There was a debate on wheather Craig Moore who is out of action for a couple of months because the A-league has finished to retain the captaincy or Neill who has been captain and captain for the socceroos in the world cup.. the question is who would you choose?
As i said on the other thread, i think Moore should be captain. As long as he commits to the whole qualifying campaign. Neill could be his deputy to take over at the WC if we make it. I really think Moore is a better leader than Neill currently.
The problem is that Moore wont play a competitive match from now until June, when the last 4 qualifiers are played.
Moore himself said that he may only play this game, so I think that its a no-brainer- it has to be Neill. It does look like the Euro players are going to make the effort to play in all the qualifiers where possible, without the usual "oh, i picked up a minor niggle/injury" that prior coaches had to put up with. One good thing about having Pim, being new, they all want to impress still! http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23129258-2722,00.html
I personally only brought up Moore in the other thread, as in the immediate term, he is a strong candidate to Captain some matches, if need be, from the A-League contingent. He's the leading candidate from the A-League contingent. But yeah, not that Moore would be the only candidate. Schwarzer, Kewell, Grella and who knows, will also throw their hat in the ring, if the position is open. But yeah Kewell will likely not be coming for the coming 2 qualifiers and neither will Grella, for this match. So it seems between Schwarzer, Neill and Moore in my reckoning, to captain this particular qualifier against Qatar. As to a moore permanent captain, as I suggested, there is probably a few candidates and though Neill was an early favourite, his stock fell due to issues in the Asian Cup. But that 'could be' water under the bridge, especially with a new coach, but who knows?
Well, when we beat Sydney , we have to play 2 more matches against the loser of CCM & Newcastle, then win the GF.
I'm with him. If Moore was able to have time with another club after the A-League finishes he would be the ideal candidate as he has the experience and character to do the job well. If his last game is at the end of the A-League season or the China match then it makes it difficult, so maybe not.........but then Aust is in a tough situation as we have no one who has shown quality credentials to do the job. Before the Asian Cup i would have gone for Neill or Grella but Vinny's continuous dummy spits and excuses along with Neills childishness with his contempt for the refs and his yellow cards have put me off those two guys. Players show their true colours when facing adversity and i didn't like what i saw from those two guys.
Although overnight he did kick the crap out of Torres, and should've given away a pen for a handball, and got a yellow. Neill does tend to have a brainsnap every now and then, but overall he is solid and captain material- hence his captaincy for the club. The most important thing for a captain is to have the support of your teammates- so as long as he has that- then I see no reason why he couldn't be the National Team captain.
I wouldnt be surprised if that was his main role. It wouldve been good to see Kewell and Neill get in a few tangles. Maybe 'arry could stand up for Torres and go head to head with Lucas...that at least wouldve given me a laugh...then i wouldnt be having the usual heart problems that you get from supporting Liverpool
That's the only reservation I really have about Neill. Does/Would he have the general support of the NT squad? Did those 'internal issues' in the Asian Cup exist? And if so, have they been resolved? BTW Cahill and Neill are like tight buddies right, from their days at Millwall? But do we remember an article a couple months ago, where Cahill supports Grella for the Captaincy? I found it wierd, but it wasn't one of those declarations where he backed him 100%, he just gave him solid support. But when it comes to supporters for Neill, you'd generally look no further than Cahill. The announcement might've been a ploy by Cahill to dampen any rivalries and to suggest he's prepared to back any party. But I'm guessing Cahill would still back Neill if he stuck his hand up proper. BTW When it comes to any other Socceroo 'factions' I don't know. One would like to say there were few in the way of cliques and the boys by appearance generally seem to get on aswell as any bunch of Aussie lads. But from memory, I 'think' Emerton and Kewell have not always seen eye to eye (can't substantiate, don't know why) and both those 2 are key players in the senior leadership group of the squad. Schwarzer is another who may put his hand up, but he's much older than the rest of the squad and is a Keeper, so I'm not sure how much backing he'd get. Anyway, if there's still strong rivalry between Neill and Grella for the role, then hopefully it's resolved amicably, for the sake of our longer term future and the general health of our team.
You cant seriously expect everyone in the squad to be happy if you are performing like we did at the Asian Cup? Of course there were/are arguments when you arent performing...people blaming others etc. Whoever is captain should have the support of all the players, otherwise they usually wouldnt be appointed captain, thats just how we work down here. Some other countries (eg African and Asian countries) seem to appoint their best player as captain, just because of his quality on the pitch, which is something that we rarely do.
I remember when they were carrying on about friction between 'Arry & Dukes when they were at Leeds together. I tend to take those reports with a grain of salt. Pim will make the call and I'm sure he'll get it right.
Yeah, I would've thought so too, though given ill discipline at Asian Cup, I don't really know anymore. But having a strong coach, who keeps things in check, like Hiddink likely did, will probably quell such rumblings, if there are any. We all could see Arnold could not discipline the Asian Cup squad and lost control regularly, hence his infamous outburst post Iraq match. I sense Verbeek will be a task master, similar to Hiddink. So will be accepting nobody out of line. And once again, as for power struggles, longer term, it's probably between Neill and Grella maybe, but I favour Neill. But in short term, for this match, between Neill and Moore. BTW Moore may not play all the qualifying games up to 2010, but Neill/Grella may not either. If Moore only plays a few games, then retires, then that may all work out, as Neill/Grella would just take over. Unlike the other 2, atleast Moore is a more secure, tried and trusted, appointment for Australia, for the Qatar match. Oh BTW Neill nominated John Aloisi as his captain of choice, for the Qatar qualifier. Another dam good candidate. We'd lose nothing having Aloisi as captain (Maybe gain?) http://www.smh.com.au/news/football...oisi-as-skipper/2007/12/22/1198175407177.html Also the Captaincy can be rotated, so you can say have a home based captain and an abroad based one, or what have you. And/Or have shorter term guys like Moore and Viduka in there.
Damn...caught out Ok...well ive put less importance on individual performances from the Asian Cup and have put more importance on the failing tactical instructions (Arnold) as well as a whole team not playing well.
I'll agree you wih you that part about Arnold. His not really having much of a clue at International level contributed towards the frustration of the team. I had the impression that the team run rough-shod over him at times too.