FOR CLUB or country, Socceroo captain Lucas Neill is constantly striving for perfection. So his qualification wish for the 2010 World Cup should come as no surprise – “five wins in five games”
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It seems Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek’s no-nonsense attitude is dripping down to his players.
Over the last ten months, we have become accustomed to the Dutchman’s “tell it like it is” approach to the game, with his bold statement that he’d rather pick players who were training in Europe than playing in Australia the most controversial.
But his players have always been a bit more circumspect when it comes to proclamations, even more so after the disappointing showing in the Asian Cup.
So when captain Lucas Neill – a thoughtful and respectful professional not prone to the sensational quote – tells us that he wants to see qualification to the World Cup “in the first five games”, the only logical explanation has to be that Verbeek’s influence is being felt as much mentally as it is on the pitch.
“We want to get to the World Cup as quick as possible,” Neill tells Australian FourFourTwo. “We need five wins and we want to do that in the first five games.”
It’s a bold statement – especially when you consider in order to achieve this we’d need victories against Bahrain, Japan and Uzbekistan – but it’s the tone in which it’s said that’s the most telling.
There’s a belief in Neill’s voice that it’s possible, and not just the usual “we’re going to do it for the lads/the country/the fans” bluster. It’s a statement backed up by results so far and from the obvious influence Verbeek has on his charges.
“We don’t want to leave anything to chance and we don’t want it to come down to needing to win games at the end to get through. We want to get it done as soon as possible. But of course things don’t always go to plan, so the more points we can accumulate now, the better we’ll be if we do experience a blip along the way.”
FFT caught up with the Socceroos captain the day after the wet and wild victory over Qatar in Brisbane to find out his thoughts on Pim’s influence, working with Gianfranco Zola and captaining club and country.
At the moment the Socceroos seem to be playing to a plan that’s working well.
I think that’s down to both Pim in how he plans and works with us before the game and also the
(continued on next page)
Over the last ten months, we have become accustomed to the Dutchman’s “tell it like it is” approach to the game, with his bold statement that he’d rather pick players who were training in Europe than playing in Australia the most controversial.
But his players have always been a bit more circumspect when it comes to proclamations, even more so after the disappointing showing in the Asian Cup.
So when captain Lucas Neill – a thoughtful and respectful professional not prone to the sensational quote – tells us that he wants to see qualification to the World Cup “in the first five games”, the only logical explanation has to be that Verbeek’s influence is being felt as much mentally as it is on the pitch.
“We want to get to the World Cup as quick as possible,” Neill tells Australian FourFourTwo. “We need five wins and we want to do that in the first five games.”
It’s a bold statement – especially when you consider in order to achieve this we’d need victories against Bahrain, Japan and Uzbekistan – but it’s the tone in which it’s said that’s the most telling.
There’s a belief in Neill’s voice that it’s possible, and not just the usual “we’re going to do it for the lads/the country/the fans” bluster. It’s a statement backed up by results so far and from the obvious influence Verbeek has on his charges.
“We don’t want to leave anything to chance and we don’t want it to come down to needing to win games at the end to get through. We want to get it done as soon as possible. But of course things don’t always go to plan, so the more points we can accumulate now, the better we’ll be if we do experience a blip along the way.”
FFT caught up with the Socceroos captain the day after the wet and wild victory over Qatar in Brisbane to find out his thoughts on Pim’s influence, working with Gianfranco Zola and captaining club and country.
At the moment the Socceroos seem to be playing to a plan that’s working well.
I think that’s down to both Pim in how he plans and works with us before the game and also the
(continued on next page)
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