A win but no premature celebration

Harvey Keitel as The Wolf, one of the coolest cinematographic characters of all time (in my, Pulp Fiction-obsessed mind anyway), utters to the visibly relieved Vincent and Jules: “Gentlemen, let’s not start getting excited just yet”.

Actually, that’s not at all what he says, but this is a family website so slight modification was required. But the meaning stays – let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

On which score perhaps Frank Farina should have kept his own counsel after guiding the Sky Blues to a winning season opener. Rather than harping on all the negativity towards the club and its chances of success he could have simply pointed out that these are early days and there is no point worrying about what others think. 

As it stands, Farina has made a rod for his own back should the next few weeks be less successful than last Friday night.

To be fair, he is entitled to feeling somewhat pleased with himself after the twin horrors of preseason losses and injuries. Going into the final week’s preparation before hosting the Jets, it felt like déjà vu all over again, injuries and player unavailability robbing us of a number of good players and bringing the squad down to bare bones. So bare in fact that Paul Reid was dragooned to make up the numbers for Sydney’s 11 v 11 training sessions in the days prior to the season opener. He still looks good by the way.

Farina’s emotions were there for all to see, not just in post-match interviews but immediately after the full time whistle. Most of us in the 20,103-strong crowd joined him, equally relieved.

What was equally pleasing to see was Farina unload on a slightly out-of-position Pedj Bojic early on in the contest – clearly the coach is a man on a mission. I like it.

Bojic is made of stern stuff and he took heed, going on to play a starring role in his official Sydney debut. With Bojic and Marc Warren defending and bombing forward out wide, it appears we finally have “proper fullbacks”. And what a difference that made.

The entire backline deserves praise, Seb Ryall unbeatable and new signing Nicola Petkovic looking, dare I say it, Vidic-like. Faced with a Sydney shutout, the Jets found it difficult to threaten Vedran Janjetovic’s goal. The keeper himself played well, his calm assurance between the sticks giving his defenders the confidence on which they thrived. May he remain injury-free the rest of the season.

Matt Thompson? Huh? What? Apparently washed up at Heart and signing Sky Blue forms a couple of hours prior to kickoff, the thirty one year old rolled back the years with a complete midfield performance while Ali Abbas showed class and the fight that sometimes eluded him last season.

Out wide Joel Chianese and Richard Garcia were quality, Chianese looking to put his own injury-ridden annus horibilis firmly behind him while it appears Garcia has not given up on a Socceroo recall. More on that later.

Of course, the little genius was all class. I disagree with those who say that Alessandro Del Piero was the difference between the sides as I felt we dominated most of the contest whether he was on the ball or not. But what the Italian master offers is unparalleled poise, time on the ball and the ability to mesmerise. He copped his share of kicks but got up enough times to score a gem and set up Chianese’s final nail in the Jets’ coffin.

If there was one man who was the difference between the sides it was Nicky Carle. We all know about his vast array of skills and tricks but the dazzling number 10 of seasons past has reinvented himself as a hardworking defensive midfielder with graft added to his art. He won possession time and again and launched countless attacks.

Farina described Carle’s game as not entirely that of a Number 6 but floating to 8 and 10 on occasions. The flexibility suits Carle and hopefully we will see the absolute best of the nuggety ball wizard. The man himself looks his fittest in years.

The preseason was spent perfecting a new, possession-based style and while we are nowhere near the finished article, the early signs are that we are going to be hard to dispossess and hard to penetrate at the back. There were fewer misplaced passes than in recent seasons, leading to the defence being less overworked and thus fresher when it mattered. Attack may not always be the best form of defence but a decent possession game certainly helps take the pressure off.

The right-sided combination of Bojic and Chianese worked a treat. So did the left of Warren and Abbas/Garcia/Del Piero - take your pick, they all found themselves on the left at one stage or another. Good early signs.

The visitors, in truth, had little to offer. Bojic had starlet Craig Goodwin in his pocket, the talented winger doing more tracking back than threatening while up front Emile Heskey’s punch was sorely missed. Josh Brillante and James Brown had a brief impact after replacing James Virgili and the hapless Zenon Caravella but in all, despite some respectable possession stats, the visitors never truly threatened Janjetovic’s goal.

With Hagi Gligor and Brett Emerton available for selection, Yairo Yau back from CONCACAF qualifiers and Rhyan Grant with another week’s football under his belt, Farina will have a pleasant selection headache or two.

My view is that Thompson, injury replacement though he may be, has done more than enough to hold his starting position. Emerton, Abbas or Grant for the third midfield spot? It’s a tough call.

Suncorp is a notoriously unhappy hunting ground for us but looking at the positives, Brisbane struggled against an understrength Phoenix despite ending up on top and may not be the finished article themselves. I believe he have a decent chance of what would be an upset win. I'll settle for a draw.

No Sydney fan is getting carried away with Friday night’s victory. There is still much work to do at Macquarie Park and we the fans have learnt not to get our hopes up. But it’s a damn good start.

So on to the Socceroo debacle and the understandable punting of Holger Osieck. It must be said that if management wants to fire an underperforming employee, they give him an insurmountable task and watch him fail, giving the powers that be all the excuse they need to show him the door.

Brance 12-Australia 0.

Auf Wiedersehen and thanks for coming.

The slide has been on for some time now, the boys only regrouping for the last three World Cup qualifiers to bring it home and take us to Brazil. Insipid performances by senior Socceroos have meant that leadership-by-example of days gone by was sadly lacking.

Osieck’s main fault was in not rejuvenating the side post-Asian Cup final, choosing to rest on his laurels rather than bringing in youth to freshen up the side. The German’s tendency to gamble on experienced mediocrity has seen him pay the price, and no doubt squad purges are to follow.

Surely time has come to impart the confidence afforded by an extended run in the side to Ryan, Langerak, Holland (and not, criminally, at rightback), Herd, Williams, Davidson, Inman, Goodwin, McGowan, Leckie, Rukavytsia  and Vidosic. Plus Rogic and Sarota when they are healthy .

Is it worth giving international fence-sitting Liverpool reserve leftback Brad Smith another call? You bet. 

Not all have to be young players, with the Osieck regime’s pariahs Eddy Bosnar, Carle and Josh Rose all a chance for Rio. In my view all three have something to offer the rejuvenated Socceroo squad, if only for the next nine months.

While the A-League is at an all-time-high, the Socceroos remain our most visible football team, both here and abroad. If we want another Golden Generation we must give youth a chance to become the new Kewells, Cahills and Neills. For that they need games. And a coach who believes in them.

Eight years ago Frank Lowy made a tough call that a few short months later gave us our finest football memories.

We must, again, have a team that all Australia can be proud of. For it is the only sporting team that represents our country in its entirety and connects it with the world.

The pressure is on. The FFA must get it right. We, the fans, are counting on it.