A brilliant analysis. Couldn't have put it any better myself. I definitely think that expecations are too high at the moment. I think it's also worth mentioning that at the last world cup we only managed to win one game (I know we should have won against Croatia, but that's not the point)

I am hoping that Australia do well in the world cup, but I won't be too dissapointed if we bow out at the group stage. C'mon, there are plenty of nations who would love to just make the world cup finals, let alone win any games. To even qualify is a massive achievement which I think we should all be proud of.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo blog Managing Expectations?
 
If, like myself, you find yourself in the vicinity of the modern corporate workplace where bureaucracy, politicking, and corporate doublespeak are more important than getting things done, you ...

Have your say.

Edited by Dugongs: 27/5/2010 09:02:12 AM

Nice to see you've taken your angry pills lately, Dave.

Fair analysis all up. But this "heart of a lion" stuff! Come on. Based on our performance against NZ you could replace that with "heart of a Hyena" in the first half and "heart of a medium sized dog" in the second. The sooner we lose this idea of being 'brave ANZAC battlers' and start looking at the reality of our real place in the footballing world the better. EVERY country believes their players have the "hearts of lions" - well, every country with stuff-all chance of winning.

And this - "And with style! Forget about the fact that we’ve not got two quality strikers that can play together in anything resembling a coherent formation - we demand to play with attacking style and verve, even if our country excels at producing sturdy, defensive-minded players!"

We have strikers but not a manager who wishes to use them. I know you defend Pim and don't rate Scotty Mac but don't say we can't play with two when we've never been set up to do so.

And we don't excel in producing strudy defensive-minded players. Kennedy, Kewell, Scotty, Viduka, Carle, Carney, Emerton, Holman, Cahill, Bresc, Garcia, Chippers, Sterj....they may not all be world beaters but they all like to play attacking creative football. Our manager dopesn't. It's his call but it would have been interesting to see what sort of football we could have played with a different approach.

I don't expect us to get out of the groups stages but I'll be thrilled if we do. Our team has the capacity if things fall our way. Do we have the spark?

Oh - almost forgot. What's with all the England bashing? They have great players and a great team with a real chance this time around. I'll never understand the strange Aussie mentality of shitting on English teams while celebrating everyone else. Is there something so completely wrong with celebrating English football success?

Edited by Jessesdad: 27/5/2010 10:51:48 AM

"I'll never understand the strange Aussie mentality of shitting on English teams while celebrating everyone else. Is there something so completely wrong with celebrating English football success?"

Have you ever been to Scotland ?

Ha! :d No, but we don't actually live there either. Now, let's hear from the Irish....and....and...

good thing we've got jessesdad to negatively dissect this opinion piece - geeze

That's because we have been told that they are a blight on the game how shit they are by Uncle Les and Mr Football-Foster for so long.

On hubris, i think if we are ever going to be a competitive nation in this sport (and form in other sports suggest that we should be) then part of beginning this process is to talk big. Im not satified with being merely competitive against germany, i wanna kick their ass. im not satified with making the round of 16, i wanna win the bloody thing.

It's okay to make big demands, such as that made above, provided that the reality is understood. Where the big talk fits into this is that there is a need for improvement, and hence a desire to no longer be content with just being competitive and being glad that we just got into the world cup party.

It's interesting how the Australian footballing community's perceptions are currently falling in with the non-footballing NRL/AFL types. The broad consensus seems to be that we cannot match our brilliant 2006 feats, so therefore the whole 2010 World Cup is already a joke and a waste of time.

I can understand this attitude coming from an uninformed egg-baller, particularly because the 2010 lead-up lacks the excitement of making the WC for the first time in 32 years. But people who supposedly take an active interest in football need to stop and smell the roses.

As David says, we are at the World Cup! Again! And while I do hope we can beat Ghana, I'm not expecting a result against Serbia or Germany. If we do get through to the second round, brilliant! And if we get any further it's bloody fantastic! But if we go home after three games, so what?

All I ask is that our boys give it everything, the refereeing is not TOO bad, and Pim's tactics are not TOO constricting. And sure, that last issue is what many footballing people are focussing on right now.

