Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has outlined what he believes Australian football’s ambition should be - focus on youth.
The 59-year-old has taken pride in the development of young Aussie players throughout his roles in the Olyroos and now the Socceroos.
He guided many of the current Australian World Cup crop at the Olympics and once again put his faith in the kids for Qatar.
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His youthful squad includes the likes of Harry Souttar, Kye Rowles, Riley McGree and Nathan Atkinson, all of whom were part of his Olympic squad.
And while the crucial game in Denmark will go a long way to defining his tenure as coach of the national team, he believes much more needs to be done for the sport.
He told reporters ahead of the World Cup matchup: “When I say that, whatever happens with this World Cup I think the organisation needs a review of what’s going on in junior development.
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“Because when I went in 2018, when I first got appointed to the job in Russia and I watched them play, I could see straight away that Cahill, Jedinak, Milligan, Kruse, an ageing squad was there… I’d already taken the job, I needed to find players. And when I started looking, there was nothing coming through.
“When you’re ringing A-League coaches and you’re talking about two players per club… I could barely get a squad together to go to Thailand and to Cambodia.
“It’s not right. We need kids more given an opportunity in Australia. For me, there’s massive concerns for the future moving forward unless it’s fixed. It was a quick fix, that’s why I did the Olympic team for nothing.
“That’s why I had to do it, for a reason, when I asked the organisation ‘what’s the Olympic program’ and it’s ten days preparation with a team that didn’t have a coach two months before. Those type of things are not right.”
The former A-League winning coach pointed to the performance of Asian rivals such as Saudi Arabia and Japan as evidence that Australia could be falling behind in development.
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He continued: “The game is growing and growing and Asia is growing so quickly.
“People can sit back at home and their opinion is maybe Saudi is not that good or Japan. Look at what they’ve done. Beaten Argentina. Beaten Germany. Asia is throwing a lot of money into football and we need to catch up.”
Arnold maintains that it all starts from the development teams upwards.
He added: “The Socceroos are just the icing on the cake – and whatever that icing, whether it tastes good or bad, the most important thing is the ingredients.
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“The ingredient is junior development, junior national teams. If that’s not right, the icing will not taste very good.”
The Socceroos go up against Denmark in the early hours of Thursday (December 1) morning local time.
A draw would secure their entry into the Round of 16 for the first time since the 2006 World Cup.
Featured Image Credit: REUTERS / Alamy. dpa picture alliance / Alamy.Topics: Australia, Football, Football World Cup