FFA smashed by Matildas boss Milicic over Australia's youth programs

Ante Milicic has smashed Australia's underage male programs as "not serious" as the Olyroos ready themselves for a qualifying tilt at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

The Matildas coach would know; he led both the under-23 and under-20 national sides last year at tournaments where Australia fell short of reaching qualifying goals.

"Our underage programs, they're not serious programs," he said

"They're not designed for qualification. Simple as that.

"When I look at the preparation that we give our teams compared to what the other Asian teams are getting, we have got no right to expect or to assume we will qualify for these major tournaments."

Milicic took the Matildas job last month off the back of his experience at international tournaments.

He was Ange Postecoglou's right-hand man at the 2014 World Cup, 2015 Asian Cup triumph and through the Socceroos' successful qualification for Russia 2018.

Milicic then took the under-23s, the Olympics age group, to the 2018 Asian Championship only to crash out at the group stage.

In October he steered the under-20s at their Asian Championship, with World Cup qualifying on the line.

In a must-win quarter-final with Saudi Arabia, Australia lost 3-1 to ensure a third-straight absence at the junior showpiece.

Those failures don't sit well with Milicic, who said the entire program needed more support.

"I'll take the blame and I'll take the responsibility," he said.

"But we've got to find a different way.

"Take the latest tournament ... the eventual winners were Saudi Arabia.

"In the last 12 months they played 17 games. We played one against a national team.

"So why do we expect to qualify? Based on what?"

Milicic's comments are similar to those of Graham Arnold, who will lead the Olyroos this weekend against Cambodia, Taiwan and South Korea.

Arnold said the rise of Asian football was "scary", arguing Australian football needed to "wake up" to progress made by continental rivals.

Milicic said local progress could come in one of two ways.

"You either got to have a league where players at that age are playing so much football at a high level or you have to invest in the program so that these teams are constantly getting good quality tours, games away from home," he said.

"At the moment, for our young ones, we do neither.

"Qatar won the Asian Cup. You know what? I'm happy for them.

"Because every time I went to Qatar their young ones are playing games.

"OK, they've got the backing but they've given their kids so many games from a young age against different styles, different formations, different cultures, different scenery, different conditions."

While Milicic despaired on the hopes of Australia's junior male teams, the good news is he's delighted with his "unbelievable" preparations as Matildas coach.

"I'm quite happy to be open and say this preparation I'm very happy with, I'm comfortable with," he said.


https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/ffa-smashed-by-matildas-boss-milicic-over-australia-s-youth-programs

The lack of funding is a big problem, prep for these teams is a major reason why they can't qualify on a consistent basis.

Its time to ditch the consultants and listen to the coaches. Ange battled and gave up. Arnie and now Ante are singing from the same hymn sheet. The money saved on the consultants can go towards helping the age based NT's.

It’s a fair point. We come across as very arrogant expecting to win all these matches at underage level with less prep than any other nation.

We've been saying it on this forum for a while, it's nothing but arrogance to think we can produce high quality players when they get less quality coaching, less game, less practice time growing up, and then less first team football when they become adults. Performing well in youth tournaments (and one day at NT level) has become the exception, not the rule.


The FFA's insipid leadership over a game they clearly don't understand or care about has lost us 10 years of development during an era where countries are developing at a faster pace than ever.

Agree, they first sounded positive, but they made a lot of decisions that put all that in a worse spot. I thought things would be positive 10 years ago, all of that has disappeared all together these past few years. 

Milicic is spot in and the comparison with Saudi Arabia is startling. This is not Asian football from 20 or 30 years ago. I estimate we are now barely in the top ten of mens football in Asia, and we are still in decline as many of our neighbours are ascending!  48 at the next World Cup might allow us to sneak in, if it’s five, we’re gonners!

The FFA have f***'ed football in the ass in this country. They have left a trail of destruction behind them since their inception that will have long-lasting, almost irreversible effects on the game here. 

Anyone who believes the installation of the FFA has been a good thing for the game clearly has no idea. 

We started in 2006 as one of the main teams in Asia but right now i struggle to think we are top 5 side let alone the best in the confed anymore at all levels not just seniors.

I say Japan, South Korea, Iran, and now Qatar are better and even the likes of Saudi Arabia and UAE can beat us on there good day too. (forgot about Vietnam too now who could be a thorn in the future).

The juniors are even worse and is starting to take effect now, 5 out of 14 world cups qualified is not a great look.

The only way I can see things changing is if we fail to qualify for the World Cup. 

The FFA pins everything on qualification. Fail to qualify and their whole business model goes up in flames. 

Yeah funding has a big part of it,but how many much poorer nations have better systems then us.Kids are not getting enough games in the Aleague and then you've got a mickey mouse youth league.Al these foreign technical directors were suppose to fix this did nothing.Listen to the coaches the players the fans etc.

I don't think this current squad is top 4 in Asia. Qatar, Japan, Iran and Korea are all stronger. We are in a very close battle with the likes of Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and in a couple years time i'd say Vietnam and China aswell.

We won't make the world cup unless they expand it for 2022

The FFA should not take all the blame. The  Aleague clubs are complicit in their failure to use the player resource they've had. From the beginning of the NYL there have been dozens of quality footballers who have been left to wither on the vine. You know who had the right idea, Clive Palmer, when he used his youth team in the HAL. This could've been the blueprint for the FFA to give our young NT players the week in week out senior football they need. Investment in our future instead of stagnation.

