The World’s Most Overrated Player?

One of the best things about having moved to Sweden (besides the obvious that to watch any European football means not having to set my alarm to get up at some crazy hour!) is to be further exposed to the sublime skills of one Zlatan Ibrahimovich. I’ll never forget a remark made by Martin O’Neill during the World Cup in Germany while he was commentating for English television. He said that Zlatan was “the most overrated footballer in the world”. It’s funny the way things like that stick in your mind, because I have never been able to respect O’Neill as a manager since that statement. I mean, if his judgement is that bad about Zlatan, what else is he getting wrong?

But I digress… In Sweden they are quite proud of their football exports be they Zlatan, Svennis or the many others in between. The good thing about this is that as a product of this pride they show all Inter Milan games on television so the Swedes can keep tabs on their most skilful and important international player. Because of this I have been able to see quite a lot of Zlatan in action and he has really taken his game up another notch since his surprisingly subdued World Cup in Germany last year (it was later reported that he was hampered by a groin injury).

He’s always had the talent, I remember watching him during Euro 2004 and he produced that memorable piece of improvisation against Italy (see Zlatan Ibrahimovich's Nice Goal below.). Since leaving Juventus after a lacklustre 05/06 season he is turning those trademark flashes of brilliance into more consistent high-level performances: statistically he scored 15 goals last season compared to 7 the year before at Juve. This year he’s already scored 6 goals and after watching him in action on the weekend against Livorno, I think if he stays healthy will easily score more than 15 goals this season. Just seeing him as a goal scorer alone would be doing him a great disservice though. What I really love about Zlatan is his ability to bring others into the game and, even more so, his ability to time and again make defence-splitting passes.

I believe we make many judgements of players influenced by cultural stereotypes due to a footballer’s nationality. I firmly believe that if Zlatan came from, say, Brazil instead of Sweden (not exactly a football culture known for its flair) with his armoury of tricks he would be on par with a Ronaldhino as far as being a star of world football. On that note, for those of you who haven’t seen much of him, or even if you have, there’s some highlights I posted below from You Tube for your enjoyment from his most recent season with Inter as well as another more lighthearted clip that still manages to show off his freakish skills.

Lastly, I’ve always felt that there are similarities between Zlatan and Mark Viduka. Both tall, but at the same time exceptionally good on the ball. Both criticised at times for looking lazy and disinterested, both capable of the sublime and the infuriating on the same day. I would have loved for Viduka to play in Italy, I really think that league would have suited him so well. The slower tempo of the game in Italy would have allowed a player such as Viduka to exploit his fantastic technical skills to maximum effect, it is such a shame that it looks like he will finish his career in England. He’s still really effective at Newcastle and I’m sure if he stays fit he will score many goals, but watching him on the weekend chase long ball after long ball hoofed in his direction my concern is that the tactics(?!) of big Sam Allardyce are not going to suit him that well. He looked absolutely spent when he came off relatively early in the second half after scoring twice on Saturday.

Oh well, instead of seeing Viduka in an Inter or AC Milan shirt you can watch a younger version of him in the form of Zlatan glide around the San Siro. For this Australian, it’s hard to do so without shaking off the feeling of “if only” though…..

Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Inter 06/07 - Compilation part 1

zlatan - gum

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Nice Goal

The Danger of a Short Memory

The news that Dutchman Dick Advocaat looks to have finally signed on the dotted line to take over the coaching role for the Socceroos should be welcome news to every fan of Australian soccer. It is also a time to reflect back on the 14 months since the bittersweet World Cup experience and glean that there are some lessons learnt from this time that should never, ever be forgotten by those in charge of football in Australia.

It was a strange time just after Germany. For me the euphoria of qualifying for the World Cup and witnessing all of our games in Germany, especially the games in Kaiserslautern, was tempered somewhat by a little voice in my head saying “remember where we were 12 months ago?” (There was also the annoying voice of a female from that delightful group “The Fanatics” who, when Craig Moore was substituted late in the game against Japan, asked those around her “who’s that?” in a disdainful way when his face was flashed on the scoreboard. None of her entourage knew, but that’s another story for another time…). For those uninitiated to Australian football, 12 months before the World Cup, we were in Germany losing all three games of the Confederations Cup and being coached by Frank Farina. And oh, I almost forgot, with the small task of again having to face the fifth place South American team in the World Cup qualifiers only a matter of months away. Those were dark days indeed and the despair and hopelessness that all fans would have felt when we reached the low point of the Confederations Cup should have lived with us all.

Thankfully it contrasted hugely with those joyful 10 minutes against the Japanese in Kaiserslautern and our overall performance at the World Cup. Humans, by our nature, nearly always forget the bad when they look back on life’s moments and I believe that this has happened with many Australian football supporters and journalists. The thing I really want to highlight is how badly off we were barely 4 months before that momentous night in Sydney where we beat Uruguay in the now famous shoot-out that booked our place at the World Cup.

We were at this low point due to an internationally inexperienced Australian manager.

Compare this to the huge achievements that were made in barely 4 months with an internationally experienced, renowned, and tactically astute manager. Then ask yourself, how the hell did we end up with an inexperienced Australian manager (Graham Arnold) in charge of the team for the Asian Cup and from the Australian media only having Craig Foster, Les Murray and the team from SBS questioning how it had occurred? This oversight by most of the Australian media beggars belief.

