Rotten Orange

After two and half years Socceroos' coach Pim Verbeek yesterday confirmed what everyone knew was coming. That following the World Cup he'd be stepping down as coach and looking for a move to club football. More than likely in Europe. Like our previous Dutch Head Honcho we'll probably never see him again. We'll hear of the clubs he'll be rumoured to go to and eventually the one he'll sign with. And from a distance, and in the early hours, like we do with Gus' stomach and his inexplicable tan, we'll watch as Pim gets pastier and pastier and as that insipid tuft of hair doggedly fights on.

Nasty, I know. And cheap. But I got sick of Pim, just as I got sick of Hiddink.

The obsession with all things orange in regards to soccer in this country happened by accident and became ingrained. Maybe this is what happens with all accidents. Ramifications. In our case, something incredible happened, but also unforgivable. We qualified for two consecutive World Cups, became a good team without being great and made the national team something everybody who plays soccer in this country desperate to be apart of. To be sure, the Socceroos now constitute the most closely followed and scrutinised national sporting team in the country, something completely unthinkable ten years ago. Yet despite this, despite the miracles of Germany and Pim's uninspiring negotiation through Asia we've all been left with a slightly unsavoury feeling about the both of them. And I think its time to we admit it. That we got swindled.

Gus came here for money and left for money. Pim got the job because of his connection with Gus, because he was Dutch and like Gus, got paid a whole heap of cash. While he was here he got progressively more prickly as fans, the media and Socceroo wannabes all became increasingly frustrated by Pim's rigid and impenetrable fortress, both strategically and personally. The former revolving around a game more concerned with stopping goals then scoring them, the latter categorised by being cold and aloof.

However what was more disturbing than Pim's tactical conservatism, admirable for teams unaccustomed to success and when playing teams far more accomplished (not Oman or Indonesia), was Verbeek's utter scorn for the A-League which was astonishingly allowed to prevail and continue unchecked.

When Verbeek landed the Socceroo job all he had to do in regards to the A-League was pretend he liked it. To piss in our pockets. Instead he arrived, walked straight through the house and into the backyard to treat the prize dogs locked away in the backyard and to get them ready for show. Which granted, was what he was paid for. When we gently asked him while he stroked Lucas Neill behind the ears or scratched Brett Emerton's chin whether he'd like to have a look at some of the younger pups he robotically answered by telling us they'd be better off in Europe. Indeed for two and half years Pim did his best to imply that all that was wonderful about soccer resided in Europe, in the process treating the A-League as some sort of laughable impostor. When he did attend A-League games he looked to be there under sufferance and seemed thoroughly disinterested, often tucked away at the back of a grand stand and hidden behind a pair of dark sun glasses. European designed no doubt. He created a culture of fear amongst World Cup hopefuls that if they were plying their trade in Australia they stood no chance of selection. When you think about the only decent thing Verbeek ever did for the A-League was waiting 48 hours until after last Saturday's engrossing Grand Final to reveal to Australia that he'll be moving on.

The next coach of the Socceroos won't be known until sometime after the World Cup. At this stage Ben Buckley has given no indication whether Football Australia will again go Dutch, or as hoped, look elsewhere. For the moment the only noises the FFA are making in regards to future Socceroos' coaching is that the disastrous scenario of a care taker coach at January's Asian Cup will be avoided. And thank heavens as the last time we tried this our interim coach Graham Arnold led the team to a disappointing campaign which lasted no longer than the second round and which will be remembered for a bitter spat amongst its heat addled players.

Whoever is hired by the FFA should be warned that Australia is absolutely determined to have a successful domestic league in this country, one in which we've already worked hard at for five years and which is indeed growing, but which like all infants is still quite delicate. We need the successful candidate to be patient with the A-League but more importantly to work closely with it and to be supportive of it. And to of course impart his ideas to it.
Moreover our next coach may have no other choice, as it will be players from this very competition which he'll need to call upon for the Socceroos' first major post-World Cup international engagement in next January's Asian Cup. And what better scenario for a healthy working relationship between the A-League and our new national coach to be forged.