THE DEBATE over whether Jason Culina’s move to the A-League will harm his international career was raised again last week.
This time by national coach Pim Verbeek himself, who claimed Culina was "putting his jersey at risk." This seems strange since last month Pim endorsed the move, but then it wouldn't be the first time we've had double-messages sent out from Socceroos HQ.
There's no argument that Jason's move is a risk, but any player moving clubs is risky; especially when it's 12 months before a major tournament. Grella's move to Blackburn was a risk. Kewell to Galatasaray was a risk. Wilkshire's transfer to Moscow was a major risk. Only through luck have these moves not signalled the beginning of the end for these players the way Paul Okon's and Frank Juric's careers were blighted by a series of bad career choices.
There seem to be three main arguments against Culina playing in the A-League. He won't play enough games, the standard of opposition won't be high enough, and the training intensity will be insufficient.
The first argument is ruled out pretty easily. Culina will, barring injury, play 27 games of regular season football next season plus maybe 5 pre-season games and (hopefully) at least 2 finals matches. He'll also be likely to be picked for any Asian Cup qualifier matches and other international friendlies arranged for locally based players. He's played a comparable number of games at PSV per season due to being in and out of the side, and indeed many have been out of position. And aside from that, the last 3 World Cups have, according to technical reports produced by FIFA, been marred by tiredness and exhaustion of star players after arduously long club campaigns in Europe and South America. An abbreviated season might actually be a positive for Jason.
As for the standard of opposition Culina will face in the A-League, I think it's far less of an issue than what many make it out to be. The A-League is *not* a great standard of football. It's comparable with League One or League Two in England at best (2 or 3 tiers below the EPL). It's probably also comparable with the second division of Holland, Belgium or Scotland and quite comparable to some of the smaller leagues in Europe. But it is definitely nowhere near as tough as playing for PSV Eindhoven, Blackburn or even Crystal Palace.
Fortunately for Culina, his playing position largely overcomes this possible negative. As a box-to-box midfielder, Culina will be the driving force behind his team and largely working hard irrespective of his opponents. A striker is only as good as his supply lets him be, a defender is only as good as his opposition striker allows him to be, but the better Culina plays, the better his team becomes. There is no restriction on how he applies his abilities.
Also, in regard to direct opponents, Jason will most likely face the defensive abilities of Kevin Muscat, Danny Tiatto, Paul Reid and Jon McKain amongst others. Sure they're not Claude Makelele or Lassana Diarra, but they're pretty tough opponents that'll be sure to keep Culina honest.
The final argument against Culina's move is possibly the most valid one, and the one Pim was alluding to. A-League training regimes are simply not as good as they are in Europe. This is possibly the single biggest problem with the competition.
Players aren't being trained hard enough physically nor are they being taught adequately the skills and tactical awareness required to be a top-line international player. Overcoming this will largely be in Culina's own hands.
He's had enough experience to know how he should be performing and what it takes to be a top line footballer. All he has to do is show enough dedication and commitment to not let this fall away in the short period of time he'll be away from Europe.
The final say on whether or not Culina's move pays off lies squarely with the man himself (and certainly not with Clive Palmer, whose defence on an issue of football is about as solid as his defending a workers' union). If he works hard and commits fully to his Socceroos ambitions as well as his ambitions for GC Utd, he won't fail. And everything he's said so far indicates that will firmly be the case.
