Aussie Osieck

Yesterday afternoon the attention of the Australian soccer world was fixed, of all places, on Ljubljana, Slovenia to learn of the appointment of the new Socceroos coach, German, Holger Osieck.

Those who tuned in to the announcement have been waiting and speculating on this hiring even before the World Cup began after it had become clear that Verbeek neither wanted the job (or was likely to retain the gig) post-South Africa.

In recent times frustration had increased as we headed toward our first post-Pim engagement in Slovenia with the less than appropriate circumstance of an interim coach in charge.

However frustration was eased when FFA Head Honcho Frank Lowy confirmed the appointment via satellite from Slovenia to a room full of soccer journalists in Sydney. As ever Lowy was agitated, uncomfortable and unreasonably angry at the conference and instead of breaking the news about the man sitting to his right he was initially and seemingly far more concerned about a technical glitch which Frank insisted was causing him to continually hear his own voice in his ears. Ahh, billionaires....

But in reality perhaps Frank had every reason to be a little irritated. After all by my estimations the local time in Slovenia was around six in the morning while more importantly for Frank its both his money and his footballing reputation on the line here. It was his final decision which will not so much determine how enormous soccer will become in this country (because it will with or without him) but a decision which will very much determine how quickly it happens.

At this stage I'm of the opinion Osieck's hiring will indeed get us there much quicker.

Now I'll be the first to raise my hand to declare that the moment I heard Osieck's name I had to start googling. And I bet I wasn't the only one. And truth be told his Wikipedia entry isn't all that glowing. Not in comparison with the Le Guens, Pekeremans and Bielsas of the world who had continually been linked with the job. But then again, should it?

After all did Australia want or need their most important hiring of all time to be someone who's already had a more important, more illustrious position? I don't think so. Sort of like hiring Del Bosque now. Indeed in hiring the 61 year-old Osieck we've handed the Homberg born Virgo the biggest and most scrutinised national coaching job in this country and in turn the biggest job he'll ever hold in his professional life. Which is something, seeing as though we may scoff that Osieck's most high profile pre-Socceroo job was his time in charge of the Canadian national team, it was an appointment in which he did bring Canada their greatest footballing triumph by was winning the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup. A tournament the Maple Leafs had never won, and haven't won since, and one achieved through shocking regional super power Mexico in the semi final. Osieck's other major appointment, that of Japanese club giants Urwawa Red Diamonds was significantly successful, finishing just two points from the top in his inaugural J-League season before triumphing in the Asian Champions League the following year, guiding the Tokyo club undefeated and to their first and only ACL crown. Osieck got them back to the semi finals of the ACL a year later. Since he left Urawa in 2008 they've neither returned to play ACL football or finished any higher than 6th in the league. To say he's being missed in both Canada and at Urawa would be quite an understatement.

Osieck looked calm and composed, confident and receptive in his press conference yesterday. He handled Frank's petulance with a wry smile and when asked questions by the Australian media he fielded them without the veil of scorn which marked his predecessor's public appearances. He spoke glowingly of the Asian football region which he of course knows well and thanked the FFA for launching the A-League which Osieck's sure to be far more engaged with. When he fielded questions about defensive orientated football Osieck stated that he's taken the job with no rigid technical ideas, and that it was in fact the players and talent at his disposal who would largely determine how the team plays. More than anything Osieck stressed adaptability and individuality. As in the ability to be able to attack when necessary and to defend accordingly. The triumph of individuality will no doubt be music to the likes of Nicky Carle and Alex Brosque who's chances of being part of our 2011 Asian Cup campaign have certainly been done no harm.

Osieck's hiring is exciting for the Soccerooos and provides all of us who care deeply about soccer in this country great hope. Now's the time to neither glorify or criticise what either of the previous two Dutchmen were about or even to speculate on the seven identities of the men who didn't get the job. Perhaps we should instead take comfort in Lowy's final words which stated that he'd indeed contacted German football leviathan Franz Beckenbauer in recent weeks but only to question him regarding Osieck. Beckenbauer gave him a glowing endorsement.

For the moment, and like we did with Hiddink and Verbeek we need to hand over the keys and let the coach go about his very important business. If we don't like what he's doing we'll reserve the right to criticise. Hopefully it won't be for a very long time, if at all, and if so it'll preferably be received in the spirit it was intended. For now however Osieck's got the Asian Cup to prepare for in January which will be an assignment of critical importance.

Congratulations Holger Osieck and welcome to the Socceroos.