 years? There's no doubt that Verbeek could have handled this all better, but that's the way it is. I think everyone, including the players, is too focused on our qualification results, most of our games were played against Asian sides which are far from the world's best.

In all this debacle, one should not forget the excellent work by SBS to cover the World Cup,yet again.My 9 yr old daughter asked me why CH7 isnt showing the World Cup....there is NO excuse...CH7 and CH9 are are TOTAL disgrace...and FFA should ensure that if tey do ever want the rights to football, in 2013,that they PAY a very high price to have the PRIVILEGE....becaise football will be the No 1 sport in this country in 2013,the year we sign an FTA TV deal

True, but bear in mind that SBS is spending taxpayer money to do this. For mine, its a great use of taxpayer money to show the world cup. Their coverage (at least in the breaks between matches) is far from excellent though.