Cunningstunt said:

Loved your work through the WC.

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Thanks mate. I really appreciate you reading my stuff, let alone the kind words.

Robbos said:

The GG was a wonderful time, but even they would struggle on how the game is played today bar a few of them. Even GKs need to be good with their feet.

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How old are you? Did you even watch any of them play?

Irvine, Ryan, Behich will soon be gone from their playing days.....

Man time passes by so fast. Players like Irankunda were not even alive when we beat Uruguay on pens to qualify.

2006 won't even be the motivation for our players anymore or the benchmark to aspire to. They will no longer have that personal history with it.

Alex M said:

How old are you? Did you even watch any of them play?

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Old enough to be in Germany for my very first world cup, old enough to talk to Brazilians over a few beers after our loss. Old enough to feel really proud of our performance against Brazil but them told by them that we don't play football its not 'Jogo Bonita'. Old enough to be piss off with them, but when I got how home & watched replays of the game I understood what they meant.

scout_aussie said:

Thanks mate. I really appreciate you reading my stuff, let alone the kind words.

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I enjoyed the article too.

Mark Schwarzer and Scott McDonald are right on the ball in their assessment of the Socceroos' performance at 2026 WC

grazorblade said:

I feel ambivalent about our player development to be honest. Simultaneously excited it is better but depressed it is still below the gg

Also concerned that good player development in a closed shop seems to require the a league clubs to struggle off the field so they give youth a go out of desperation (with the partial exception of au of course)

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Great point.. its no coincedence that the GG came about during the time the NSL was dieing (98-04) and likewise this generation, with the A league struggling off the field since the Lowys were booted out

grazorblade said:

I feel ambivalent about our player development to be honest. Simultaneously excited it is better but depressed it is still below the gg

Also concerned that good player development in a closed shop seems to require the a league clubs to struggle off the field so they give youth a go out of desperation (with the partial exception of au of course)

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What about this take? It is clear evidence the national curriculum worked to provide better education at a grass roots level. This generations successes are attributed to the success of the NC and we are now reaping the benefits.

Haha. Everyone who doubted it can post your apologies below. I will see that they are forwarded to Han Berger.

grazorblade said:

Whats wrong with the take?

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People in general seem pretty negative towards the NC.
I haven't done anything coaching related in over 15 years, but when I had a look over the content it would have been really useful to me.

with the advantage of modern technology/data and copious more content last 20yrs I see we have Circati Irakunda Bos Volpato a level above all else we have in our squad.
4 !
20yrs in the NC making - I’m excited ha

Graz
It’s in code sport that I can see on the mobile but can’t copy paste it easily.
Hopefully someone else can.
He’s going off typically and some very valid points that has been discussed here but the main for me is questioning the FA and more so Gorioks credentials moving forward.

grazorblade said:

I find it very hard to assess, though i suspect the emphasis on ssg is important. The problem wirh assessing it is that we made so many changes over the last 30 years it is hard to tell what has done what (positive or negative)

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I'm going at bit counter-intuitive here. A lot of the GG credit the AIS with honing their professionalism - 'a finishing school'. They also credit their NSL clubs.

My take from my experience - (and remembering I played keeper for my club so not directly transferable for me at the weekend) is that playing in 30 a side teams at lunch time did not teach you how to pass - but it sure improved your dribbling skills if you wanted in to have involvement whatsoever. Kids now on their phones it probably doesn't happen anymore but in reality that was Australia's answer to street football.

How many of our GG did this growing up - I suspect the majority but I may be wrong

Patj
Yer our days it wasn’t just the school sport though - after school you were down at the local ovals playing all kinds of ball sports that honed many skills.
In crowds yes - our kind of futsal beating 5 6 or more towards goal.
All diff ages as well.
You got home before dark for dinner.
It honed you for your club team trainings.
Our club training by teens was for 2hrs.
Not sure for others being in Div1 mid teens you were asked to be on the bench for the Snrs after your earlier game as well.
Some would play 2 games Saturday and Sundays Cup games were beginning.
Rep those days you could still have played for your club and then your Rep game depending time clash’s.
Not saying we were AIS standards but you played with a ball by the loadfull.

Going back to that apple article he puts the torch on Popa picking the team right for turkey and balls it up rest of the games.
Dropping the goal scorers.
Then about playing Irakunda at 9.
Also the WC isn’t the time to test players in positions things as such mentioned.
Blows the FA that our results isn’t any better since 06 generally results have been stagnant similar last few cups.
Why
What hasn’t things changed.
The FA quoting they are investigating this Cup they should be transparent not keep it within and obviously about the $ loss’s.

LFC said:

Patj
Yer our days it wasn’t just the school sport though - after school you were down at the local ovals playing all kinds of ball sports that honed many skills.
In crowds yes - our kind of futsal beating 5 6 or more towards goal.
All diff ages as well.
You got home before dark for dinner.
It honed you for your club team trainings.
Our club training by teens was for 2hrs.
Not sure for others being in Div1 mid teens you were asked to be on the bench for the Snrs after your earlier game as well.
Some would play 2 games Saturday and Sundays Cup games were beginning.
Rep those days you could still have played for your club and then your Rep game depending time clash’s.
Not saying we were AIS standards but you played with a ball by the loadfull.

Going back to that apple article he puts the torch on Popa picking the team right for turkey and balls it up rest of the games.
Dropping the goal scorers.
Then about playing Irakunda at 9.
Also the WC isn’t the time to test players in positions things as such mentioned.
Blows the FA that our results isn’t any better since 06 generally results have been stagnant similar last few cups.
Why
What hasn’t things changed.
The FA quoting they are investigating this Cup they should be transparent not keep it within and obviously about the $ loss’s.

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No doubt Popovic did plenty wrong but he is not wholly to blame. But if 2006 was the high water mark. Managers are only a small part - in reality a small part if you can pick them like BVM after Ange left.

I don't want us to play Ange, I don't want us to play Popaball. I want us to be a team that can adapt to who we are playing, that has the ability to be multimodal, that knows how to defend, knows how to counter-attack, knows how to control the game and knows how to construct goals. Supposedly the hardest thing to do is to actually put the ball in the net. Not supporting the striker with structures that allow him to do his job is saying we are here to defend but don't expect us to do anything here.

We didn't do that twenty years ago, i find it immensely sad we have not built on what we had and instead have visibly declined. You can say Poppa did the best with what he had (I don't think he did) but I also think he ignored the fact that in a tournament your job is to adapt the team to play a multitude of ways. When you pick a squad purely to play one way you have essentially hamstrung your efforts before you arrive.

Patj smack on !
It wasn’t just questioning Popa but overall - he didn’t express like you above but the whole picture starting with the FA.
We are lacking in all the departments that in the end helps us to play improve as you expressed.
It all starts from the Fish’s head as they say.