Unless we can rid our game of these managerial vermin;  aka the FFA and install real football men with passion not willing to sell their soul....we are going down titanic style....come to think of it...wasn’t she sabotaged......

I blame the system. But who is responsible for the system?

I’ve stated this before but the FFA are too focused on milking the HAL. It shouldn’t be their job and it needs to be split. Once split, the FFA can focus on the NTs and development. Right now, they have a split focus.

Too many bean counters at the top for the too long it has shown at youth and socceroos level.

As Tom Byer mentions real change starts at the grassroots, how asleep have the FFA been on that level?

If i was the new FFA TD it would be too naive to not ask someone of Tom Byer's expertise in grassroots development, not too sure if the FFA NC is enough for true change but we will see....

Well it appears the FFA might be seeing a sight of relief with the new format thanks to Infantino with the silly 48 teams.

Surely we will go through that regardless how poor we have been.

At the rate we are slipping, will we be in the top 8 in Asia? Struggling to be 5th or 6th now!

Our youth team events seem to be a group of players just thrown together and expected to deliver within 10 days. Add the occasional camp to look like they're doing something.

There is some time available to get the squads together more often but they don't do it. There seems to be a lack of planning and funding and all round professionalism from the FFA. 

Good, we have another top coach speaking out and one who has been involved the last few years.
I expect it will fall on deaf ears once again.
Apart from the obvious ie money, more competition our geography even more is telling.
Middle East/Asia is so much easier to travel to for visiting teams to play tournaments/trial games whereas we are that extra day to travel to and more depending where from.
Just as he quoted :
Take the latest tournament ... the eventual winners were Saudi Arabia."In the last 12 months they played 17 games. We played one against a national team.

We don't arrange enough practice games for the Roos, let alone our Joeys etc and home our Elite YL play bugger all.
Being involved in PL3 has a 28game season + trials before hand and Finals so on 36games.

But ,But,But we follow best practice methods from Australia(AFL & NRL) our elite teams dont need practice games for preparation.

You only have to look at the FFA Board Members and Senior Management Team to understand why nothing will improve. Bugger all real football experience. 
Most just in it for the bucks and their egos.

We have an international break this weekend, who are the Socceroos facing?

that we have, and in another thread that argument carries on about having Finals.
Yer ok our country has been brought up with it due the usual larger codes here, I accept that but FFS as we all know our code has the largest Ingternational tournament in the world + others to qualify for and those FFA donkeys know it and they have kept turning the tap off since 06 thinking we will keep qualifying for the return but now they are going to see we are going to keep struggling to qualify for anything from here on as has currently been occurring for our Youth, its a bomb waiting to explode regards the Socceroos.
Matildas now are our only hope giving us positive headlines and these donkeys next will milk this for all its worth and pour bugger all even at the levels where it needs to keep growing regards development.

So true Waz International break coming up, our boys who need every single chance playing together will be on hols lol........

If cost is such an issue for the FFA, would it not be possible to organise a round-robin friendly tournament with OFC nations (say NZU23's, Soloman Islands NT, New Caledonia NT & Tahiti NT) and another few matches against a select XI NPL(VIC) & NPL(NSW) sides? 

The point is these guys need matches to work through tactical scenarios in games and on their cohesion. Without it, they simply go into tournaments fumbling their way through to hopeful qualification. 

Even the cash-strapped Soccer Australia ensured our youth teams had enough practice games under their belts before sending them into a qualifying round or actual tournament. 

When the new FFA National KNVB curriculum came about and said results don't matter I knew we were screwed. Creating players without a winning mentality lol. When was this back in ~2011? People here have been saying wait and see, It's been 8 years now. Our NT is trash, our youth teams are too. Players still struggle to play out from the back under a press lol. 

I listened to the FFA forum and Luke Casserly said the current Joeys we first to go through most of the whole system, and underneath that 2004 age group went through it starting as 5-year-olds

I agree we have waited quite awhile for this new system to click in, this better come good otherwise we will be in deep trouble.

The current Joeys were all born in '02, so it's safe to say they have been through the entire programme from age 7 onwards. If they fail to live up to the hype in Brazil later this year (they were still dominated by Japan in last years AFC tournament), then we can put to rest the idea that the NC is some sort of panacea to our youth development woes. 

As I have noted in several other threads, the fact that our young players lack the intense training & match practice of their European, Latin American and even Asian counterparts compounds the issue of the NC's inability to deliver results. 

Although things like the NC is an idea for setting the right foundation when they get older, im also getting the feeling its becoming more apparent that it means little when it comes to the elite level where its about the environment of training and games played that really sets the standard.

Some of the coaches in the coalface involved mention the technical level of the current guys in the SAP leagues are similar to the level in Europe but when they hit about 13 and over then the level really jumps up and it becomes too late to catch up when they reach 16 or 17.

This should be paramount with the a-league academies as well as the second division where it should be an opportunity to have the best and coaches in system, right now its all over the place.  

That's exactly the point. This programme works really well until they reach the age where the club academies "should" be taking over and furthering their development in line with world's best practices. 

This isn't happening and we are seeing more often than not, players stagnating once they reach the age of 13+.

The elite clubs in this country do not have the right environment in place to allow these kids to develop into elite footballers.