Where's the improvement gonna come from?

[Westy_Boy]

Just analysing the squad after today's loss, and unlike the 1997 team (where Kewell was only 19, and you could easily replace hacks like Slater, Arnold and Tobin) I just don't see how the team in 2005 will be a better side/ more likely chance to qualify.

I understand that 4 years is a bloody long time, but still;

All these players will be 32 and older:

Bosnich/Schwarzer/Kalac
Zelic
Vidmar
Murphy
Muscat
Popovic
Corica
Lazaridis
Tiatto
Okon

It's fairly reasonable to assume that a fair few of these blokes will retire from international football.

Other than Viduka (he'll be 30 too), Kewell and Emerton, I just can't see us having the quality and depth to, first qualify, and then actually be competitive if we get there.

Hope there's a batch of absolute guns in the 18-22 age bracket coming through...

 

[daicos4ever]

Bad news, there's nobody coming through

 

[Eagle_Fan]

Didn't both the under 21 and under 16 teams do well (relatively speaking) in their respective world championships? Surely there's something to look forward to in that?


And if all else fails there's always QT to the rescue....

 

[Westy_Boy]

I was afraid of that, D4E.

I just checked out a website with the team lists from the Olyroos squad in 2000 though ... we've got a few ok youngsters like Colosimo, Laybutt, Burns and Culina who could develop into good quality players over time, but 1- there's not enough of them; and 2- none of them really look like being world class prospects. That's what we were lacking today, and that's what we'll be lacking in for four years time if it keeps up at this rate. I hope I'm wrong.

Come to think of it, the Joeys made the final of the under 17's cup only two years ago (I think).... where are they all?

 

[The Hitman]

I have an idea...






















































...Clayton Zane...

















































...I think I feel sick...

The Hitman

 

[GOALden Hawk]

What about Mark Byrnes....wasn't he supposed to be a bit of a gun?

Have to agree Westy Boy...I can't see this side getting much better over the next 4 years. Realistically, our best chance of improvement will come not from the players, but a change in the qualifying process so we are put in a group stage.

 

[clucas91]

Yep,

There are absolutely no youngsters coming through.
The Under 17's DID make the World Cup final and lost on penalties to Brazil, but the Under 17's had the same problem as the full senior side, not enough goals scored, they actually got to the final I believe with a lot of 0-0 stalemates or 1-0 wins, with most of their goals coming from set-pieces (like the senior side), think about it WE CANNOT SCORE GOALS! Yes, you COULD argue that we scored 70+ goals in our qualifying campaign but that was against poor opposition.

Remember against France most recently, scored from a set-piece.
Our only goal against the Uruguayans was a penalty...!
Drop Viduka, Drop Kewell and select the side that flogged all of those poor defenceless Pacific nations, then you get a side that plays together enough to know how to score them from distance! (anyone else notice that we never actually have attempts on goal from outside the 18 yard box? Kewell scores all the time for Leeds from outside the box! Long shots etc. And Viduka! when playing for Australia, just never keeps the ball! He just offloads it! When he plays for Leeds, he keeps the ball and uses his sheer size to score goals! Not for Australia however.

 

[Top Dog]

Originally posted by GOALden Hawk
What about Mark Byrnes....wasn't he supposed to be a bit of a gun?

Have to agree Westy Boy...I can't see this side getting much better over the next 4 years. Realistically, our best chance of improvement will come not from the players, but a change in the qualifying process so we are put in a group stage.

Byrnes ....... He will be playing for the Socceroos is the not to distant future

Do we have any hope of being put in the Asian qualifying group?

 

[Chris_23]

How about a merger?

 

[CJH]

A piece in the Hun this morning about where the next generation are going to come from...

They list the likes of:

Marco Bresciano
Mile Sterjovski
Clayton Zane
John Aloisi
Lucas Neill
Hayden Foxe
Scott Chipperfield
Michael Petkovic

Players who weren't first team choices this time around.

Sadly, many of these players appear only as names, with only a handful playing in the major leagues.

Nonetheless, if they are able to play together often, they may well blend into a good team - having the likes of Kewell and Viduka didn't really do a lot to help us qualify, not withstanding that Harry was possibly our best player.

What I think we should also be doing is playing more friendly games against European countries in Europe. Soccer Australia likes to drag teams like France and Manchester United to tackle the Socceroos, but these smack more of money making marketing ventures rather than any real serious attempt to better soccer in this nation.

 

[QT]

Originally posted by Eagle_Fan


And if all else fails there's always QT to the rescue....

Listen to this girl...she knows her stuff

 

[QT]

Bresciano will surely be in the next qualifying campaign....what about Mcdonald (I think thats his name) from Southhampton?

Lucas Neill is a class act with plenty of improv to come...plus Nicky Rizzo!

The Kid's a gun if you give him an opportunity

 

[Westy_Boy]

Originally posted by QT

...plus Nicky Rizzo!

Whatever happened to him?

I remember he was at Liverpool (?) a couple of years ago, but transfered to some crappy club, and then busted his leg.... haven't heard of him since.

 

[Westy_Boy]

Originally posted by CJH
A piece in the Hun this morning about where the next generation are going to come from...

They list the likes of:

Marco Bresciano
Mile Sterjovski
Clayton Zane
John Aloisi
Lucas Neill
Hayden Foxe
Scott Chipperfield
Michael Petkovic

Players who weren't first team choices this time around.

Sadly, many of these players appear only as names, with only a handful playing in the major leagues.

Spot on CJH ... that's what it comes down to, i think.

How the team is going to improve relatively is the most important thing to consider .... if most of those these young blokes are getting a game in the top leagues in Europe in 4 years time, then we might be ok .... but if they don't do anything and remain in Norwegian standard leagues, we're in trouble.

In this campaign we had a lot of English First division players who just weren't up to it when it came to the crunch. Hopefully next time the Dario Silvas of this world will be coming up against players of Seria A or Premier league standard instead.