Road to Rio: Australia in transition mode

Dignitaries from all over the world will gather in Brazil in early December for the FIFA World Cup draw as the field of teams is divided into groups for next summer’s festivities. As part of its “32 teams in 32 days” series, SPORTSNET.CA will profile each of the nations set to compete at Brazil, leading up to the draw on Dec. 6.

You have to respect the Socceroos, if only for this one fact. In 2006 they left the Oceania Football Confederation and moved to the Asian Football Confederation. On the face of it, it seems like an odd rejection of the immutable facts of geography, but really it’s about something bigger. Oceania is weak—really, very weak—and an up-and-coming team like Australia can only get so good playing a series of matches against New Caledonia and Tonga. Their path to the World Cup was gentle through their region, before becoming very hard for a two-game playoff against a legitimately world-class team, usually from the Americas or Africa. So rather than take the easy road, remain the big fish in a small pond of minnows, the Aussies moved to the more dangerous waters of Asian soccer. And things have gone swimmingly—three World Cups in a row, including a memorable Round of 16 performance in 2006.

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How they got here: The Australians made their qualification much harder than anyone would have expected, with the final round especially troubling them. After three games the Australians found themselves in deep water, having drawn with Oman and Japan, and suffered a shocking loss to Jordan. Things improved from there, but barely, and Australia staggered across the line on the strength of an 83-minute winner in Sydney against Iraq on the last match day. There’s little to look back on for encouragement for the Aussies—a qualification campaign that, over two rounds, featured losses to Oman (at home!) and Jordan, and a pair of draws with Oman is hardly the stuff of which confidence is made.

Key result: It says everything about the Australian campaign that it took until this past June and the 83 minute of the last group match at home for Josh Kennedy’s towering header to beat minnows Iraq and finally secure passage to Brazil. The party may have been on in Sydney, but it will have been slightly spoiled by just how obvious it was that something was very wrong with this team, that they would be fodder for bigger sides once the World Cup began. In the next five games–largely against just that quality of opposition–the Aussies lost four and drew one, getting outscored 19-5 and finally letting manager Holger Osieck go. His last win earned Australia a World Cup berth; his last matches in charge showed how, once there, they’d struggle to compete.

Star player: Ex-Everton and now New York Red Bull striker Tim Cahill is making his last (probably) World Cup appearance in Brazil. Australia will have quite a hole to fill when he finally takes off the gold-and-green for the last time. He’s very powerful for a smaller striker, with an instinctive nose for net and an uncanny ability to a head on the ball. He plays with the kind intensity and fearlessness that makes him an instant fan-favourite. Having 28 goals in 64 games for his country doesn’t hurt, either.

Player on the bubble: It wasn’t all that long ago that the Dynamo Moscow right back Luke Wilkshire was a lock for the national team. Suddenly, that’s all out the window as manager Ange Postecoglou has left the 32-year-old out of his first squad, which will face Costa Rica in Sydney on Nov. 19. While Wilkshere’s age and the standard house cleaning of a new manager are partly to blame, so too is Wilkshere’s much-maligned habit of playing long balls—a tactic that the possession football loving Postecoglou has banished. On the bright side, Wilkshere gets plenty of time on the field with his club, so though he’s got a tough road to hoe to overturn the reputation that dogs him, he does have a chance.

Team strengths: Tough to pinpoint for a couple of reasons, including how poorly they underperformed in qualifying under former manager Holger Osieck, and the likelihood that Postecoglou will juggle the roster to find “his” team. But therein lies one strength: the new coach has carved a reputation for being unwavering in his tactics, and having an uncanny eye for hidden talent. Expect Australia to feature a slew of new and perhaps unexpected faces over the next few friendlies as they hash things out. But if his track record is anything to go on, Postecoglou may just find the right man for every job—even if he has to dig through the depths of the A League. If it works out and all the pieces fall into place in time, Australia could be playing some very attractive, flowing football by the time they land in Rio. Fingers crossed.

Need to work on: Familiarity. Australia limped through qualifying dogged by a defective backline. At length, the Aussies achieve direct qualification in the end—avoiding a looming set of playoffs at the end of which lay Uruguay—then promptly dispatched the coach that got them there. With Osieck out, Postegoclou came in to manage the team. It’s a risky move, opting not to dance with the gal that brung ya—the World Cup is just eight months away and the Aussies have to adapt to a new coach, a new system and a new roster filled with players Postecoglou favours. Only time will tell if the bold move was a wise one.

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