Well, que sera sera. Pim's not gonna change, the squad is just about picked now, and all we can do is cross our fingers, sit back, get comfortable before the TV and ENJOY THE MOMENT!

If things go tits up, we can do the post-mortems later. Let's dare to dream.

Cheer up, Coverdale. FYI I'm a 442 blogger too and I've often commented on Dave's and other bloggers writing - just as they have mine. That is in fact why 442 asks people to write for it. On the whole I agree with what Dave says but where I disagree I guess I'm allowed to say so. I'm sorry it upset you.

Your analysis of "a pun-laden post-mortem of British(sic) failure" would sound a little more convincing if Australians hadn't spent the last four years bleating on about "diving Italians" cheating them out of the previous World Cup.

The expectations of English (not British you note) fans is that they might scrape through to the semis but they'll probably go out to the first decent team they meet in the knock-out stages. The tabloid press are the ones banging the "We're going to win it" drum.

Please try to seperate press opinions and public opinion. They are often at variance.

+1.

jessesdad wrote: Cheer up, Coverdale. FYI I'm a 442 blogger too and I've often commented on Dave's and other bloggers writing - just as they have mine. That is in fact why 442 asks people to write for it. On the whole I agree with what Dave says but where I disagree I guess I'm allowed to say so. I'm sorry it upset you.

No you didn't upset me at all. I know you're a blogger I read all of your blogs and have done for about a year now (I am a Reds fan too). Just thought you hammered him that's all.

p.s. i've only just decided to "join" but don't know how to respond directly to comments (ala nice grey "Coverdale wrote:" boxes :)

You actually have to go to the forum section of the website.
there's more conrols tehre...I was the same when i joined

+2.. Gets my vote... As the man says Enjoy the Moment people, at the very least it is going to be one hell of a ride for 3 games!!

looks good. thanks!

I'll just point out - I'm not 'English Bashing' at all. The article is about the difference between expectation (from the public via the press) and reality, and England is a classic example.

As for whether it's public opinion or just the press - well, I'm living and working here, so I have taken that into account :)

Welcome aboard the rough and tumble of the forums then, Coverdale! :d Nice to know someone reads my blogs. As for Dave, he's a good writer and has been around long enough to cope with my morning grumbles, I'm sure. Hey, he's a long-term Glory fan - those guys are tough!

:-k

Edited by Jessesdad: 27/5/2010 05:11:55 PM

Referring to England football fans as "the Barmy Army" hardly stands testament to your powers of observation.

Pedantic, but I'll pay you it... I'm sure England's cricket supporters will soon file a lawsuit about it.

As for that particular comment jessesdad, what do you want me to say? I support Australia, we enjoy a good rivalry with England - of course I'll laugh if they fail. :D

Mind you, i'm well aware their 'failure' by being ditched in the KO round would be considered a massive success for ourselves!

Especially if we're the team that does it!

^
exactly! :D


A couple of clarifications/admissions of utter blogfail though:

1) "heart of a lion" should have been in quotes - Hiddink's words, not mine :) Though he's completely right of course (though as pointed out, every nation thinks that... what else will they say? Hey, look at us- we have the heart of a mouse!)

2) I fell into the typical British/English trap. No, they're not the same. However, British football mediocrity is possibly still a fair description when you consider the perhaps traditionally-overrated/overhyped England are the best team ;) That said, as a side note and just to point out that I DO live here right now, there's a big politically-correct notion of 'getting behind britain' at the moment; as a way to show that all ethnic groups can be considered 'british'. This is causing various right-wing groups to come out, declaring THIS IS ENGLAND NOT BRITAIN etc etc. It's quite amusing actually - I've run away from AWOL FIFO utes and FUCK OFF WE'RE FULL bogans to walk into a bunch of chavs declaring THIS IS ENGLAND, NOT BRITAIN - IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT, FUCK OFF.




But I digress... :lol:

Just thought I'd add my own sentiments, even though I agree we should "keep ourselves in check and recognise our limitations and place", I also think there is room for hope, faith and dreams in any tournament.

Sure, we may not expect to win the cup at all but if football supporters of all people in Australia don't have hope, believe nor dream that this team could possibly make it to the second round, who will?