Aussie DNA is not a gameplan

No one thought Australia was going to win the FIFA World Cup.

Ok now that I’ve got that earth-shattering statement out of the way I feel liberated, a huge weight off my chest.

In all seriousness, the beginning of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar brought with it the usual optimism and dare-to-dream mentality that accompanies Australian sporting teams at international tournaments.

After all, the nation’s footballing community was riding high off the back of an emotional two-legged playoff, banishing the UAE and South American power Peru in 180 minutes of the most nerve-wracking, emotionally charged football this country has seen since 2005.

Australia at the World Cup is usually nothing more than a footnote, a true happy-to-be-here exercise of futility and false-hope. Notions of advancing quickly put to rest as the nation was dealt a harsh reality check by footballing elite.

In fact, since those brave cavaliers in 2006, here’s how Australia has gone at the World Cup.

Games Played - 10

Games Won - 1

Goals Scored - 9

Goals Conceded - 24

Australia’s last World Cup win was way back in June 2010, a 2-1 win over Serbia in Nelspruit, South Africa, goals from Tim Cahill and Brett Holman not enough to lift the Socceroos into the knockout phase, coming third behind Ghana on goal difference thanks to a 4-0 pummelling at the hands of Germany in the tournament opener.

In fact, before Craig Goodwin sent the country into raptures with his early goal against France the other day, Australia hadn’t even scored an open play goal at the World Cup since the second game of the 2014 campaign.

You might remember that goal.

Between this goal, on the 18th of June, 2014 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Goodwin’s opener on November 22 in Al Wakrah, Australia had scored three goals at the World Cup, all penalties, all off the boot of Mile Jedinak.

Grim.

So you might be asking why I’m bringing up this plethora of extremely negative stats in an attempt to bore you, dear reader, to death.

Well, before the World Cup, you may have seen various articles covering the Socceroos in their preparation for the matches, all detailing an intangible, mythical weapon the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Looney Tunes gulped down the “secret stuff” Michael Jordan tricked them with in the 1996 cult film Space Jam.

“Aussie DNA.”

groans

To me, there’s a lot of value in emphasising the cultural diversity in the squad, especially as a nation whose strength lies in its history of immigration. The fact nine of the 26 man squad were born overseas is a great testament to the landscape of modern Australia. It’s something to be celebrated and proud of, this is true.

But I was told “Aussie DNA” was about running until you collapsed and couldn’t run any more, picking yourself up, and running some more.

I was told “Aussie DNA” was about, and forgive the Tubthumping reference, getting knocked down and getting back up.

Anyone who watched the last 70 minutes of Australia’s 2022 opener against reigning champions France would think the two nations had swapped stereotypes.

Australia started all haughty, grabbing an opener with fantastic, aggressive play, searching passing and clinical precision up front. What followed was a level of cowardice and surrender that would make even the most ardent Frenchman blush.

Harry Kewell’s frustration in commentary was palpable, an audible groan escaping the former Leeds and Liverpool man’s mouth every time a pass was timidly caressed backwards to an open defender or the goalkeeper.

Using that metric, there was a lot of audible groaning.

Were France always going to win regardless of the early goal? Yes probably. This is a side worth billions of dollars, possessing some of the best talent the world of football has to offer. Any side anchored by the likes of Real Madrid engine Aurelien Tchouameni and spearheaded by Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann is going to be pretty bloody good.

France are missing 2018 heroes Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante through injury, and you’d be forgiven for forgetting about them, such is the squad’s quality.

But the criticism of the Socceroos isn’t at losing to a better side. Australian football fans might be optimists, but they’re not idiots.

No, the criticism stems from a completely flaccid style of play that lacked any semblance of this “Aussie DNA” narrative that we’ve been forcefed ever since that famous shootout over Peru.

Every time the Socceroos found themselves in possession after the goal (admittedly a rare occurrence as France grew into the game), you’d be forgiven for thinking the players had met each other about two hours before kick off.

What was running in behind the French backline had turned into static wingers content to hug the sidelines. The rabid pressing of the French backline turned into neutered backpedalling, allowing easy possession. Where the French had to work and run and sweat for the first 20 mins, all of a sudden they were on vacation.

