yep, i’ve spoken a few times on here about economics being a factor as well.

i can’t remember who it was i was having the convo with on here (i have a feeling it was chris or ago)

but there was a lot of uproar when only 1 adelaide player was selected in an underage australian team and training camp earlier this year (there should’ve been at least 5-6 adelaide players)

90% of that squad consisted of players from vic/nsw, who’s parents were able to afford for their sons to attend (majority of the adelaide boys couldn’t afford it)

money unfortunately does play a large part in terms of junior npl level, academies and even australian selection sides

yup that was one of my articles
the point of it was to dispell this myth of an overseas scouting grid, there never has been and more than likely wont ever be be unless serious money is spent on it.
the other thing people are completely diregarding is, financially signing australian players isnt the best option for a lot of european team – who are better off sticking with european players
newcastle united (who only got mega rich recently) had to pay developement and training fees to the mariners as part of the g kuol deal – also have to remember he doesnt hold andEU passport
lots of young australian players have missed out on moves due to this. eg. why would a club in spain sign an aussie kid who doesnt qualify via his heritage and have to fork out training and developement fees when they get 1 or 2 kids cheaper from germany?
alot of the time theirs basic economic issues in why some of these kids dont move to europe (adelaide uniteds johnny yull saw his move to chelsea collapse before the start of this season due to finances as a moot point)

remember, to non-football fans there is only 1 ‘elite’ football league – the premier league 😂

it’s not even the best league out of the 5 big ones lol, just the richest

exclude the luck the saudi’s had – their overall performance in how they went about the match, is how any small team should approach a big side especially at the international level

not many sides will compete skill wise with argentina, but you can compete with them other ways.

win the first balls if you lose them make sure you win the second, win the 50/50 balls, win your defensive headers, dont give the opposition space, tackle, foul, waste a few extra seconds at goal kicks, throws in, disrupt momentum by staying on the ground longer etc etc

that level of aggresion is something i’ve never seen in a saudi side before, theyre well coached by renard – who has a decent history of coaching non fancied international teams

club wise you’ve got another 30+ games to play expansive, internationally against these big guns you only get the one chance and you have to do whatever it takes

tunisia showed enough against denmark in how agressive they will be, if australia can’t match it – id expect another loss.

Theres no australian scouting network in europe (a lot of people aren’t aware of that)

You may have missed another one of the articles i posted up about my time in eastern europe throughout october and early november, it was in relation to an australian born child who will elect to represent serbia (because of australia’s lack of interest)

i started that article with how the academy at crvena zvezda is structured in terms of training based on the 3 growth spurts mentally/physically that boys go through.

in romania i spent nearly a week at hagi’s academy (which cost roughly the same as the wanderer’s – around $17 million dollars) where only kids from constanta (the academy is based there) aged between 6-12 year old can take part, from 13-18 the rest of romania’s really talented juniors can go there.

then they break it down further – choosing the best player for each position in the 13/14/15/16/17/18 age group who are trained individually based on their position on the pitch (it’s a very tailored and personalised program.

while in russia at the gazprom academy i saw a big emphasis on psychological testing (eg personallity quizzes, solving football related scenarios as well as personal ones)

found it very interesting the types of physical testing they did there as well, (eg oxygen testing on juniors) wasn’t there on my last visit pre pandemic.

i am not too fond of asia as a continent, but if i was – i would like to have a contact in both thailand and vietnams FA, both countries youth programs have grown leaps and bounds in the last several years (they’ve invested over 10 million dollars in each though)

identification is as good as it will get currently In australia, especially while clubs continue to persist wanting genetically superior athletes as opposed to really good technical players currently (recruiting is mirroring afl and rugby now and that is a major concern

what am i meant to do though when im being contracted to find certain types of players? (eg. left sided, ball playing centreback, 5’10, 13 years old) im not a miracle worker lol

lots of stuff is out of my control – eg school work, family life, friends, social media.

you need to be fully committed and make sacrifices to make it as a professional footballer – less time on twitch and tik tok, more time in the back yard or the park honing your craft

there is a child in adelaide who has stats similar to messi at that point of his developement, hes a striker who’s scored goals for fun this past NPL junior’s season

he has some of the best skills i’ve seen from a striker in australia, plays with a smile and comes from a good family -however hes incredibly undersized in height compared to other boys in his age group.

