Wizard of Oz or Cowardly Lion

[BAGGIO 15]

In 2007, when Pim Verbeek’s name was first announced as a candidate for the Australia national football team coaching job, a perspicacious Korean friend, one of the smartest men I know, a magazine publisher called Sung Lee, warned me that the just-departed Verbeek, who had the held the reins of Korea Republic briefly before resigning after his own Asian Cup disaster, was commonly regarded in his homeland as a “career assistant coach”.

The Korean people weren’t that upset to see the back of him.

I countered that we should give him the benefit of the doubt, that even career assistant coaches should be handed adequate opportunity to prove they are as good as the masters they served under.

Just look at Jose Mourinho – he got his chance and never looked back. I thought Pim would be a good fit for a country like Australia. And so I promoted him in my columns and when he was appointed successor to Graham Arnold, was very happy for him and his family. It was the crowning achievement of a long, tough career.

But today I am not happy, even though I regard Pim as a gentleman and as a friend. Enough is enough. Pim’s tenure as Socceroos manager, albeit successful when judged strictly on the criterion of “results”, has been characterised by an almost complete absence of courage.

Great coaches are brave and can adapt to their circumstances. Pim is neither brave nor adaptable.

Great coaches adapt their systems to the qualities of the players at their disposal. They don’t discard good players just because they have a surplus in some positions and can’t accommodate them all into their system. The system is the problem, not the player – in this case, Nicky Carle and Scott McDonald.

As former Réal Madrid manager Bernd Schuster has said about Diego Maradona’s difficulties in making the most of Lionel Messi: “Argentina have a problem if they can’t make Messi play. You can’t afford the luxury of Messi not performing in a World Cup. You have to adapt to him.”

There it is: adapt the system to the player. Carle is no Messi but he’s the most creative player we have outside Harry Kewell. Period. On that score alone he should be going to the World Cup.

As should Scott McDonald, who couldn’t score in a Patpong strip club if he tried at the moment, but given the right system to play in could flourish, as he did in Scotland playing for Celtic where he was virtually unstoppable.


Yet both have been grounded, unfairly, by a man who appears to have no nuance in his coaching, nor a shred of flexibility. The proverbial bank teller in charge of a group of sorcerers, he is so stuck in his ways he’s like an old man with OCD who has to touch a doorknob a certain way nine or ten times before he can leave the room. All habit. No courage.

Naturally Verbeek had to disappoint some players, including Jade North, who will be shattered at his omission just as Carle and McDonald are this morning. But North shouldn’t have been in the 31 in the first place.

He was always destined for the chop. A cruel snuffing out of childhood dreams, but that’s the manager’s job and it’s not an easy one.

Yet for all the hype about Tommy Oar, who survives another week and who truth be told I’m very happy to see there in among the boys, as a complete footballer he’s no Nicky Carle. Nor is James Holland. Nor Richard Garcia. Nor David Carney. Nor Brett Holman.

There must be a host of players in camp right now who, knowing Carle and McDonald have not made the plane to Johannesburg, will be faintly embarrassed to be there.

Guus Hiddink liked to give opportunities to young players, which is why he gave training opportunities to players such as Neil Kilkenny before the 2006 World Cup. But when it came to whittling down his expanded squad to the final 23, he respected pedigree, form and talent. Which was why senior trio Josip Skoko, Archie Thompson and Stan Lazaridis went to Germany.


Despite not getting any game time in the final analysis, they got their wish to go to a World Cup. As players, as contributors to the Australian game over a period of years and not months (like Oar, Garcia, James Holland, Shane Lowry), McDonald and Carle deserved that rare privilege.

Instead they have had their dreams crushed because their misfortune was to be lumped with a manager who is full of contradictions but no solutions.

What we saw this week against New Zealand in Melbourne was the end result of three years of critical neglect by Verbeek’s paymasters at Football Federation Australia and a large section of the Australian football media. Over the course of that time Verbeek has rarely if ever been called to explain or justify his decision making by anyone other than this network, let alone openly criticised.


For Ange Postecoglou, commentating for Fox Sports, to claim, “Australia were the better side” is like saying Charlie Sheen would make a better Hamlet than Sir Laurence Olivier. As long as you believe it, mate. We were hopeless. A rabble. A disjointed, sluggish, blunted, aggressive, ill-tempered, ill-disciplined rabble.

That Holman (a player who according to one African football-playing friend of mine, Gode Migerano, had managed to “pass to the ball boy” at one point) scored a lovely goal at the death, was a cruel ending. Cruel because we didn’t deserve to win. Cruel because after however many thousands of minutes of Looney Tunes ineptitude for the national team, Holman finally found the back of the net.

Cruel because it was time Verbeek’s obstinacy and rigidity was ruthlessly exposed by Ricki Herbert and his valiant All Whites, outside Bafana Bafana and North Korea the lowest-ranked team at the World Cup.

As another mate, John Tsakalidis, exclaimed on Monday night, perfectly encapsulating mine and others’ frustrations: “I’d rather we got pumped so we can wake the f*** up.”

And so, at time of writing 16 days out from the World Cup, the livery is the same. The bells and whistles are the same. The team looks sharp in their suits and scarves and their specially painted jumbo jet.

But the pre-tournament of euphoria of 2006 has been replaced by a sense of dread and despair at how a team that stunned the world in Germany could have come to this: a team that was lucky to escape against a team that is Wellington Phoenix in disguise. I hope the Socceroos perform well in South Africa, I hope I’m proved wrong, but I fear Melbourne was a portent of things to come.

Carle and McDonald have done nothing wrong. Their ruin has not been by their own hand and they can take some comfort that throughout football history some brilliant players have just had the misfortune to be matched with managers who aren’t up to the task of giving colour, texture and definition to their special talents. Pim, in my opinion, is one of those managers.

