Future Socceroos – Part 4

In this final part at my look at future Socceroos, I now analyse the strikers, and hopefully find someone who can put the ball into the back of the net – Mark Viduka, please take note.

Despite being the so called “powerhouse” of Oceania for so long, and now a significant member of Asia, Australia has never had an out and out striker whom we can rely on for regular goals. We’ve never had our Batistuta, Lineker, Rossi, van Basten or even Ali Daei, and most of our goals have traditionally come from the midfield or set pieces. With this in mind, let’s hope we can uncover a new superstar who can lead the attack for us in years to come.

Part One – Goalkeepers
Part Two – Defenders
Part Three – Midfielders

Just as a sidenote, for those of you interested, Damian Mori is our greatest striker with 29 goals. These came in 45 internationals, although the ratio is somewhat skewered as he played back in the days of Oceania. Of the current crop of players who are near the top, Archie is the front runner with 21 goals in 30 odd appearances, but again this includes the mammoth 13 goal effort against American Samoa in Oceania qualifiers.

Incumbents: Mark Viduka/Josh Kennedy/Scott McDonald/Brett Holman/Archie Thompson

Mark Viduka has been arguably the most successful and skilful striker from our shores. He began his career in 1993 by banging in goals for fun at Melbourne Knights in the NSL, before a move abroad to Dynamo Zagreb in 1995. After three successful seasons in the Croatian capital, he moved to Glasgow as the replacement to the great Henrik Larsson at Celtic. Despite the massive shoes to fill, he excelled in the short time he was there, scoring at Larsson-esque proportions of nearly a goal a game. This earned him a move to Leeds United, where he paired up with Harry Kewell. Under David O’Leary’s tutelage, the young guns from Leeds rose to Champions League level, before financial mismanagement ripped the club apart. After being relegated and desperate for cash, Leeds offloaded the big Aussie to Boro. Dukes became a crowd favourite at Boro when his goals guided them to the UEFA Cup final in 2006, as well as a better than expected top half finish in the Premier League. After three years at the Riverside, he moved to rivals Newcastle, and unfortunately his career has since be riddled with injuries, as well as limited playing time under firstly King Kev and now Joe Kinnear.
Dukes has always been the Green and Gold’s number one spearhead for over a decade, however his major criticism is that he doesn’t score enough goals for us. While his strength and skill allows him to play the lone striker role perfectly, his goal return for the Socceroos of roughly one in four has drawn constant scrutiny from commentators. He was the captain of our Germany ’06 campaign, but the 33 year old has now semi-retired from Socceroos duties, although Pim has constantly been trying to get the V-Bomber to come back into the fold.

Josh Kennedy, or Jesus to his fans, is the tall and lanky type of centre forward in the Peter Crouch mould. After a short spell at Carlton, he moved to German side Wolfsburg in 2000, and has remained in Germany ever since, spending frustrated periods at several clubs. His most successful spell has been the two years he spent at Dresden, where he got regular game time and scored at, admittedly, a very pedestrian rate of one in four games (16 goals/60 games). However, this was enough to catch Guus’s eye just before the 2006 World Cup, and his inclusion into the squad was somewhat of a surprise. However, he responded by scoring on debut against Lichtenstein in a warm up match, and has since developed a reasonable striker rate of nearly one in two in his handful of appearances for the Socceroos.
The obvious threat which his height brings to the table has meant that firstly Guus, then Arnold and now Pim can change the whole dynamics of the attack by bringing Jesus on. Still only 26, he should have plenty of good years in front of him, provided he can get regular playing time. Once Pim (or any other future Socceroos coach) drops the lone striker system, I think the big man little man pairing of Jesus and Scott McDonald can develop into a successful combination for us.