i’ve recommended him to clubs to keep an eye on in the coming years, regardless of his skills they see his height and say no (i’ve resorted to advising he will be a late developer as well as including his parents height, dad is over 6 ft mum is 5’9 to show potentially how tall he could get to )

clairefontaine is on my hit list of places to spend some time at, although ive been to france on many occasions i’ve never had the connections at that level to go behind the scenes (that might change hopefully in the future)

coaching at juniors level is more of an issue IMHO – the only way that gets better is dumping more money into it

coaching is not an easy job – you need to also be like a brother, friend, dad to some of these kids who are going through different growth mentally.

a lot of the boys with African heritage (the future of Australian football) are coming through – blessed with pace, strength & unpredictability – but all that amount’s for nothing if not coached correctly once identified

I upset 3 vic npl clubs and 1 a league team when I was presenting my data to them earlier this year and how they were doing things incorrectly in the state – That a league did listen though, as they signed multiple players who were on my database.

Victoria as a state is the worst developer of youth in this country currently, all 3 a league clubs missed the kuol family (one side even looked at them twice and said no)

im going to break my rule of ignoring your posts, because i think you actually believe what you wrote

this is not a shot at ryan grant either, hes had a great club career – but he is nowhere near the best right back in the a league, let alone australian right back anywhere in the world (and hasnt been for at least a couple of seasons)

using every stat measurable in relation to what positionally a right back must do – the top 3 right backs after 6 rounds in the a league in order are:

javi lopez (after 6 rounds is the starting right back in team of the year)
gabriel cleur (multiple times in team of the week)
Josh risdon

if you’re talking world wide, the best performing australian right backs this season in order are:

ryan strain (not selected)
gabriel cleur (not selected)
josh risdon (not selected)
fran karacic
nathanial atkinson

the purpose of an international coach is selecting players who are performing and playing weekly (that way he has no excuse when questioned by the media or from fans, as hes picked the best perfoming squad available) – arnie has not done this through qualifying or the world cup

its hypocrisy of the highest form, thats always been the arnie way.

but like i said, its hard to hold him accountable – when the journalists get their questions Veto’d first by the media manager.

they’re told not to ask certain things, it happens to all journalists (eg to irans coach about the issues at home, portugals coach about ronaldos club issues etc )

factor in that arnie also has supporters in well known pundits (bosnich and slater) and you can see why hes reasonably teflon to criticism

once again, arnie should think before he speaks at press conferences.

he’s been beaten up non stop since talking about aussie dna and being competitive – which didnt happen against france.

its been one of his worst trademarks as a club club and its followed through to international level, he constantlly says outrageous things

says one thing, then does a completely different thing

the issue is no australian journalists holds him accountable, theyre too afraid to ask the hard hitting questions and a lot of the times the questions they ask are veto’d first by the media manager of the socceroos

and thats how you shut down people who follow that weird egg-shaped ball with the short shorts sport – that is played nowhere else in the world that australia is the best at 😂

the squad does have players that have ‘mongrel’ in them Eg irvine, mcgree, devlin.

but that inner mongrel should’ve been released against the french, that was the game of this group to actually lock the opposition down with defensive tactics, fouling etc

it wouldnt have been pretty to watch, but as argentina found out – that type of intensity coupled with the dark arts of tactical fouling can really ruin a sides momentum.

cannot lose that midfield battle to tunisia.

might be time to tack the shackles off that little pitbull, devlin (still not sold on him at international level) but this is the perfect game where his destructive qualities might actually benefit the side and fire team mates up

laidouni & skhiri vs irvine/mcgree & devlin in the engine room could be quite tasty

most dangerous match of the group stage, that a large portion of the supporter base believe is an easy win. – its going to be anything but that,

if australia don’t meet tunisia in the ‘feistyness’ department they will struggle in this match

lets see if that famous arnie mantra of “Aussie DNA”, “never give up”, “fight to the death” actually is followed through by the players – because it was missing against france

the statistically best RB in europe this season, was not even selected for the tournament

#dontfeedthetrolls

serbia is the tallest nation in the world cup, average height 1.91, denmark is second 1.86 and france is third 1.85

messi is one of a kind, but you need to remember barcelona paid for his growth hormones and hes still not exactly tall

like i said above and have mentioned on here multiple times in the last year, clubs are now recruiting more like the afl – the genetically gifted athlete over the smaller skillful player with solid technical skills

one of my recent articles whilst in eastern europe touched on the 3 different ages of physical and mental growth in junior boys – 14, 16, 18 and the various training that is done with this in mind (its not done in australia by comparison.)