To paraphrase Kewell’s commentary, the lack of work and running the Socceroos made the French do early in the game caught up to them later. As weary Socceroos legs finally controlled the ball, a rested Frenchman was in their face, stamina saved from a relative training run.

Australian football has a lot of feelgood stories recently, from the heroics of Andrew “the Grey Wiggle” Redmayne to ensure qualification, to Garang Kuol torching Barcelona and earning a January move to EPL side Newcastle, to Jason “Cumdog/Cumdingo” Cummings being capped.

But maybe that’s all Australian football is destined to be, a feelgood story rather than a true contender?

My impression watching Australia chase shadows against France was of a team scared of making mistakes, a team drunk on the euphoria of their shock lead that they didn’t know what to do. For my FIFA players out there, it seemed like Graham Arnold stole his goal and immediately flicked the gameplan far left, all the way to “Park The Bus.”

Playing defensively against France is always going to happen naturally due to the quality of players, there’s no need to invite it on willingly by sitting on the edge of your box and being happy to play tiki taka with your centre backs.

There was a hope that halftime and France’s 2-1 lead would shock the Socceroos into action, into some more vibrant and positive play, maybe a little bit of “Aussie DNA”?

laughs in French

Looking ahead, there’s some parallels to Australia’s 2010 campaign emerging here. In 2010, Australia got handed a football lesson by the Germans to the tune of 4-0, before a draw against Ghana and the aforementioned win over Serbia, but the damage was done in the first game with that huge negative in the goal difference column.

Tunisia and Denmark aren’t France, but they’re two high quality opponents in their own right, probably at the level of 2010 Ghana and 2010 Serbia. Winning either of those games certainly won’t be easy, and in fact if you look at a bookmaker, probably unexpected.

When you looked at the Socceroos’ group, you probably circled the game against Tunisia as the “most winnable” on paper, but definitely not a guaranteed win by any stretch of the imagination.

And I’ll tell you now, if the Socceroos play as negatively as they did for most of the France game against these next two opponents, then they might end up shipping more than the nine goals they conceded in 2014.

Tunisia possess four players currently plying their trade in the traditional “top five” leagues of Europe, led by current Montpellier and former Bordeaux and Sunderland frontman Wahbi Khazri.

The Socceroos? Two, in Awer Mabil (Cadiz) and Ajdin Hrustic (Hellas Verona). That number is also not a true representation because Mabil has barely kicked a ball in anger in clubland this season while Hrustic is still returning from an injury that’s kept him out for several weeks now.

The spectre of this “Aussie DNA” can only stretch so far before it wears thin. If nothing else, the team needs to stop being so scared of making mistakes and actually be prepared to play the ball forward and take some risks. You can’t score goals if you’re passing it around the back for 90 mins.

To that point, in my mind there needs to be changes made from the side that lost to France. Nathaniel Atkinson is a quality young right back who has had a great qualification campaign, and most fullbacks would struggle against Kylian Mbappe, but he doesn’t offer the same impetus going forward that Fran Karacic does.

Ajdin Hrustic was fit for bench minutes against France but with the game well and truly out of hand he was preserved for the Tunisia clash. If he is indeed fit to start as has been suggested, he absolutely has to. As the squad’s talisman and shining creative force, especially with no Tom Rogic, his inclusion should be a foregone conclusion.

Finally, up front, I’m not sure this is the game for a toiler at striker like Mitchell Duke. Australia need goals, desperately, and to me that means one of Jamie Maclaren or Jason Cummings from the get go. A hold up striker like Duke perpetuates and encourages a more negative, Tony Pulis-esque style of play.

If Australia truly wants to be more than a feelgood footnote quickly stamped out by “proper” football nations then it needs to stop cowering behind the falsehood of “Aussie DNA” mattering, or actually start playing like the narrative it embellishes.

Everyone at the World Cup is passionate for their country. National anthems bring tears, wins bring national days of celebration while losses plunge entire nations into a shared depression. Thinking you can win at the World Cup by being more passionate than another country is a fool’s exercise, and arrogant.

Australia is not more passionate than any other country that has the honour of being represented on world sport’s grandest stage.

It’s time to stop lying to ourselves, and play like we mean it.