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2009 - The Year of the Socceroos…?

December 30th, 2008 | By: Pat | 6 Comments »

So I wasn’t planning on blogging again till the New Year, but recent events have transpired and forced my hand. Despite being an admirer of the beautiful game, as an Aussie I am obliged to love other, more “traditional”, sports such as cricket and league. And, dare I say, the battering these two sports have endured in 2008 may pave the way for football to rule Australian sport in 2009.

Of course, I write this on the morning after the so-called “Death of Australian Cricket,” whereby our decade-long reign at the top of the cricketing world came to a halt with the South African’s (much deserved) victory in the current Test Series. The fight and determination of the Seth Efrikens, especially on the third day of the Second Test, brought back memories of the battling stand between Allan Border and Steve Waugh in the 93/94 Ashes Series, where victory was subsequently seen by many as the first step towards our golden era. Of course, a look through any major papers today will suggest that with success came arrogance and a tunnel vision that never saw the shallow talent pool which retirement of several key members so brutally exposed.

Similarly, our form at the start of the Rugby League World Cup (did anyone actually watch this?!) led everyone to believe that there was no way we could lose. We smashed our supposed biggest challengers New Zealand in a pool game by 50 odd points, so why bother expecting anything else but a decisive Australian victory come finals time? In-fact, on the morning of the Grand Final, even the New Zealand Prime Minister was quoted as saying that his All Blacks were in for a long night… But of course, the universe has a funny way of working these things out, and history will show that New Zealand toppled the Kangaroos 34-20, with arrogance on our part again being blamed.

To add to the lull, the Wallabies are continually tethering as the third or fourth nation in the world, the once great potential of basketball has turned into nothing but a white elephant, the Brit’s overhaul of our efforts at Beijing has cast a shadow over the next four years of Olympic preparations, Lleyton Hewitt is, well… Lleyton Hewitt (rolls eyes), and even AFL has been dragged down by the mess surrounding Ben Cousins’ comeback.

For the first time in a long time, Australia is desperate for champions.

So is this not the perfect opportunity for Australian football? A solid effort by the Socceroos in the New Year can secure our spot at the next World Cup, and give our success starved nation something to cheer about. We’re in a similar situation to the scenario in 2005, and we all know what our success at Germany did to the profile of the game here.

As an Australian, I think it sucks that we’re losing at our other sports. But as a football fan, I can’t wait for the journey 2009 will bring.

What are your thoughts? Has Australian sport hit a speed bump? Can football rule in 2009? Can the other sports recover? And finally, how the hell did Matty Hayden make the squad for Sydney?!

Tags: Group F, Socceroo, World Cup Qualifying

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Comments

By marco | January 6th, 2009 at 2:37 pm

thanks pat for the report i am new to the site but i will keep a look out for more info. i hope that football can become at least everyones 2nd sport in australia if not their first. i for one love playing aussie rules but football has grown on me. i do think that a lot of people have not turn of the sport after the world cup so that alone has been a great start to a big future. and the a league could not have asked for a much better first few years. are there any aussie games planed for london this year?

p.s. give hayden a break he has been a star for australia and that was the least he should be given. looking forward to the next report

Posted from United Kingdom

By Pat | January 6th, 2009 at 7:09 pm

Hi Marco, welcome to the site, glad to hear you’re enjoying the read! Unfortunately there aren’t any Socceroos games scheduled in London so far, but FFA haven’t decided on any friendlies yet, and usually they organise one or two around London (Craven Cottage has been a favourite). Check out my latest post on info regarding upcoming Socceroos games.

I definitely agree with your comments about the success of the A-League and the growth of the sport after Germany. However, I think that we must be wary this time around, as the Socceroos now have to deal with something which we’ve never had in the past - expectations.

We all saw the disaster that was our last Asian Cup, when we were billed as champions before a ball had even been kicked, so hopefully those were lessons learnt and we aren’t in for a repeat.

As for the A-League, it’s on a nice steady growth so I’m not complaining. There are definitely changes which needs to be made but the league is still young. Hopefully once the league settles down after a few years we can see some cash injected into the game, as well as the fruition of the National Youth League, and see an overall improvement in the quality.

Finally, Hayden’s a legend, and it’s not that I have anything against him, I’m just more “pro Phil Hughes.” There’s no denying the NSW youngster’s going to be in the test team in 2009, so why not give him his debut on his home deck in front of friends and family (to hopefully give him a confident start to his career) rather than have him play his first game in the couldron of South Africa (or England).

By marco | January 7th, 2009 at 6:25 pm

you have made some very good points about football in australia. i just can not get over how much the game has changed for the better in australia in so little time.

p.s. in england we do not hear much about this phil hughes but i am glad to see their is someone to look out for to take over from hayden. phil jaques and chris rogers have not yet set the world on fire. but if the kid is that good he should have no trouble with the saffers on there home ground. boy i hope so as all my south africa friends are giving me so much sh&t.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Pat | January 8th, 2009 at 6:26 pm

Hughes has scored around 700 runs at 60 this summer. But news is that Jacques is back on the horizon. If he’s fit enough to play a couple of Pura Cup matches later this month and does well then he’s a shoe in for the South African tour. That’s the view from the selectors anyway, who have shown themselves to be of little competence this summer. We’ll see.

By Poindexter | January 14th, 2009 at 11:52 pm

Nice passage on the Socceroos for 09. This is the first time that I have ventured outside of the Italian football blog as I am closely tied with a team in the Serie A.

My wishlist for the 2009 Socceroos is some solid performances by the Australian based Socceroos who will help us qualify for the next Asian cup and then of course early qualification for the 2010 WC. Hopefully we can topple Japan in Feb but I’m backing in a 1-1 draw. 3 home games against Bahrain, Uzbekistan and Japan should see us being one of the first teams qualified as opposed to being the last team in the 2006 WC.

By Pat | January 16th, 2009 at 6:43 pm

Hi PD, welcome to the blog. Yeah I’d also like a good showing by the homebased Socceroos, simply for the fact that it would continue to enhance the reputation of our league and let the overseas based Aussies know that their place in the squad is not automatic. There are definitely one or two A-Leaguers who can cement their spot in the starting eleven amongst overseas based Socceroos.
Although I’d much prefer a win, I agree that a 1-1 result in Japan would be awesome, because like you said, the other games shouldn’t be a problem for us. As long as we can consolidate our two point lead over Japan and don’t lose ground, then qualification should be guranteed.
So fingers crossed the Socceroos can meet our expectations and no more fingernails are lost watching them in playoff matches!

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