It’s too early to say how he will be remembered but in this particular instance his lack of courage will never be forgotten by me, by fans or the two players he has failed.

[DOC]

pretty much sums it up

[ComeBackDukes!]

"Carle and McDonald have done nothing wrong. Their ruin has not been by their own hand and they can take some comfort that throughout football history some brilliant players have just had the misfortune to be matched with managers who aren’t up to the task of giving colour, texture and definition to their special talents. Pim, in my opinion, is one of those managers."

Well, I think McDonald did all he could to convince Pim he is the second best front man for that system, despite the fact that he didn't score goals. But as for Carle, I take issue with Jesse Fink implying that Carle has no responsibility for his non-selection. It was Carle who chose to play for a struggling 2nd division side in a country where - at least at that level - players like him are not valued and therefore not suited. Pim Verbeek didn't force him to go there and Pim Verbeek didn't force him to STAY there while he was sitting on the bench for the vast majority of games over the past two seasons. So what does Pim have to go on regarding Carle? He had only started one game for the Socceroos when Pim took over and he was then, and still is now, unproven outside of the A-League, which is just the old NSL with some bright and shiny wrapping. How was he "failed" by Verbeek?

[Knight7]

Can't agree more, the only plus side I can see to Pims coaching is our negative system may work in our favour against better teams as it does for Vidmar and AU. I will be glad when he's gone, but I wouln't expect a high profile Manager like Guus again anytime soon

[Con]

Jeez, some wordsmiths have a good turn of phrase with the rich language that is English.

I'm not being cynical or sarcastic.

The words "pre-2006 euphoria has been replaced by dread & despair" perfectly sum up the current mood of the great Aussie public...

And I like the turn of phrase "Phoenix in disguise" in describing NZ, the Kiwi scrubbers that we struggled against. My pathetic descriptor "a.k.a. Phoenix" pales into insignificance.


ps, any of you forumite basterds pick up what Mel Mc said at dawn on Tues on FoxNews that the Kiwi (Tim Brown?) that Cahill hurt on Monday is out of the World Cup?

[ComeBackDukes!]

The "kiwi that Cahill hurt" was Leo Bertos you moron, and he's fine.

Brown has a shoulder injury that he carried into the game. Bad luck to him if it's true he will be out of the WC, but no Australian is to blame.

[Bresciano]

We have played bloody ordinary under Verbeek. Always keen to watch them play and always disappointed. I should have learnt by now but I don't want to miss the one time they play well.

[Blotto]

I'm still trying to work out what team is more frustrating to watch...

The Soccerooos or Adelaide United?

[Bomber]

When I saw topic heading, I thought it had something to do with Millwall.

[Nova]

I'm still trying to work out what team is more frustrating to watch...

The Soccerooos or Adelaide United?

[Bomber]

I'm still trying to work out what team is more frustrating to watch...

The Soccerooos or Adelaide United?

........or any team that stubbornly plays one up front and coach refuses to be flexible

[Nova]

I believe you should build a team around your strikers not your defence, the game is about winning isnt it :?

[Bomber]

Good defence is essential, but how good are they really if you start with seven or eight of them! Good back 4 and a defensive midfielder should be enough.

[Con]

See, that's the problem with this forum sometimes and possibly why it's under censorhip threat.

I miss part of Mel Mc's report on Fox news and I ask a genuine question about whether the Kiwi, Tim Brown will miss the World Cup because of injury sustained against Australia, and I get abused by the likes of a masked dreamer called "ComeBackDukes!"

He slurs me as being mentally retarded, and says it was the Kiwi Bertos that was injured by Cahill, when I could swear I saw Grella try to snap Bertos' leg in half. Maybe I missed something, "ComeBackDukes!". Enlighten me, my masked man.

[Russia2O18]

I cant believe how many of you idiots have bought in to the Nick Carle media hype

the guy has had short stints at numerous clubs since leaving our shores the last time and has not been able to break into the first choice 11 at any of them with any consistency. in short, its not only Pim that doesnt require Nick Carle's services.

you fools talk about him like he's our very own Carlos Valderrama or something....if you havent noticed Nicky is returning to our A-league after another failed overseas stint

[ComeBackDukes!]

See, that's the problem with this forum sometimes and possibly why it's under censorhip threat.

I miss part of Mel Mc's report on Fox news and I ask a genuine question about whether the Kiwi, Tim Brown will miss the World Cup because of injury sustained against Australia, and I get abused by the likes of a masked dreamer called "ComeBackDukes!"

He slurs me as being mentally retarded, and says it was the Kiwi Bertos that was injured by Cahill, when I could swear I saw Grella try to snap Bertos' leg in half. Maybe I missed something, "ComeBackDukes!". Enlighten me, my masked man.

You did miss something. Both tackles were on Bertos. Grella's and Cahill's. Bertos got back up after Grella's challenge and went off a few mins later after Cahill's. But, like I said, he's fine. Brown has a shoulder injury and might miss the World Cup.

The question you asked in your initial post reads as a rhetorical one. As in, you were stating a fact you saw on tv and merely prompting others to comment on it. It doesn't read at all like you're asking someone to clarify what the reporter said because you missed it.

Sorry if you were offended by me calling you a moron, but it was just an off-handed remark that I didn't think you would take seriously. Oh, and by the way. I am not entertaining the idea of Viduka making a comeback for Aus. It's just a joke champ.

[Con]

Fair enough, ComeBackDukes!. Explanation understood, I could have worded my question better, although I did miss half of Mel Mc's sentence as I walked into the lounge last Tuesday morn.

ps, as for your pseudonym, maybe we could have done with the Duke this time - even though he hardly ever scored for OZ