http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/226592,versleijens-parting-message.aspx


Thought this article might be topical for Performance section.

true about the 8-14 group, 9 years old here play like 7 yeard olds and thats the good players.

I start looking at Argentina for training purposes and this bloke says more games against South American opposition. is he reading my posts.:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Johnny Warren was saying it a decade ago. No to Asia, yes to South America.

FYI Benjamin JW had been saying it over 30years ago.( Know you wern't here then
:d :d )

I actually think Asia interaction is fundamental in the improvement of youth football in Australia.
Not sure if it is racism or fear of the yellow peril but Australia as a whole feel that Asia is not an opportunity in the development of young players.
I think it is and why look a gift horse in the mouth.
As for south america i think it is way cheaper for us to get game time against quality opposition than going to Europe.+ if we go to Europe we are lucky to play against their B team where as in south America they field the best they have.



Edited by krones3: 14/12/2011 09:19:02 AM

Just a couple of quotes that seem to reflect his opinion that more work and investment in the grassroots needs to be done to improve the overal standard.

Also interesting that he sees the FFA has a top down approach which most would agree with. While many of us beleieve a bottom up approach particularly in youth development would provide more benefits in terms of better technical players longer term.

I'm sure he was - but for me the key period in the history of football in this country was the '98-'02 cycle, the failure to get to world cups, the collapse of Soccer Australia, the commissioning of the Crawford Report, and of course my arrival in Oz. This was the time for making the key changes - and unfortunately a lot of the changes weren't made, sacrificed for commercial gain (ie/ we went to Asia for the easier path to the World Cup, rather than to South America for the improved development, we structured the league to chase places and success in the ACL, rather than structuring it to be financially viable and to create greater opportunities for players, etc.)

So, Johnny saying it for 30 years isn't the key - Johnny talking about it ALL THE TIME during that key period, and being completely ignored by those who took power, is.

;)

Are you guys trying to say its more a benefit to go in the south american confederation rather than asia? im sure the economic benefits of asia weight for more greater than in South America

Also you would think the travel and the competitve nature of the south america would make it difficult too.

Also Asia is a improving confederation on and off the field.

But i do agree we need to play more south american countries than the european counter-parts as its a different mental challenge for our youth teams to face.

Edited by Barca4Life: 14/12/2011 12:07:13 PM

No happy to be in Asia. But what we lack is technical profeciency, while I admire the Dutch I also know that if our boys played against South American opposition on a more permant basis they would learn more. In Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina at youth ages they're more survivors, they suffer more, they have to mature earlier. They know that's their future. Over here our teenagers practice for fun.
It's a cultural enviroment that we cannot change in days but it is an enviroment that we need to have more contact with.

I'm not sure of the date but think it was the early 90's that SBS through Warren organised a youth match against Brazil at Marconi stadium. SBS promoted it the stadium was packed and it was great television. We need more of that.

Talk of buying a European Club as a point of entry for our players by the FFA might work out better buying into a Brazilian or Argentinian Club.

Edited by Arthur: 14/12/2011 02:11:24 PM

I think the Dutch fit is best for us.

It is the world's top football methodology with the closest cultural similarities to Australia, probably along with the French.

We can never replicate the street football culture of South America.

....though your opinion is just an opinion, and you can't be criticised for that, in the context of this topic, it fairly light weighted ... in comparison to JW's that is.

Re: Netherlands having the World's top methodology? Says who? I've never heard anyone ever say there is one top method. Unless you've coached/managed professionally and have a sound understanding of all methods, you just can't make the statement.

Re: Replicating street football culture:

I would contend the progressive incline of futsal is replicating this - in fact it would be an excellent example of "replicate" in a dictionary.



Edited by JuveJuve: 14/12/2011 03:58:39 PM

The Dutch system is much much better than no system.
What the Dutch have introduced is a system that has a path that gives a result. To me this makes common sense. If the result is not the desired one you follow the path make small changes observe the out come.
Is this not the logical steps we all take in our daily living?

What we had before was at best add hock and if the result was good it was impossible to duplicate because the path was unclear.

As for coaching fees most clubs are paying for them and although i find this very distasteful, for the good of the game i am willing to accept it.

As for futsal the problem is now that the ugly parents get involved and ladders are introduced, that is nothing like street football.

Edited by krones3: 14/12/2011 04:19:49 PM

Touche.=d>

A point made by Versleijen is practice matches against South American teams is an important step for Australia as a precursor to big tournaments.

I think it is a good one.

They are technically superb and also have street smarts from playing against each other all the time.

Excellent point.

Do we need to play more games at youth level against European and South American opposition?

Yeah, absolutely. There’s a lot of progress in youth football but I like to play against South Americans because they make you think. They make you make decisions in moments and they always challenge you. And as soon as they see any weakness in your team they’re going to penalise you.

If you play against European teams, they’re well organised, good structure; probably the challenge against them is to keep the pace and the concentration for 90 minutes. If you lose your concentration then straight away they penalize you. That kind of experience we need more.

A young player playing in the national team needs to play at least 10-15 good international games in a season. I think have benefited a lot from shifting into the AFC competitions that means you play more games and more against different opponents.




Interesting Versleijen's preference for South American opponents over European ones.

The thinking/game sense of South American opponents being admired.

Edited by Decentric: 15/12/2011 03:28:53 PM

I think I could even make an agruement to suggest his advice is still ignored.

In compared to JW's persona in the standing of the game - yes.

On the other hand is it realistic that in Australia we can ever have kids playing street football for 6 hours per day to choose from for organised elite football?

That is the basis of South American coaching. Having footballers who have essentially developed on the street. I'm not sure of the success of South American coaches beyond their shores? However, I have read that Japan's methodology is based on Brazil's, probably from Craig Foster.


Netherlands, France and Italy's methodologies, along with Brazil's, are most sought after as preferred coaching modules in other countries. I've read this repeatedly, but I can't remember where. As we've established , I would probably lump KNVB into a category as one of a few top contemporary European practices.

Given Italy has been renowned for defensive and counter attacking football, which supposedly doesn't suit our national psyche, that doesn't leave too many others does it?

I think our style of football we want to play would be suited to say a blend of german and dutch characteristics, its not just the physicalities which are similar but the way we want to play our football or sport in general would be similiar to say of a germany or a holland you would think?

I dont think in a country that australia is of today that street football would be suited to us, the demograhics of a say australia would be similar to our european counterparts which a large focus on SSF and a small element of futsal would be ok for us you would think?

Although i think we need to play more games against South American opposition as they offer a different kind of test in many ways, also you would the costs involved would have a bearing, you would think the finances of the FFA are not as deep as we think too so to actual do this it wouldnt be easy.





Edited by Barca4Life: 15/12/2011 08:12:56 PM

Edited by Barca4Life: 15/12/2011 08:13:10 PM

Edited by Barca4Life: 15/12/2011 08:13:52 PM

A 442 exclusive: Decentric in pro-Dutch shocker! :lol:

They haven't done too well in Europe as far as I know although Pellegrini has had success in Spain recently. FWIW Tim Vickery says that Brazilian coaches such as Scolari like to act as a father figure type which doesn't go down well in Europe especially with players generally coming from multiple nationalities.



Edited by Arosina: 15/12/2011 11:57:14 PM

This man from Holland says Australia need to play more South America games? He confuse me, I thought Australia fight long and hard to get to Asia?