RE Stan Lazaridis

There is nothing wrong with Stan as a player. He has been a good player for Birmingham City for the past 8 years or so. He is a reliable defender but has been misused by the Australian national team as he is an even better left winger.
The reason he is uncontracted is that his contract has expired and Birmingham City have let all of their out of contract players (7 in total)go to save money following their relegation from the English Premiership which will cost them millions of pounds in lost revenue

The World Cup is not about giving people ‘a chance’. (Especially defenders. And yes, I’m presuming Milligan was picked on his merits, not his potential). And before you mention Theo Walcott, Sven-Goran Eriksson picked him because he gave England a surprise option, a bolter who can come off the bench and make a difference. You don’t have time to groom a player over a season like you do in club football, nor is there the need to rotate the squad to prevent fatigue. You need them to perform in the big games – every game at the World Cup.

The fact is that these games are the biggest games Australia have played in 34 years. Bigger than all those World Cup qualifers along the years against Scotland, Argentina, Iran, Uruguay. Bigger than Confederation Cup matches against Brazil and France. Bigger than friendly matches against Scotland, England (although that was a good feeling) and Ireland, bigger than games against friends and neighbours in New Zealand, Indonesia, South Africa. Bigger than the unknown Asian friendly tournaments that we had to play in the 80s. The fact is that we’ve got the biggest games for a long time coming up and we might not necessarily qualify next time (but hopefully).

And so, Lazaridis adds to the quality of the squad. Not for two years time, but now. Managers pick squads for the World Cup. And Lazaridis gives us options and is a very solid performer, and he’s a very good wingback. He’s got a pretty decent set piece on him and he’s got a footballing brain. If he comes back to the A-League then he’ll be a star here (the only other first-team Premiership player I can think of who was in the A-League last year was Dwight Yorke) and that’s how the A-League lads got selected.

It might seem that he’s been picked on sentimentality. Not true. He adds something – and he can make a difference.

I think it’s great (and well past due) that we qualified for this World Cup. Let’s put out a strong team but also have an eye to the future and blood some young players, especially in positions that involve creativity and speed, like the wings. Stan Lazaridis is not the future of Australian football. He’s had a great international career, but let’s leave him at home and give someone else a chance.