Qatar WC - Socceroos Performance

[Sweeper]

Interesting article in the SMH by Vince Rugari

Doha: Federal Sports Minister Anika Wells was sitting with FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the Al Janoub Stadium when Craig Goodwin scored the goal that gave the Socceroos a shock lead over France.

“Thank you to the Socceroos for giving me the greatest moment I’ve ever had in the big kahuna box last night at minute nine,” she said.

“I was seated next to the FIFA president and let out some kind of guttural noise when we got the goal, looked around – [it was] just me on my Pat Malone, celebrating.”

So just imagine how her counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Japan are feeling right now.

Australia ultimately couldn’t get the job done, but those nations – who were in the same qualifying group as the Socceroos – have taken the prized scalps of former champions Argentina and Germany in two of the biggest upsets this tournament has ever seen.

Despite an opening-round disaster from the host nation, it seems – as has long been promised – Asian soccer is finally progressing. And Australian soccer is obviously struggling to match the pace.

This is the Socceroos’ fifth straight World Cup appearance, but they have one of the worst winning records in the world, with just two victories from 17 matches to date. Just getting here is not enough to keep those in the game happy. They want more.

That’s where Wells comes in, pledging to help the “sleeping giant” of Australian sport by revisiting the way government funds are distributed and keeping an open mind on where and how they can be spent.
Advertisement

“I’m putting a lot of thought into this,” she said.

“I’m lucky to have become the Australian sports minister at this watershed moment for us as a country – we are on the green and gold runway now to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we have about 30 major international sporting events that we are hosting as a country between now and then.

“I’m trying to take a long-term view of this and say, what does success look like for us at the end? Everyone’s got a different view about what success looks like, so I’m going to try and bring us together on that, and then look at what do we need to do 10 years out to make that possible?”

It will take a lot more than just more free money, but it’s impossible to imagine the Socceroos becoming a global force without much greater government support. Saudi Arabia, for instance, has sunk billions from their Public Investment Fund – the one that is bankrolling the LIV Golf tour and the purchase of Newcastle United – into soccer, committing almost $3.5 billion into domestic clubs via sponsorships over the course of 2022 alone.

The Australian team is also training at the $1.3 billion Aspire Academy facility in Doha – the glistening jewel in the crown of Qatar’s sporting “project”, which Wells toured on Wednesday. Soccer is still waiting for its own national headquarters in Australia.

Football Australia is on record with their discontent over the lack of high-performance funding their national teams receive. This year, the Socceroos haven’t received a single dollar from Sport Australia, whose model prioritises Olympic sports where the country is deemed to be a chance of winning a medal.

FA’s legacy program for next year’s Women’s World Cup has unlocked $280 million in federal and state government funding, which is a positive step – but as one FA staffer remarked, you don’t see the sort of reaction Goodwin’s goal triggered at Melbourne’s Federation Square when a swimmer performs a flip turn.

“There’s a lot more to sport outside the Olympic sports specifically, but I think the runway gives us the opportunity to think about this a bit more holistically with a structural approach,” Wells said.

“I am openly now asking people to tell me, where do you want it spend? Do you want it spend on the equivalent of the Aspire Academy? Do you want us to revitalise our AIS? Do you want us to give it directly to individual sports? Do you want us to put it into the runway so that our 30 major events are as well funded as possible to try and drive participation and pathway and pipeline ... [or] directly into better pipeline and pathway programs, like we’re seeing in other countries? Obviously, we can’t fund all of it.”

Back home, the usual recriminations are unfolding whenever the Socceroos falter on the big stage. On the SBS broadcast of Australia’s 4-1 defeat to France, former Socceroos Craig Foster and Mark Bosnich criticised the lack of “vision” in the game and the perceived absence of a broader plan for player, coach and club development.

Mark Schwarzer and Harry Kewell, who are in Doha on media duties, were at the press conference fronted by Wells and James Johnson on Wednesday, and both grilled the FA chief over the high cost of registration fees for talented juniors – a perennial issue which is pricing out the working-class and new migrants from setting foot on the official “pathway”.

Johnson insisted soccer already had a plan – the “XI Principles” he instigated in his first year in the job – but that the fruits of it would take time to bear, and that other projects like a new digital registration system were designed to reduce the cost of playing for parents and families. There is also a planned national second division for men, to be launched in 2024, that will create more opportunities for players and coaches.

“Rest assured that this current administration of Football Australia is very focused on player development,” Johnson said.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/awa ... 5c0ti.html

[GaylyColouredStumps]

lol

Aussie football makes me smile

[zzz]

50 years later it will still be the same

hoping the government will fix football here

the only reason Qatar government spent a bucket load on football there is because they're hosting the WC...and what good did it do

[Brewie]

Article talks about Saudi Arabia and they beat Argentina.

[GaylyColouredStumps]

So we have Australia taking on the likes of France and Spain on the pitch at their own game armed with a curriculum and we are taking on the likes of Saudi Arabia and Germany with off field spending armed with Anika Wells

We sound like Lloyd Braun

[Bomber]

AFL, NRL, Cricket then daylight to football in this country when it comes to exposure and $$$. Reckon we need to accept that we will always be a minnow until anything changes. Maybe our women might do okay.

[Nice One Cyril]

The reality is, for any sport that is not parochial like AFL, it's a numbers game first and foremost and any country that has a massive population, coupled with even a half decent interest in a sport will produce a larger talent pool than us. The US has a population 10x Australia's, Brazil 7x, Japan 5x, UK 3x, Sth Korea 2x, etc.

