“I don’t believe there’s any sport that unites the nation quite like the Socceroos,” enthuses Graham Arnold on a skillfully compiled hype reel for Fox Sports’ coverage of the Asian Cup. It’s a bullish statement but one that may struggle to find justification over the next few weeks as Australia’s men’s national football team competes in its biggest event outside the World Cup.
Logistics are far from conducive to unifying the country. 10pm AEDT is the most family friendly kick-off time during the tournament with matches at the business end of proceedings taking place in the witching hours. Add to that, all the action from the United Arab Emirates is exclusively on pay TV.
An absence of star power remains a hindrance to the Socceroos infiltrating the mainstream. The golden generation are now silver foxes leaving behind a cohort lacking celebrity. Much was made of Tim Cahill’s ubiquity in pre-World Cup commercial activity but even he is no longer around to lend his familiar face. This will be the first open-age tournament without Cahill since the 2002 OFC Nations Cup.
Untimely injuries to the likes of Daniel Arzani and Aaron Mooy have compounded this challenge, as has the ongoing struggle to find a first-choice striker the country can identify as a synonym for goals, the sport’s most recognisable commodity. Goalkeeper Mat Ryan is arguably the Australian performing at the highest level week in week out, while the captain is an unfashionable defensive utility. Football Federation Australia’s marketing department is not overwhelmed with unifying assets.
And then there’s the Asian issue. Australia enjoys a relationship with the continent that could still politely be described as arm’s length, and this includes in football, where opportunities for integration are abundant. Asian players remain a rarity in the A-League, the Asian Champions League is neglected, and the demand for information about neighbouring leagues is far from overwhelming, despite Australia being well-served by a growing number of knowledgeable voices on the topic.
An example of the peculiarities of Australia’s place in Asian football arrived recently when Chris Sutton slipped into troll mode. The English pundit provoked outrage by describing the Asian Cup as “Mickey Mouse football”, using as illustration Australia’s presumed ability to “pump Jordan” without Tom Rogic, their most creative attacker.
Irate responses channeled the indignation that came from the Socceroos being patronisingly viewed below the Old Firm in football’s global pecking order. A more satisfying riposte would have been to assert the stature of the Asian Cup, the growing quality of Asian football, and stressing the capabilities of Jordan; their victory over Denmark last year perhaps, or their ability to emerge from Rijeka as recently as October with only a 2-1 reverse at the hands of World Cup finalists Croatia.
But Sutton’s offhand dismissal of Australia’s confederation rivals fits the stereotype here as much as it does in the UK. To many, Australia’s Asian Cup opponents - especially during the group phase - are unfamiliar, unheralded and consequently overlooked as a competitive threat.
The yearning for glamour from Europe and South America shows no sign of abating, creating an appetite destined never to be sated. Instead, the long-term project must be to shine brighter lights on the likes of Jordan, Syria and Palestine, to generate comparable levels of interest and excitement in rivalries that will recur each World Cup and Asian Cup cycle. When Thailand surprised the Socceroos home and away during World Cup qualifying there was a sense of bemusement at the level of performance. We should be thrilled at the rising standards and what that means for the competitiveness of the region; our region.
All of which makes Arnold’s task this month in the UAE unenviable and difficult. As coach of the defending champions he has to welcome the burden of favouritism despite a depleted transitional squad. He has to convince skeptics the group phase, let alone the knockouts, will be no cakewalk, despite the expected procession.
The afterglow of winning the whole kit and kaboodle soon wore off for his predecessor and sympathy will be in short supply if those achievements are not repeated. The odds are stacked against him.
