Versleijen, 55, finishes his contract with the Football Federation Australia this month.

The former West Asian and Dutch-based coach had a final get-together last week with those he’s worked closest with since starting his tenure in Australia in June, 2008.

The Dutchman had an over-arching role with the FFA but last month – at his prompting – the FFA restructured the job and split the coaching roles for the AIS and Joeys and Young Socceroos.

After an exhausting three and a half years in the development system Versleijen will take a break before heading to China to take on the role of head coach at Henan Jianye in the Chinese Super League.

 

You’ve had some strident critics, chiefly Craig Foster from SBS TV. How do you respond to what he’s said about your time in Australia?

It’s a little bit of a pity actually that people make those comments without actually knowing what’s going on. I have no problems with people criticizing but visit the games, visit the training sessions, talk to the coach. That’s not just for me but for all coaches. It will give you more insight into what’s actually what’s happening. And don’t make opinions based on TV screens. I don’t think that’s very professional.

FFA, over the next four years, want to become a top ten nation in a ‘football culture’ sense. What’s your take on this vision?

Of course you have to set your goals. And to set goals you have to know what you have to do to reach those goals. You have to have a plan. And what’s happening there the last five or six years there have been some big changes in football in Australia.

But I feel we need to play with our younger national teams more international games. Participating at a World Cup is on its own not good enough. I think people already take it as a given you qualify for a World Cup but I don’t think that’s the case.

Do we need to play more games at youth level against European and South American opposition?

Yeah, absolutely. There’s a lot of progress in youth football but I like to play against South Americans because they make you think. They make you make decisions in moments and they always challenge you. And as soon as they see any weakness in your team they’re going to penalise you.

If you play against European teams, they’re well organised, good structure; probably the challenge against them is to keep the pace and the concentration for 90 minutes. If you lose your concentration then straight away they penalize you. That kind of experience we need more.

A young player playing in the national team needs to play at least 10-15 good international games in a season. I think have benefited a lot from shifting into the AFC competitions that means you play more games and more against different opponents.

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