Australian Team News

Discussion in 'GROUP C: France, Peru, Denmark, Australia' started by almango, Dec 11, 2017.

  1. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Thought I would start a thread to let those interested know what is happening with Australia in the preparation for the World Cup. As the pot 4 team and probably the worst performed of the teams in qualifying we start as outsiders. Some news on key things

    Coach:

    The Australian team is currently without a coach and no plans to appoint one before February. The former coach, Ange Postecoglou introduced a new formation for the first World Cup qualifier in 2017 with a three man backline, two defensive midfielders, two attacking midfielders, one striker and two wing halves, and despite much criticism from the press and a significant portion of the fan base stuck with that as a basic formation throughout the year. What any new coach will do remains to be seen.

    We still don't know what the plan is for the appointment of a coach. We have three options, appoint a coach for Russia only, appoint a coach for Russia and the Asian Cup which will be held early next year, or appoint a long term coach for Russia and the next campaign.

    Players

    Not much news on the player front, except for the news that Tim Cahill has left Melbourne City as they aren't giving him enough game time. No announcement on a new club yet, but I doubt he has left Melbourne with nothing in the pipeline. Maybe the January transfer window will see him with a new club.

    Administration

    The FFA is currently in trouble with FIFA for not being democratic enough. A deadline passed a couple of weeks ago without any reform. There was talk that FIFA would sack the FFA and appoint a "normalisation committee" to oversee football in Australia until they impose a more democratic structure for us. The current plan is that a combined FIFA and AFC delegation will arrive to help us become more democratic. I'll leave others to comment on the irony of this, howevr we could end up with a FIFA committee appointing a new coach for us, or if the current FFA take legal action against FIFA we could get suspended and be out of the World Cup.
     
  2. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    Peru is also at risk for being dumped from world cup...first there was issues from the government (which appear to have been resolved) and now there is apparent issues from the union of players (unsure of actual details)


    Surely current FFA will not do anything that will jeopardise the WC
     
  3. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/...colari-for-world-cup-job-20171212-h03ja4.html

    The link is behind a paywall but I've posted a couple of sentences.

    "
    Australia have approached World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari about leading them to the 2018 tournament in Russia, the former Brazil and Portugal coach has told Reuters.
    Scolari, who recently ended a two-and-a-half year stint with a club side in China, said the Socceroos had spoken with his agent about him replacing Ange Postecoglou, who resigned in November.

    .....

    Scolari said he was happy to discuss a role with the Australians, but would want it to be long-term, not just for the June-July 2018 tournament."

    He went on to describe the long term as a year or two rather than just the World Cup so it could be a possibility for the World Cup and next years Asian Cup.
     
  4. Philip J. Fry

    Philip J. Fry Member+

    Mexico
    Jun 12, 2013
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Interesting...
     
  5. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
  6. thewitness

    thewitness Member

    Melbourne Victory, Derby County
    Australia
    Jul 10, 2013
    Club:
    Derby County FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
  7. jlarosa

    jlarosa Member

    Jan 14, 2009
    Miami Springs, FL
    Club:
    Alianza Lima
    Nat'l Team:
    Peru
    I'm actually surprised Australia does not have a coach yet, they have less then 7 months before the tournament starts.
     
  8. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    True, but no games until March. A coach will be appointed before then (I hope).
     
  9. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Australia will play Norway in a friendly on March 23 in Oslo. I suppose we will have appointed a coach before then
     
  10. jlarosa

    jlarosa Member

    Jan 14, 2009
    Miami Springs, FL
    Club:
    Alianza Lima
    Nat'l Team:
    Peru
    y'all should get a coach set up by February at the latest... cutting it close.
     
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  11. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Some articles in Colombian press saying that Australia will play Colombia in a friendly on March 27 in London. Nothing confirmed from this end yet, although it was rumoured that it was on the cards and negotiations were taking place.
     
  12. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    How close is Bielsa to the Australian job?

    He once famously turned down Peru (in 2014) because he said we did not have 20 quality players which he required in order to do the job properly.
     
  13. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Who knows. Lots of names have been mentioned but his is one that seems to have stayed around for a while. I'm sure a good paycheck will compensate him for our lack of 20 quality players, but then I guess Peru would have wanted him to make sure they qualify through South America and set bonuses accordingly. We would be reasonably happy with more points than 2014. Maybe we could get him on a 12 month contract that covers the next Asian Cup as well as the World Cup. I'm still not sure what the FFA wants to do. When we replaced out coach before the 2014 world cup we really needed to rebuild and needed a long term appointment. We have a squad with a reasonable mix of ages now so we can get away with a bit of short term focus for the next 12 months.
     
    condor11 repped this.
  14. HansWorldCup

    HansWorldCup Member

    Roma
    Sweden
    Jan 10, 2018
    Have Australia a better squad now if you compare it to Brazil 2014 ?
     
