midfielder
Well-Known Member
Rebecca Wilson famed Terrograph reporter writes crap at times. But Fark me talk about can you smell the fear ......That AU did not beat Japan ...... and our crowds are down ....... I foolishly tho we where past this kinda of crap from RL jurno's.
I will sent an email to the sports editor and will never buy a Terrorgraph again
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24651219-5001023,00.html
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
By Rebecca Wilson
November 15, 2008 12:00am
ADELAIDE United FC was comprehensively humiliated by Japanese club Gamba Osaka in the Asian Champions League this week.
In what can only be described as an embarrassing performance, the carefully constructed masquerade around the A-League was fractured.
Read more on the match here.
The truth is that Australian soccer is not up to scratch and only those dozen or so players who represent Australia as Socceroos are good enough to compete on the international stage.
Scratch the surface of the sport at every level and you come up with a code that is in grave danger of going the same way as basketball did a decade ago.
The A-League has served to make the sport's problems even worse. Football Federation Australia is looking at creating more teams at a time when crowds are already thinning.
Creating more A-League teams will dilute the talent even more, annoying fans and ensuring the demise of the entire competition.
The existing sides have barely enough talent to field a good team. The players they do have are decent athletes but they lack the technical ability of players at the same stage of their careers competing internationally.
Australia is widely acknowledged as producing decent defenders and goalkeepers. Those who are great strikers or attacking players learned how to play in Europe or England.
Australia has no real soccer culture. Sure, there are pockets of the country that live and breathe it but it is not systemic. Unlike rugby league or AFL, soccer does not have coaching structures in place that ensure the development of good players with finely honed skills.
It is no coincidence that the best Australian players leave here around the age of 16. The likes of Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell fled to Europe as teenagers, knowing they would be taught technical skills that simply are not taught by Australian coaches.
Many more teenagers are now doing the same thing, leaving the level down from the A-League seriously depleted and lacking in any real talent.
One father I spoke to during the week will travel with his immensely talented 16-year-old to trial with a leading German club next month. The same boy missed selection in his own state team, deemed "unsuitable" for selection at that level.
He was told his risk-taking style of play was not what the selectors wanted in a young soccer team. These blokes obviously have no idea that these are the players who are most sought after in Europe for precisely that reason.
Eleven European clubs are vying for the kid's services, selecting him from amateur home video of his on-field prowess. They can't all be wrong.
Those young blokes travelling to Europe rarely return as fully fledged seniors to the A-League. Only a handful of players in the domestic competition learned their trade overseas. They are home-grown and home-coached, which is why their skills are seriously lacking.
The capitulation by Adelaide against Japan showed us just how far behind the rest of the world the A-League clubs are. The sport must surely realise there are gaping holes in soccer coaching and management that must be addressed.
Switch from an A-League game over to an Asian one and the contrasts could not be more marked. The game played everywhere else is fast and skilful. The A-League version is stodgy and slow.
One of the most sobering facts is that Australia has never had higher participation rates at junior level. There are just as many soccer players here as there are in the Netherlands.
The reality is that, while the Dutch produce dozens of stars year after year, very few young Australian blokes emerge from local competitions as star players.
The A-League is the only summer football code in Australia. While it may have been a good idea to move it away from the more competitive winter market, crowd figures must surely be telling the sport's bosses that something is wrong.
Either the game does surgery on itself here or soccer faces a future that is very bleak indeed. Once this crop of talented Socceroos retires, the next lot down don't look too flash.
In recent years, the Joeys have gone from being in the top four junior sides in the world to not even making the top 20. These are the players that soccer bosses reckon can fly the flag for Australia in the future.
The juggernaut that threatened to come from the last World Cup campaign has failed to materialise. Soccer is in crisis and Adelaide United's horrendous two losses in recent weeks proved once and for all that something has to be done to fix it.
I will sent an email to the sports editor and will never buy a Terrorgraph again
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24651219-5001023,00.html
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
By Rebecca Wilson
November 15, 2008 12:00am
ADELAIDE United FC was comprehensively humiliated by Japanese club Gamba Osaka in the Asian Champions League this week.
In what can only be described as an embarrassing performance, the carefully constructed masquerade around the A-League was fractured.
Read more on the match here.
The truth is that Australian soccer is not up to scratch and only those dozen or so players who represent Australia as Socceroos are good enough to compete on the international stage.
Scratch the surface of the sport at every level and you come up with a code that is in grave danger of going the same way as basketball did a decade ago.
The A-League has served to make the sport's problems even worse. Football Federation Australia is looking at creating more teams at a time when crowds are already thinning.
Creating more A-League teams will dilute the talent even more, annoying fans and ensuring the demise of the entire competition.
The existing sides have barely enough talent to field a good team. The players they do have are decent athletes but they lack the technical ability of players at the same stage of their careers competing internationally.
Australia is widely acknowledged as producing decent defenders and goalkeepers. Those who are great strikers or attacking players learned how to play in Europe or England.
Australia has no real soccer culture. Sure, there are pockets of the country that live and breathe it but it is not systemic. Unlike rugby league or AFL, soccer does not have coaching structures in place that ensure the development of good players with finely honed skills.
It is no coincidence that the best Australian players leave here around the age of 16. The likes of Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell fled to Europe as teenagers, knowing they would be taught technical skills that simply are not taught by Australian coaches.
Many more teenagers are now doing the same thing, leaving the level down from the A-League seriously depleted and lacking in any real talent.
One father I spoke to during the week will travel with his immensely talented 16-year-old to trial with a leading German club next month. The same boy missed selection in his own state team, deemed "unsuitable" for selection at that level.
He was told his risk-taking style of play was not what the selectors wanted in a young soccer team. These blokes obviously have no idea that these are the players who are most sought after in Europe for precisely that reason.
Eleven European clubs are vying for the kid's services, selecting him from amateur home video of his on-field prowess. They can't all be wrong.
Those young blokes travelling to Europe rarely return as fully fledged seniors to the A-League. Only a handful of players in the domestic competition learned their trade overseas. They are home-grown and home-coached, which is why their skills are seriously lacking.
The capitulation by Adelaide against Japan showed us just how far behind the rest of the world the A-League clubs are. The sport must surely realise there are gaping holes in soccer coaching and management that must be addressed.
Switch from an A-League game over to an Asian one and the contrasts could not be more marked. The game played everywhere else is fast and skilful. The A-League version is stodgy and slow.
One of the most sobering facts is that Australia has never had higher participation rates at junior level. There are just as many soccer players here as there are in the Netherlands.
The reality is that, while the Dutch produce dozens of stars year after year, very few young Australian blokes emerge from local competitions as star players.
The A-League is the only summer football code in Australia. While it may have been a good idea to move it away from the more competitive winter market, crowd figures must surely be telling the sport's bosses that something is wrong.
Either the game does surgery on itself here or soccer faces a future that is very bleak indeed. Once this crop of talented Socceroos retires, the next lot down don't look too flash.
In recent years, the Joeys have gone from being in the top four junior sides in the world to not even making the top 20. These are the players that soccer bosses reckon can fly the flag for Australia in the future.
The juggernaut that threatened to come from the last World Cup campaign has failed to materialise. Soccer is in crisis and Adelaide United's horrendous two losses in recent weeks proved once and for all that something has to be done to fix it.
