Australian football fans suffered a severe blow last weekend when it was announced that the Socceroos will go up against the footballing heavyweight nations Spain and Holland in Group B of the 2014 World Cup as well as Chile. The mammoth task the Socceroos will face next year has been met head on by their stoic coach Ange Postecoglou, who responded in a defiant manner whilst in Brazil this week.
“This is what the Australian public have been calling for,” says former football player Kimon Taliadoris, “a more aggressive Australian style of football which is pro-active.”
Kimon tells Neos Kosmos that even though it’s hard to imagine a more difficult group for the Socceroos, by having Ange as their coach, they have a fighting chance.
“It’s an enormous task for Ange,” he says, “but I don’t think we could have made a better choice than Ange Postecolgou, so that immediately gives Australia the maximum opportunity to be competitive.”
The first thing he envisions the coach doing would be to identify players he requires to train and implement the system and tactical style needed to be competitive. He says morale for Australia and confidence in the team is at a low as they almost faulted in qualifying for the World Cup in a group that they were all expected to. So he says before anything, Ange will need to restore the self-awareness, confidence and direction of the team.
In order to have any hope of being successful, Ange must tap into the style of football the other teams in their group play, and find a way to be competitive in that arena.
“Chile have a typical South American style of football that is possession ball, but they also have outstanding strikers so they are able to both dominate for periods as well as counter attack,” says Kimon.
“That’s an advantage against teams like Spain and Holland, who also like to try and dominate the game from a possession perspective – so in many ways Chile are well prepared and developed to counter attack,” he adds, saying that Australia has a long way to go to prepare for Brazil.
As for Greece, Kimon says they have more of a chance of progressing to the round of 16 than Australia. Greece are in Group C: Colombia, Ivory Coast, and Japan. They face Colombia first and Kimon says that their objective for that game would be to contain the South Americans and focus on not losing. The strategy for the other two games against Japan and Ivory Coast, he says, would be play to win.
“The single advantage that I do see Greece having in this group is their tactics won’t need to change – all the teams they are playing prefer to play an attacking style of football, and the current Greek strategy is very much defensive and counter attacking.
“The problem for Greece is they have struggled to score goals in qualifications and as a result of that they will be playing against high level opponents and it will be more difficult than before.”
If Greece do proceed to the round of 16 – and if there are no upsets in the meantime – they are almost certain to face either Italy or England, who are the likely winners of Group D.
“Greece’s greatest asset is discipline and organisation, so it will take good teams to be able to beat them,” says Kimon.
As for who will win the 2014 World Cup, he says it will almost be the usual suspects – two of which are in Australia’s group – Spain and Holland.
“The traditional teams who always do well are Germany and Italy, of course Argentina are always competitive and France have finally found some form,” he says, saying he can’t imagine any of those countries not winning the World Cup.
“I think historically no European country – if I’m not mistaken – has won a world cup on South American soil and history as well tends to play a role in football, so history will favour Brazil or Argentina, even Uruguay are very competitive.”
No stranger to Brazil, Ange remembered some 13 years ago when his club, South Melbourne, was representing the then region Oceania in the inaugural Club World Championship in his editorial piece in The Age this week.
“At the draw we found out we would be playing at the famous Maracana stadium against arguably the most famous club in the world – Manchester United – and, just as importantly, our president finally found out the financial rewards on offer. I am sure he broke out in a cold sweat knowing how close we were to blowing it in the tropical setting just months before. They often say that your life can change in moments, and for quite a few people on that trip, life would never be the same.
“Steve Panopoulos was able to convince David Beckham to swap shirts – not an easy task given the competition for this honour – but later he came away with a more prized possession when he met his future wife in the lobby of our hotel. He now lives in Brazil with his wife and two kids and is a successful player agent.
“John Anastasiadis was coming to the end of a fantastic career in which he had forged a name for himself in Greece and also managed to score in three grand finals for South Melbourne. He was definitely a big-match player but I know the goal that would mean most to him would be the one he scored at the Maracana.”