If Harry Kewell and the Socceroos are to make it to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, they should follow our “Five Step Guide To World Cup Qualification”
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We’re almost halfway along the road to South Africa 2010.
There’s plenty of petrol left in the tank, we’ve hardly hit a bump during the trip so far and Mrs. Verbeek has packed our lunch (mmm… Gouda!). But on the horizon dark clouds form.
Before we can even think about booking that safari side-tour in July 2010, the Socceroos will have to progress through a plucky, under-rated group featuring Bahrain, Qatar, Uzbekistan and familiar foe, Japan.
Fear isn’t the right word: we can match it with Japan and, on paper, we’re better than the other teams.
However, this group still throws up some difficult situations. If the team is to make it to its third World Cup finals, it could do a lot worse than follow our five step plan to South Africa 2010.
STEP ONE
Negotiate a tricky away day to Uzbekistan
When the Olyroos came home from North Korea late last year with the point they needed to cement their place at the Beijing games, the FFA’s coaching staff might have been forgiven for thinking they had seen the worst Asia was able to serve up.
Travelling to the heavily regimented North Korean state, the Olyroos were faced with primitive amenities, a crowd decked out in 1950s military garb and snow on the artificial pitch minutes before kick-off.
It was a deeply foreign experience that rattled the team, as the players struggled to settle at any time during the match.
Since joining the AFC in 2006, the Olyroos and Socceroos have crisscrossed the Middle Eastern deserts, they’ve sweated in South-East Asian humidity, and they have passed this North Korean test.
But now, the final qualification draw has thrown up one more surprise.
Uzbekistan, central Asia’s northernmost post, represents another of the AFC’s many frontiers: a country less than half the area of New South Wales but with a population of close to 30 million.
The country’s football team is the most successful of the five former Soviet states found on the border between Europe and Asia to have joined the AFC.
Only extreme injustice prevented the side from reaching Germany 2006. A 1-0 home win against Bahrain was cruelly ordered to be replayed after the Japanese referee erred and the Uzbeks crashed out in the resulting match.
With rich resources in natural gas, gold and cotton, Uzbekistan threatens to become Asia’s “little Russia”.
Russia has started making Europe glance ominously eastwards in recent years by converting their massive human and economic resources into football performance, highlighted by their excellent showing at Euro 2008. Australia had better be wary of the Uzbeks doing the same in Asia.
While Uzbekistan will struggle to ever be a contender at major tournaments until they produce more top-level players, getting the most out of their home advantage means the Uzbeks will always be in with a shout in qualifying.
The most ominous fact for the Socceroos ahead of this month’s clash though? The Uzbeks haven’t lost in a World Cup qualifier at home since 2001.
FourFourTwo Says
Two things work to our advantage with the Uzbekistan away leg. Firstly it’s one of the nearer Asian nations to Europe, so for the European-based Aussies, travel will be less of a factor. Secondly, there is still time to overcome a bad opener – a draw would be an excellent result, but with the entire campaign ahead of us, a loss wouldn’t mean the end of the world.
STEP TWO
Avoid A Slow Start
The football community welcomes the sport’s growing relevance to Australia’s mainstream, yet this migration also brings its share of negatives.
Australia’s players and coaching staff may understand the challenges posed by Qatar and Uzbekistan, but to the average Joe, accustomed to “Our” Steph Rice and the boys in the baggy green beating all comers, any slip-up against such nobodies is an embarrassing failure. This level of public expectation could pose a problem for the Socceroos in the coming group.
When the fixtures were announced, Australia’s were “back-loaded”. This means that for the majority of the group stage we will have a game in hand of the other teams. At the beginning of April, we will still have four games remaining, while the other four teams will only have three.
This could be regarded as a positive, a source of confidence in the early fixtures given that three of these final four matches are at home. If all we need is a draw from the final blockbuster against Japan for example, it would take a brave man to bet against us.
However, given Verbeek is still relatively unproven in the job, things could get nasty early for the Socceroos. Even if we were to get a valuable draw in Uzbekistan but then slip up against Qatar (home) or Bahrain (away), we would face Japan, away, in third or fourth place in the group. A draw in Japan – a good result in anyone’s books – would leave us languishing.
Remember the hailstorm of criticism Verbeek faced after writing off the home match against China with a rash of experimental, and ultimately poor, selections? If we’re sitting on anything less than five points when February rolls around, multiply that kind of criticism by ten.
With so much pressure on Verbeek and the players to take us to South Africa, will they be able to take advantage during those key final four fixtures?
FourFourTwo Says
At least six (although seven would be nice) points in the bank before we visit Japan in February 2009 would set us up very nicely. The last thing we want to be doing is playing catch up, especially with an untested coach and ill-informed mainstream media ready to put the boot in.