Given that we have a smaller talent pool, our coaching, both technical and physical, needs to be far better than other countries to produce that elite level.

[ozzie owl]

The reality is, for any sport that is not parochial like AFL, it's a numbers game first and foremost and any country that has a massive population, coupled with even a half decent interest in a sport will produce a larger talent pool than us. The US has a population 10x Australia's, Brazil 7x, Japan 5x, UK 3x, Sth Korea 2x, etc.

Given that we have a smaller talent pool, our coaching, both technical and physical, needs to be far better than other countries to produce that elite level.

I agree with that, however in terms of government support per participant football is miles behind the NRL, cricket and AFL.

Few thought starters

Bring back the AIS.
Transfer fees to NPL clubs when signed at A League ( initial small fee plus sell on clause)
Reduce wages paid to NPL players , reduced strict salary cap in NPL just like SANFL.

[N5 1BH]

Don’t lets make excuses for the FSA, there are only 8 European countries with a larger population than Australia’s 26 million and very very few with a GDP anywhere near Australia’s.

From the current FIFA Top 20 rankings () & population per million –
(1) Belgium - 12 mil
(8) Portugal - 10 mil,
(9) Denmark - 6 mil
(10) Dutch - 17 mil
(14) Swiss - 8.5 mil
(15) Croatia - 4 mil
(16) Uruguay - 3.5 mil
(17) Sweden - 10 mil
(18) Senegal - 17 mil
(20) Wales - 3 mil.

All these countries struggle for money and facilities but they all (and Wales) have a continuous production line of wonderful talent. It’s obvious why

[Nice One Cyril]

Don’t lets make excuses for the FSA, there are only 8 European countries with a larger population than Australia’s 26 million and very very few with a GDP anywhere near Australia’s.

From the current FIFA Top 20 rankings () & population per million –
(1) Belgium - 12 mil
(8) Portugal - 10 mil,
(9) Denmark - 6 mil
(10) Dutch - 17 mil
(14) Swiss - 8.5 mil
(15) Croatia - 4 mil
(16) Uruguay - 3.5 mil
(17) Sweden - 10 mil
(18) Senegal - 17 mil
(20) Wales - 3 mil.

All these countries struggle for money and facilities but they all (and Wales) have a continuous production line of wonderful talent. It’s obvious why

True, but all those countries, apart from Senegal which I know bugger all about, have a long history of football, over a century in all of them (Croatia might be the exception) and it's probably the national sport in most, whereas Oz has maybe 50 years and it's very much a second tier sport.

[zzz]

The reason why Australia will never be good at football is because its at the a r s e end of the earth and it takes 2 days to fly anywhere.

To compound the problem, the country itself so big and population centres are so spread apart there's no viable way a proper national competition pyramid can operate.

Its the world's backwater and there's no competition in the region such as enjoyed by UEFA nations... our 2 nearest neighbours, one of them only cares about rugby and the other is a poor country inhabited by undersized and undernourished poor athletes.

The reason why Australia focuses on other sports is because the powers that be know this and the only way to garner national pride is to excel at sports nobody else cares about.

[N5 1BH]

The size of the country does make it difficult but that is the reality and it doesn’t stop Australia excelling in many other sports. The FFA are the powers that be regarding football yet Sydney (5.3 mil) & Melbourne (5 mil), both bigger than Croatia, Uruguay & Wales with excellent facilities, accredited coaches and good public transport can’t produce a single player you’d pay to watch. Is Sydney really not producing because of non football people and Perth being a long way away

[zzz]

The size of the country does make it difficult but that is the reality and it doesn’t stop Australia excelling in many other sports. The FFA are the powers that be regarding football yet Sydney (5.3 mil) & Melbourne (5 mil), both bigger than Croatia, Uruguay & Wales with excellent facilities, accredited coaches and good public transport can’t produce a single player you’d pay to watch. Is Sydney really not producing because of non football people and Perth being a long way away

it still doesn't account for the fact there's no competition in the region and hence no money to be made in the sport

Croatia is smack bang in the middle of Europe surrounded by countries that excel at football. Its players all have access and opportunities to play in strong professional leagues in close proximity.

[N5 1BH]

Aussies also have access to those leagues when they're good enough

[Sweeper]

Its all good debate.

There is no 1 correct answer. If there was, it would be an easy problem to fix.

[N5 1BH]

Can’t fix a problem until we admit there actually is a problem though

[zzz]

Can’t fix a problem until we admit there actually is a problem though

So it'll never be fixed. Welcome to Australian football.
Nobody listens to critics here.

[Just Dave now]

well this thread has gone quiet lol

[GaylyColouredStumps]

well this thread has gone quiet lol

Still totally relevant

We didn’t get to next round playing tika Taka

[zzz]

well this thread has gone quiet lol

still couldn't string 2 passes together after 20 years of national curriculum

[eagleboy]

So much negativity from the usual suspects. All we need is the Orackle coming in talking diving, relegation and world leaders etc.

It was a massive result imo for Australia. How good was Harry Soutter's performance. Especially coming back from a knee reco.

[N5 1BH]

Soutter played a major part in the Aussies digging out a couple of wins but we aren’t really discussing Scottish football development.

[eagleboy]

Just saw this. Ausralian soccer needs this

Socceroos 2022 World Cup prize money
As things stand, the Socceroos will receive $19.15 million (US$13m) for reaching the Round of 16 in Qatar.



Australia were set to earn $13m (US$9m) for simply making the group stages but have now given that a healthy boost.