The bare stats for the Socceroos in their competitive matches since the World Cup reads as follows: played 14, won 5, drawn 3, lost 6. Not great, not completely disastrous. Graham Arnold has been in charge that whole time. I argue he shouldn’t have even made it past his second game in charge, the 2-0 loss to Kuwait. That result would never have happened under Hiddink. But even after such a disastrous result, there were some, such as The Age leading football journalist Michael Lynch, who made the extraordinary claim that Graham Arnold should be hired permanently for the Socceroos coaching job. Lynch’s article makes even more interesting reading 12 months on, especially how many things former Socceroo and now SBS analyst Craig Foster got right. My personal favourite part from the piece Foster wrote is the following:

“After Wednesday, Graham said that in the second half the players were "looking forward to their club games". I have difficulty believing this happened under Hiddink when everyone had to perform, all the time, and after the Kuwait loss away the excuses were the heat, the players, and the "World Cup hangover". Hiddink didn't make excuses, he made changes.”

Has anyone else noticed the similar, sorry excuses peddled out by Graham and his brother-in-arms John Kosmina after the Asian Cup? Les Murray in his article “Rid us of these cheats” writes: “The thick cloud of Australian excuses that drifted forth from Bangkok following the Oman game was suffocating. Left unchecked and allowed to run, this stuff will debilitate this team to the point where it will leave this Asian Cup with nothing.” Prophetic stuff.

The point I’m trying to make is this: How could anyone who has any knowledge of the many trials and tribulations Australia has faced as a football nation not have wanted us to hire another big name coach to take over as soon as the World Cup finished?

Why were people like Michael Lynch and leading football writer for the Sydney Morning Herald, Mike Cockerill, people who (apparently) know what they’re talking about writing articles read by thousands of people extolling the virtues of keeping Arnold on as Socceroo coach? The writers of these articles created a debate out of an issue that anyone with a brain and a memory would know was a non-issue.

Put simply as a nation still forging our own football identity it is even more important for us to have a coach with an excellent international pedigree and experience as we will need all the help we can get on these fronts to make up for our lack of tradition, our lack of opportunities to play together and consequently gel together as a national team, and technical competence. I can hear people saying “Well, if we get Dick Advocaat in now, there’s no harm done really is there?”

I’ll explain why I think there has been some harm done by not getting a big name coach in straight after the World Cup.

Australia as a football nation gained a lot of respect from our performances in Germany. Living in Europe I can safely say that the level of knowledge and respect for Australian football that the average European fan had rose by about 80% after Germany. Simply stated, it put us on the map.

Mumbling to these same people 12 months later that we were beaten by Iraq pretty much erased that new-found respect. But it is obviously not the respect of other fans that is important. The most serious issue, and one that I think is most worrying for the immediate future of Australian Football, is the respect of the clubs and the players themselves. Here are a couple of worrying quotes, first from World Cup hero Tim Cahill: “ I understand me playing for Australia frustrates him [his Everton manager David Moyes], but you can never take away what we achieved as a country. Now I understand that when I come back from this, maybe I will have to think differently. My priority now is Everton and the Australian manager knows this. I'm not in any rush to be thinking about Australia.” From Mark Viduka: “Australian football's in transition as well and we don't know who is going to be the new manager. So until that's sorted, you don't know, it might have an effect on my decision.” And finally from Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez: “My players travel more than Phileas Fogg in "Around The World In 80 Days". Javier Mascherano had to play a friendly for Argentina in Australia. That must have been really important.”

Without drawing too long a bow, would any of these quotes have happened if we had installed a high profile and quality manager 12 months ago and gone on to win the Asian Cup?

I doubt it very much.

I not only believe that it is vital for our 2010 world cup campaign to have both Mark Viduka and Tim Cahill heavily involved, but, and this is important to remember, to have their managers allow them to come back to Australia or Asia even more often than they have in the past as now we are qualifying through Asia we will have to play more important World Cup qualifying games more often. This means that, like it or not, we will need to have a good relationship with the managers of our big players in Europe. Rafa Benitez’s comments may have been in jest but do you think he would have made such a joke if Argentina were playing Spain for example, or the reigning Asian Cup champions with a high profile manager?

My hunch is that if it were not for journalists like Michael Lynch and others suffering from memory loss about where Australia was before Hiddink, we would have installed a manger a long time ago who would have built on the momentum from the World Cup and the great work done by Hiddink before and at the World Cup.

Just like in Orwell’s Animal Farm where the animals tell each other to always remember what it was like when the farm was controlled by humans, as Australian football fans, without a hint of irony, we must always remind each other of what it was like before Hiddink came.

Not doing this would mean losing it all and winding up back where we were. The good news is it is not too late to fix the inaction of the past 14 months.

So on that note, welcome Dick Advocaat, you are arriving just in the nick of time…

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog When Ball Meets Foot, which is about – you guessed it – football!

For as long as I remember I have been obsessed with sport, probably the best example of this being the fact I was able to verbally give the total number of points scored for quite complicated Australian rules scores before I could even count or write (I have been assured by psychologists that this is quite weird!).

As an Australian based in Sweden with a lot of football channels to get me through the winter here, I will be writing articles on football (soccer), as well as keeping a close eye on all the Australian players based over here in Europe. From time to time, I’ll be writing articles on Australian rules football and American football too, even though I don’t watch them as much nowadays (thank God for the internet…).

Every so often I plan to have guest writers. My good friend Martin Cassidy based in Melbourne will write about soccer, especially The Socceroos and the Australian A-League, while I’m hoping that another good friend and Sports Psychologist Andrew “Alright” Mills who is based in England and has worked with a Premier League club will contribute some of his vast knowledge to When Ball Meets Foot. I will also hopefully get some Swedish friends here to write on the Swedish league as my grasp of the language hasn’t allowed me to get right into it yet.

Anyway, check the blog regularly, or better still, bookmark it as I plan to have good quality opinion pieces on it for your reading pleasure very often. It goes without saying that I would welcome any comment on the articles.

See ya,

Vinnie