  15. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Better than 2014, but not as good as the 2006 and 2010 squads.
     
  16. HansWorldCup

    HansWorldCup Member

    Roma
    Sweden
    Jan 10, 2018
    Ok thanks!
    If you could choose Coach, who do you want?
     
  17. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Right now I would go for a local coach who knows the players. Its a bit different to 2005 when we appointed Hiddink. Very few of our players play in top leagues these days (as opposed to 2006) so a foreign coach wouldn't know our players very well and I suspect a big name overseas coach would try to fashion a team in his style rather than find the best style for the team. If we can sign a big name experienced coach for 4 years I would say great. I think Tony Popovic is still looking for a job so he would be a good local coach to sign. Being a Sydney fan I would rather Graham Arnold stayed at Sydney, at least until this campaign is over.
     
  18. ZelicMaestro

    ZelicMaestro Member

    Liverpool FC
    Australia
    Jan 16, 2018
    Bert Van Marwijk is looking increasingly likely to be appointed as Australian manager for the World Cup, according to local media reports.

    https://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/van-marwijk-firms-to-lead-socceroos-481224

    The plan seems to be to sign Van Marwijk to a short-team deal that takes him through to the end of Australia's involvement in the WC, with a local - probably Arnold - taking over in a long-term capacity after the tournament. Under this arrangement, Arnold would likely be Van Marwijk's senior assistant at the WC. None of this will be made official until mid-February, though.

    I think Van Marwijk would be a decent appointment, given his asking price will be less than Bielsa and some of the other overseas options that have been touted. He's coached at a WC before, and his experience managing Saudi Arabia in the qualifiers means he has some knowledge of the Australian squad, too.
     
  19. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Friendly against Colombia confirmed for March 27 at Craven Cottage London. Also Tim Cahill thinks we will have a coach announced in 10 days. I think Tim is still looking for a club.
     
    ZelicMaestro repped this.
  20. ZelicMaestro

    ZelicMaestro Member

    Liverpool FC
    Australia
    Jan 16, 2018
    Australia's coach for the World Cup appears to be down to a shortlist of two, with Jurgen Klinsmann joining Van Marwijk as a frontrunner.

    News Corp journalist David Davutovic - who gets pretty good mail on local football matters, including being the first to report that Ange Postecoglou would resign after the qualifiers - believes that Klinsmann is the preferred candidate among some of the key Football Federation Australia powerbrokers. However, Van Marwijk's lower wage demands may swing the decision his way.

    http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/f...n/news-story/51e162a9c64d93127a85d8cf94e6f5df

    Roberto Mancini's name has also been thrown about in some media outlets, but the general feeling seems to be that his asking price is too high. Bielsa looks to be out of the running.

    Graham Arnold will almost certainly take over as coach after Russia, with a contract to lead the side into next year's Asian Cup and the Qatar 2022 qualifiers.
     
  21. ZelicMaestro

    ZelicMaestro Member

    Liverpool FC
    Australia
    Jan 16, 2018
    On the playing front, there's bad news for Tommy Rogic, who's knee injury is likely to be keep out of the Celtic side until late March.

    https://www.foxsports.com.au/footba...s/news-story/863c8a4e3484264f29143ba99f2a2639

    Rogic hasn't been fit for a major tournament yet, missing both the 2014 World Cup and 2015 Asian Cup through injury. Fingers crossed he gets himself fit for Russia, as he is a unique - albeit inconsistent - talent who could thrive on the big stage.
     
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  22. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    If we are going short term (as appears likely) then of those mentioned I would go with Van Marwijk. He recently coached Saudi Arabia to World Cup Qualification in our group, so he has a very good idea of our players and the way we play. I'm sure he would be a better short term option than Klinsmann.
     
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  23. ZelicMaestro

    ZelicMaestro Member

    Liverpool FC
    Australia
    Jan 16, 2018
    I agree. I rate him as a better tactician, too, who sets his sides up to attempt to counter the opposition's strengths, with personnel and shape changing from match to match. We need a smart tactician if we are to have any chance of progressing from this group.

    I'm not convinced that Klinsmann - based on what I saw of the US in 2014 - has much of a Plan B. To his credit, though, his teams have always played a pretty entertaining brand.
     
  24. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    ZelicMaestro repped this.
  25. monere

    monere Guest

    While not necessarily a fan of Ange can someone explain while he resigned right after qualifying the Socceroos to the WC? It makes no sense
     

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