There’s plenty of petrol left in the tank, we’ve hardly hit a bump during the trip so far and Mrs. Verbeek has packed our lunch (mmm… Gouda!). But on the horizon dark clouds form.
Before we can even think about booking that safari side-tour in July 2010, the Socceroos will have to progress through a plucky, under-rated group featuring Bahrain, Qatar, Uzbekistan and familiar foe, Japan.
Fear isn’t the right word: we can match it with Japan and, on paper, we’re better than the other teams.
However, this group still throws up some difficult situations. If the team is to make it to its third World Cup finals, it could do a lot worse than follow our five step plan to South Africa 2010.
STEP ONE
Negotiate a tricky away day to Uzbekistan
When the Olyroos came home from North Korea late last year with the point they needed to cement their place at the Beijing games, the FFA’s coaching staff might have been forgiven for thinking they had seen the worst Asia was able to serve up.
Travelling to the heavily regimented North Korean state, the Olyroos were faced with primitive amenities, a crowd decked out in 1950s military garb and snow on the artificial pitch minutes before kick-off.
It was a deeply foreign experience that rattled the team, as the players struggled to settle at any time during the match.
Since joining the AFC in 2006, the Olyroos and Socceroos have crisscrossed the Middle Eastern deserts, they’ve sweated in South-East Asian humidity, and they have passed this North Korean test.
But now, the final qualification draw has thrown up one more surprise.
Uzbekistan, central Asia’s northernmost post, represents another of the AFC’s many frontiers: a country less than half the area of New South Wales but with a population of close to 30 million.
The country’s football team is the most successful of the five former Soviet states found on the border between Europe and Asia to have joined the AFC.
Only extreme injustice prevented the side from reaching Germany 2006. A 1-0 home win against Bahrain was cruelly ordered to be replayed after the Japanese referee erred and the Uzbeks crashed out in the resulting match.
With rich resources in natural gas, gold and cotton, Uzbekistan threatens to become Asia’s “little Russia”.
Russia has started making Europe glance ominously eastwards in recent years by converting their massive human and economic resources into football performance, highlighted by their excellent showing at Euro 2008. Australia had better be wary of the Uzbeks doing the same in Asia.
While Uzbekistan will struggle to ever be a contender at major tournaments until they produce more top-level players, getting the most out of their home advantage means the Uzbeks will always be in with a shout in qualifying.
The most ominous fact for the Socceroos ahead of this month’s clash though? The Uzbeks haven’t lost in a World Cup qualifier at home since 2001.
FourFourTwo Says
Two things work to our advantage with the Uzbekistan away leg. Firstly it’s one of the nearer Asian nations to Europe, so for the European-based Aussies, travel will be less of a factor. Secondly, there is still time to overcome a bad opener – a draw would be an excellent result, but with the entire campaign ahead of us, a loss wouldn’t mean the end of the world.
STEP TWO
Avoid A Slow Start
The football community welcomes the sport’s growing relevance to Australia’s mainstream, yet this migration also brings its share of negatives.
Australia’s players and coaching staff may understand the challenges posed by Qatar and Uzbekistan, but to the average Joe, accustomed to “Our” Steph Rice and the boys in the baggy green beating all comers, any slip-up against such nobodies is an embarrassing failure. This level of public expectation could pose a problem for the Socceroos in the coming group.
When the fixtures were announced, Australia’s were “back-loaded”. This means that for the majority of the group stage we will have a game in hand of the other teams. At the beginning of April, we will still have four games remaining, while the other four teams will only have three.
This could be regarded as a positive, a source of confidence in the early fixtures given that three of these final four matches are at home. If all we need is a draw from the final blockbuster against Japan for example, it would take a brave man to bet against us.
However, given Verbeek is still relatively unproven in the job, things could get nasty early for the Socceroos. Even if we were to get a valuable draw in Uzbekistan but then slip up against Qatar (home) or Bahrain (away), we would face Japan, away, in third or fourth place in the group. A draw in Japan – a good result in anyone’s books – would leave us languishing.
Remember the hailstorm of criticism Verbeek faced after writing off the home match against China with a rash of experimental, and ultimately poor, selections? If we’re sitting on anything less than five points when February rolls around, multiply that kind of criticism by ten.
With so much pressure on Verbeek and the players to take us to South Africa, will they be able to take advantage during those key final four fixtures?
FourFourTwo Says
At least six (although seven would be nice) points in the bank before we visit Japan in February 2009 would set us up very nicely. The last thing we want to be doing is playing catch up, especially with an untested coach and ill-informed mainstream media ready to put the boot in.
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