The Socceroos line up against Paraguay on Saturday night hoping to impress the home crowd for the first time with coach Holger Osieck at the helm. The small 19-man squad will be playing at Sydney Football Stadium and the coach has declared his intent to give local talent a go by including six players from the domestic A-League in his squad.
Jason Culina, of course, is an easy pick. His performances this season have been first rate in Gold Coast United’s midfield and his ability to find space and control the play should be crucial for the Australian team, whose opponents will certainly be no pushovers.
It’s a hard balancing act for Osieck who is unbeaten in his reign as yet. Having watched his team lose to Slovenia on the eve of his appointment, a draw with an unlucky Swiss team and a win over Poland have been a good start, but it will be at home that his most important test will come.
Osieck has been clear about what he expects from his players, but the main message coming from the German is that no-one is ruled out. Some star players, such as Vince Grella and Mark Bresciano, have opted out, asking for time to get games under their belt and form at club level, whilst others, such as AEK Athens’ Nathan Burns are being given time to settle down.
When quizzed about other players who could be in the mix Osieck has consistently said they’re on his radar, but that he would like to see them play before calling them up. And when he has seen players he likes, as in the A-League, he is not afraid of bringing them into the squad.
Goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic continues to feature in the national team group, and other A-League players Jade North, Matt McKay and Michael Thwaite could play some part too, as well as Sydney striker Alex Brosque. Brosque was singled out for praise and would have been playing in the first two matches of the coach’s reign had not injuries intervened.
“I recall Brosque playing for Sydney against Urawa and what I saw I did not like. Only because he was on the opposite side of the field” said Osieck, who managed Urawa Red Diamonds at the time. With the Asian Cup coming in January, it would certainly be politically astute for Osieck to try and include as many locally based players as possible and reduce the need to source from Europe.
With Brett Holman injured and Brett Emerton suspended, there is room to try out some new faces and Thwaite will no doubt be relishing the opportunity to impress after three years in the international wilderness. The Gold Coast United player has been in fine form this season, catching the eye on numerous occasions, and having a coach who is willing to attend A-League games and seriously entertain the idea of calling up the players he sees has been a good boost.
Altogether there are players assembled from Turkey, Russia, Italy, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia and from both the Premier League and the Championship in England, as well as home based talents. Stars Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill and Mark Schwarzer are all likely to take part and will be hoping to erase the public’s memories of previous coach Pim Verbeek’s time in charge, which featured some uninspiring results on home turf, a nadir being the 1-0 loss to Kuwait in Canberra in March last year.
Whether Osieck has the ability to get this cosmopolitan squad firing on all cylinders remains to be seen, but giving a chance to the same faces being seen week in and week out in the A-League will undoubtedly boost not only his profile but the local game too. It can then only be hoped that the performance is, at the least, entertaining.
Scott McDonald of Championship outfit Middlesbrough will be hoping to get the monkey off his back and finally break his international scoring duck, but Paraguay should prove a stern test. With Premier League stars such as Antolin Alcaraz and Cristian Riveros both in the squad, although striker Roque Santa Cruz has dropped out due to personal reasons, no doubt to the relief of Australian defenders, the South American nation have the weapons to do real damage.
Osieck still has a few options ahead of him as he gears up for the Asian Cup in Qatar and, looking forward, the start of qualifiers for Brazil 2014. Youngsters Kofi Danning, Tommy Oar and Mathew Leckie are all involved with the Under-19 squad at the AFC Championship, but remain hot prospects for the national team, whilst players such as Korean based Sasa Ognenovski and Danny Allsopp from DC United could yet make their way into the squad.
It’s too soon to tell what the Socceroos will look like when they take to the pitch at the Asian Cup, but by being willing to source his players from wherever they might be playing, Osieck is giving himself every chance of creating a successful team for Australia.
