New Socceroos coach to be announced today

[Mantis]

Dutchman Pim Verbeek will be announced at 3.30 today as the new coach of the Australian soccer team.

As with Guus he has previous experience with the South Korean national team and has also coached UAE so has some solid Asian region experience.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Who knows anything about him?

Ernie?

[Mantis]

Who knows anything about him?

Ernie?

There was a big write up about him in the middle pages of the Age sports section today.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/soccer/australia-woos-european-pair-to-fill-hot-seat/2007/12/05/1196812825377.html

[The Underdog]

I understand their wanting to stick with a Dutchman as they have gone strongly down that alley (Hiddink, Baan, nearly Advocaat), however I did like the resume of Troussier in more of a been there done that kind of way. He'd taken 2 teams to World Cups, won the Asian Cup with Japan and had experience in Europe, Asia and Africa. Apparently also a mean bastard (see: disciplinarian).
Verbeek does have experience in Asia though which I think was a crucial aspect. Not the big name they'd have been hoping for, but he'll be one if we make the World Cup.

[Sockeye Salmon]

I understand their wanting to stick with a Dutchman as they have gone strongly down that alley (Hiddink, Baan, nearly Advocaat), however I did like the resume of Troussier in more of a been there done that kind of way. He'd taken 2 teams to World Cups, won the Asian Cup with Japan and had experience in Europe, Asia and Africa. Apparently also a mean bastard (see: disciplinarian).
Verbeek does have experience in Asia though which I think was a crucial aspect. Not the big name they'd have been hoping for, but he'll be one if we make the World Cup.

And mud if we don't

[The Underdog]

And mud if we don't

Not to mention the guys who appointed him.

In a related piece of beautiful symmetry, Tim Cahill scored a goal to put Everton through and beat Dick Advocaat's Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 in the UEFA Cup.
I love Tim Cahill.

[Chops]

They have gone from the top shelf liquors.
Advocaat to Pims
As long as they don't go Fosters, Craig
Will say more later.

[GVGjr]

Genuine question but does he speak English as well as Guus did? I remember hearing that the problem with one of the highly rated candidates was that he didn't speak English at all.

This cannot be a big issue though could it?
I'm sure there is communication issues with most European teams and yet they perform well and manage it.

Some people on SEN don't seem happy with it.

[wimberga]

GVG, the Candidate with no english you refer to was one Fabio Cappello, of Real Madrid Fame.

[GVGjr]

GVG, the Candidate with no english you refer to was one Fabio Cappello, of Real Madrid Fame.

I'm not a big round ball fan and don't profess to understand the technical nature of having some many players in a team and them not all speaking the same language. Would the lack of English in a truly international game really have been a big hurdle to overcome for a coaching appointment?

[Chops]

I agree With you GVGJr. The lack of English should not be a major problem for a good coach.

Not sure what Verbeek is like but know anything is better than the current situation. FFA stuff the whole process up after Guus left. 1.5 years of him , no him , no him, maybe him, etc
Obviously they are happy with the Dutch system for Australia. Whether he is better than the others I don't know.His record with South Korea wasn't great but I honestly believe you can achieve more with what we have.
I believe the coach should aim high as I think the potential of the game here is boundless.

possibly him.

[The Underdog]

Some people on SEN don't seem happy with it.

To be honest it's hard to be too unhappy unless you are particularly familiar with him. He worked under both Hiddink and Advocaat so he's going keep a similiar system to what they're familiar with.
I'm sure people were disappointed we didn't get a bigger name but at this stage of the game and with the money we could spend it wasn't going to happen. We can talk Capello and Houllier but someone will come along and offer them more oney closer to home and they'll go there.
We have a coach now, hopefully he takes charge, gets the squad together and starts working towards qualification.

[Sockeye Salmon]

If the best thing he's got going for him is that he used to be Hiddink's understudy, why didn't we hire Johann Noskens 18 months ago?

[Chops]

If the best thing he's got going for him is that he used to be Hiddink's understudy, why didn't we hire Johann Noskens 18 months ago?
I agree and said so 18 months back.
To be fair Neeskens had never coached as the main man yet at the time while Verbeek has Asian experience.
Neeskens was worth a punt.

Can't be upset with Verbeek yet as he hasn't anything wrong. We could have gone through another 6 months with no solution when it needed to be fixed months back. There are a lot of good coaches but its the one that blends well with our team.
No. 1 priority was he wants to do it and do it in Australia.

[The Underdog]

If the best thing he's got going for him is that he used to be Hiddink's understudy, why didn't we hire Johann Noskens 18 months ago?

Because at that stage they were still under the illusion that a top European coach would want to coach us. 18 months down the track they'd lost the guy who was interested and needed someone to slot reasonably seamlessly into the position, and quick. Verbeek will now be judged on one thing and that's whether he gets us back to the World Cup.

[westdog54]

Although I liked the idea of getting Philippe Troussier on board (thought he did some great work with Japan while he was there) I don't see this as a bad appointment. I may see it as bad in 12 months time but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

[dog town]

At least the players now have a face and name to look towards as a coach which is all they wanted. Bring on the qualifiers. How good is it going to be having a whole qualifying tournament/round to watch? Should be good viewing times too given we are now in Asia.

[The Underdog]

At least the players now have a face and name to look towards as a coach which is all they wanted. Bring on the qualifiers. How good is it going to be having a whole qualifying tournament/round to watch? Should be good viewing times too given we are now in Asia.

As long as you've got Foxtel.

[dog town]

As long as you've got Foxtel.Got it in my loungeroom, bedroom and garage.:)

[The Underdog]

Got it in my loungeroom, bedroom and garage.:)

can I borrow one of yours then?:)

[FrediKanoute]

To be honest it's hard to be too unhappy unless you are particularly familiar with him. He worked under both Hiddink and Advocaat so he's going keep a similiar system to what they're familiar with.
I'm sure people were disappointed we didn't get a bigger name but at this stage of the game and with the money we could spend it wasn't going to happen. We can talk Capello and Houllier but someone will come along and offer them more oney closer to home and they'll go there.We have a coach now, hopefully he takes charge, gets the squad together and starts working towards qualification.

Spot on. We've got to recognise where Australia is at in terms of a footballing nation. we are pretty small fry in the scheme of things. yes the game is growing, but we remain small fry. In appointing Pim what the FFA have done is select a guy with a solid background, who is familiar with the style of play we have developed and is likely to be able to build on what we have achieved to date. Getting a Houllier or a Hiddink or a Klingsman or even a Morinho would probably have cost a packet, well in advance of the budget the FFA had to spend and with the players we have it would probably have been wasted!