Aussies Survey Hanoi Wreckage

Newcastle Herald

Monday July 23, 2007

By MICHAEL LYNCH SMH

HANOI: Australia's performance at the Asian Cup fell well short of expectations as they crashed out to defending champions Japan on penalties in the quarter-finals.

But the Socceroos coaching staff and senior players believe the one crumb of consolation from the failure is that the experience gained in Bangkok and Hanoi will ensure that their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign is not derailed before it even starts.

The stamina-sapping heat, high humidity, teeming crowds and the hustle and bustle and constant noise that make Asia such an alluring destination for backpackers and other travellers also make it one of the most difficult places in the world in which to play football.

Australia now have first-hand experience of how debilitating the conditions can be, and how much preparation, acclimatisation and training is required to be at peak levels for what will certainly be gruelling tests with no guarantee of success.

Even lowly ranked teams like Thailand, surprise quarter-finalists Vietnam and the unlucky Indonesians showed that the footballing standards in the region are improving at a rapid rate.

And sides such as Japan, Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan and South Korea as they have proved at the World Cup previously are technically deft, physically strong and now no longer in awe of their supposed superiors. That, allied to greater familiarity with the environment, can quickly close the gap between the highly ranked teams and those earmarked as mere cannon fodder in a one-off contest, as Australia discovered during their group games in Bangkok.

A handful of Australia's biggest names may not be around for the World Cup qualifying campaign, which gets under way next year skipper Mark Viduka's future is up in the air, while Australia's goalscorer against Japan, John Aloisi, said he did not yet know what his plans were.

And the rest of this team is ageing, making it even more important that Football Federation Australia and whoever is coach Dutchman Dick Advocaat was last week tipped to be the most likely appointment get the preparation right.

For Socceroo supporters whose expectations have been bloated by the wonderful achievements of Germany 2006, the sobering reality is that Harry Kewell will turn 30 during the World Cup qualifying tournament, as will Lucas Neill, Archie Thompson, Brett Emerton and Mile Sterjovski. Tim Cahill, Vince Grella and Mark Bresciano will all be 29.

The golden generation is becoming the grey generation, and it is vital that the younger players are given opportunities and take them as Sydney FC's Mark Milligan did, the blunder that led to Japan's equaliser aside, as well as German-based Michael Beauchamp and Sydney's David Carney, who proved a revelation as a left wing-back.

One man who plans to take the Socceroos all the way to South Africa is goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer. The Middlesbrough shot-stopper said immediately after the game that he would seek to help his country make it to another World Cup and then retire from the international stage. But he now knows from experience that going through Asia is no picnic.

"People don't realise until they come here how harsh the conditions can be," he said. "With the qualifiers coming up you have to prepare 100 per cent for them because the conditions are a major major factor in those games."

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold said the biggest lesson of all was the need to get the preparation right and that looms as an intense and costly business for the FFA.

The game's governing body spent more than $1 million preparing for this tournament with a 10-day training camp in Singapore, and still the players were underdone.

World Cup qualifiers are likely to be scheduled for midweek nights in the European season in inhospitable climates and time zones. Australia, with minimum time to acclimatise European-based players will arrive in places like Hanoi only a few days before the game, for example will need plenty of luck to smooth their passage. Another option may be to keep a squad of 25 A-League-based players in permanent training after the Australian season ends as the nucleus of a national team to play in South-East Asia, if that is where the Socceroos are drawn.

Arnold believes that to be the biggest lesson from the Asian Cup debacle.

"The road ahead is very difficult . . . can you imagine coming here with three days preparation for a World Cup qualifier? Good luck," he said after the penalty shoot-out defeat to Japan.

"We're going to have 12 World Cup qualifiers in surroundings like this, when our players are all playing in Europe, and it's going to be very, very difficult to get through." SMH

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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