Following in Viduka’s tradition at Celtic, Scotty McDonald has furthered the Glasgow club’s love
affair with Aussie by coming out of nowhere to bang in goals left, right and centre. Having bounced around England’s lower leagues for several years, Macca found his feet at Motherwell, and between 2004 and 2007, he scored at nearly a goal every other game, a record which led to Celtic paying around 700,000 pounds for him. His 25 goals in 36 appearances for Celtic in his first season has been followed by a somewhat subdued goal return this current season, but he remains Celtic’s number one striker.
Unfortunately, that form has not carried over to the Socceroos. At Celtic, he operates in a two striker system which allows him to play off his partner, nipping into defenders’ blind spots and picking goals a la Pippo Inzaghi. However, as Pim usually only plays one up front , Macca has often found himself on the bench, since his small stature does not fit well with the battering ram lone striker role. He often comes off the bench when we are chasing, or when it’s purely a time wasting substitution, and this is reflected through his duck at international level. But he is the hottest Australian striker going around at the moment, and at just 26 years old, his chance will surely come.

As mentioned in several previous posts, the continual inclusion of Brett Holman baffles me, especially since the likes of McDonald, and most of the names in the “Potentials” section below are being held back. Granted, Holman has bagfuls of enthusiasm and is like an Energizer Bunny on the pitch, but enthusiasm doesn’t pay the bills. The man simply cannot finish, and when your job is to score goals, that’s a problem! Look at his return – 25 games, one goal. I rest my case.

Archie’s inclusion here is purely fundamental, as he was the only A-League based striker to have any chance of making the squad if the European big boys are back. However, with his recent dodgy performances and Pim’s “absolutely hopeless” comments, even this is questionable now. On his day, Archie’s pace and skill can turn a match on its head (against mediocre opposition anyway), but it’s unfortunate those days are few and far between for the Socceroos.

Potentials:
Nathan Burns – the 20 year old is a breath of fresh air. He exploded onto the A-League scene in 2006 when his exciting play and eye for goal made him the first Adelaide United player to score a hat-trick. He then formed the most promising front line the following season when partnered with good mate Bruce Djite. Together they led the Reds to the Grand Final, and Burn’s performances were enough to warrant a move overseas to Greek giants AEK Athens. Burns isn’t the typical centre forward in the traditional sense, he’s more of the skilful secondary striker who tucks in just behind the main man. Like his former AEK teammate Rivaldo, Burns plays the link man perfectly with his dribbling, passing and pace. Even though he made his Socceroos’ debut against Singapore in a 2007 Asian Cup warm up match, Burns was spurned by Arnold for the Beijing Olympics. Despite this set back however, he still has a very promising future ahead of him, and it will just be a matter of time before he and Djite lead our attack together.

Bruce Djite – the American born striker (to African parentage) is the perfect foil for Nathan Burns. While Burns has the pace and skill, Djite has the strength and height. So it was no wonder that then Adelaide coach John Kosmina trusted the two young guns to lead the attack for him. As mentioned, the successful season led to a ticket abroad for both players, and Djite ended up in the Turkish league with Gençlerbirligi, where he now pairs up with fellow Aussies Mile Jedinak and Jimmy Triosi. Of this young brigade, Djite has had the most opportunities for the Socceroos, with Arnold and Pim picking him for eight Socceroos matches. He has yet to score for the Green and Gold, but at just 21, he will definitely get his chance in the future.

Nikita Rukavytsya – born in Ukraine, Rukavytsya moved to Perth in his teens, and quickly became noted for his amazing speed. After attending the Australian Institute of Sport, he joined the Glory in 2006 as a short term replacement for injured players. While chances were limited at first under Ron Smith, a change in coach brought about better fortune for the young striker. In Dave Mitchell’s first game in charge, Rukavytsya scored twice to cement his name in the coach’s good books, earning a long term contract along the way. Rukavytsya was selected to play in Beijing, but he failed to make an impact in three appearances as the Olyroos bowed out in the group stage. Despite the setback, he returned from The Games and continued his good club form by scoring 10 goals to be the sixth leading scorer in the league, whilst adding five assists to his name. This led to a trial with Dutch club Twente, and he impressed enough to earn a big money move (apparently Twente paid $1,200,000 for him) abroad. Rukavytsyta’s speed is his greatest weapon, but the 21 year old also has the size to challenge in the air. It should be very interesting to see these three young guns tussle it out for the strikers’ roles in the future.

Others to keep an eye on:
Matt Simon, 23, Central Coast Mariners
Mitch Nichols, 19, Queensland Roar
David Williams, 21, Brondby (Denmark)