ON DECEMBER 6 2007 when Dutchman Pim Verbeek was unveiled as new Socceroos coach in front of a packed media contingent few would have thought his new side would qualify for the FIFA World Cup with two games to spare, let alone Verbeek himself. Perhaps more surprisingly though, is the criticism that has gone with it.
Pim Verbeek has never been shy of making the headlines during his reign as head-coach of Australia . The Dutchman caused plenty of controversy when he claimed just training with a European club was better than playing regularly in the A-League. Despite some agreeing with the 53-year-old, among them Jade North, Verbeek received criticism for his bleak assessment of the A-League from fans, neutrals and even A-League owners.
Credit where credit's due though, after the Dutchman slammed a Qatari journalist questioning the quality of the A-League. When asked why the A-League was "not so good" and "not so famous" a clearly annoyed Verbeek responded: "How do you know it's not good?" Verbeek replied. "Have you ever been to Australia? No, so you have no opinion. You've heard that from the media? Don't believe the media."
The jury's still out on the Socceroos inability in recent times to convincingly win matches, and Sunday morning's 0-0 stalemate did little to convince otherwise, but the fact is the Socceroos are going to South Africa and that's all that counts. Way back in February 2008 when the Socceroos were drawn in the group dubbed the "group of death" few would have imagined Australia being one of the first to qualify nor would many have thought Pim Verbeek's side would be constantly criticised for their "boring" style of play and lack of ability to emphatically win matches throughout such a successful campaign.
It is hard to agree with Verbeek on some points, but there's no denying he's done a good job in qualifying us for our second successive World Cup. Pim's side have even set a record or two along the way after not conceding a single goal during the second-round of qualifying.
Sure, there's a lot of improvement to be made, if Australia are to be competitive come the WC next year, and Pim would acknowledge that, but as of yet Verbeek has not received the credit he deserves nor has a Socceroos side that has often been missing key players through injury. FA Cup runner-up Tim Cahill is another frustrated with the lack of credit he and his teammates have received.
"That's the thing I can't understand, the expectation level always rises, and we want it to, but we also want focus on the positives," said Cahill, prior to the match against Qatar.
"I've not read anything positive about the manager [Verbeek], or really anything positive about the players and although, to an extent, we haven't spanked teams ... the situation we're in is a huge positive."
He's right too, as the Socceroos won more games up went the critic's expectation of Pim Verbeek's side playing the type of champaigne football displayed by Brazil and Argentina. For all the criticism that's gone Pim's way he has been fairly restrained, saying he's just happy to have qualified for the FIFA World Cup.
"I think the World Cup is the highest possible honour for any coach and any player," he said afterwards. "I'm already looking forward to going there, and so are all the players."
For now, it's celebration time - on a job extremely well done, enjoy it while you can because there's a lot of hard work to be done before South Africa next year, other than booking plane flights, arranging accommodation and buying tickets that is.
Man of the Match: Qasem Burhan
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North Queensland Fury yesterday had their first taste of A-League action Sunday night, going down 1-0 against Central Coast Mariners after a goal from Dejan Zxivkovic in the 23rd minute of the match.