size matters to a certain degree in specific positions (gk, cb and i would still argue defensive midfield & cf require it) i have been provided enough information from interested parties to categorically say that is true with those positions

however a child that is technically gifted should hold more priority over a child that is more athletic (my opinion will never change on that) – especially in a poor football skills country like australia

before my time, but very familiar with the player.

i’ve been very critical of sides that tactially foul in the a league (wanderers and city) but thats because the skill level in the a league is similar across all sides – no team should resort to constant tactical fouling.

my view alters considerably when you’re facing one the best international sides and arguably one of the top 3 footballers in the world

saudi arabia show australia how to do it against argentina, they rode their luck as well – but that constant fouling really threw the argentinians off there game

the FA got 12 million for qualifying, id like an explanation of where that went

dont catch me out on currency conversation rates nicko,

the coach you mentioned also has in depth knowledge of the asian confederation and also has a japanese person on his coaching staff

the only japanase trainer on any international sides team, outside of japan itself

like ive always said about international football. -players should only be selected who are playing weekly and peforming at their clubs, as well as working hard in training for the international side.

too many players were chosen through qualifying and the world cup who werent playing, coming back from injury or have a personal connection with arnie

1. the current coach of croatia and serbia are on less than several hundred grand – both countries have small populations but where football rules the roost.

take into consideration over the past 50 years the amount of australian players and coaches with heritage from eastern europe and you can see where im going.

im going to float a name for my own selfish reasons (becaue he is one of my all time favourite players and had a friendship with my day) current coach of serbia, Dragan Stojkovic

people forget he is familiar with the asian confederation, he was a very succesful coach in the j league and arsene wenger wanted stojokovic to succeed him at arsenal (he was his protege in japan)

charismatic in interviews and not afraid to play youth or change up formations/tactics.

2. ryan should not have been selected (doesnt playe weekly) mitch should’ve be the #1.

gauci is the heir to the throne, but he needs to keep working on distribution and ironing out little mistakes – adelaide turned down and offer for him from europe and blocked some over seas trials as well in the off season.

3. while australian can still qualify, i wouldnt throw on the ‘next gen’ against tunisia – the bigger question is who will be the coach at the asian cup?

chris, one of the hardest things in terms of junior coaching, is explaining to the parents that your child is not good enough.

i’ve had to do it on multiple occasions over the years (and im not even a coach) and generally have been proven right in my initial assesments – although gabriel popovich might come back to haunt me.

tony gave me the deathly stare in the tunnels at hindmarsh when i walked past him a few weeks ago (im pretty sure i explained the run in i have with him over his sons in melbourne some years ago, on here as well lol)

there are however, certain clubs where money talks and politics come into play with how they select players at sap programs

gone up considerably since the last time i was in rushcutters bay lol, from vague memory it was a coffee shop with lot in its name

thats football sometimes, its not always about skill – sometimes all you need is a little bit of luck

half a foot either side and irvine / duke score, but in saying that france missed at least 3 gilt edged chanced that you would put the house on them scoring 9/10

lady luck can be a real female dog sometimes, but france were deserved winners

i take no pleasure in seeing australia suffer in football Cameron

i went from choking back tears when a person ive known for 17 years and someone i consider a good friend scored the opening goal (it made me emotional, seeing how emotional he got.) – to shaking my head in disbelief at how the rest of the match unfolded

he’s the best player in the a league and a consummate professional on and off the pitch who loves his country – (ill forgive him for still not replying to my congratulary text for scoring this morning lol.)

i want the best for my adopted country when it comes to football at all levels, unfortunately mistakes are made at the very top of the tree and it goes down to each branch from there all the way down to the lowly amature leagues in each state

1.4 million dollars for arnie tops the list, not an international coach in any way shape of form and an absolute throw away of money.

saudi arabia have a more canny coach, thats the big difference.

australia could’ve played like them (constant fouling, time wasting, competing non stop) all this stuff arnie claimed would happen, never did eventuate – even couldve scored a worldie just like the saudis did, but duke shot swerved just wide.

physical can be developed in the gym
technical skills can be developed with more intricate training/coaching.
one thing you cant teach/further improve is speed, you have either got it or you dont.

in the 80s/90s the best young players had heritage from the balkans, all naturally good on the ball and were very creative.

now they migration pattern has dried up and the sons who are third generation australian barely player the sport.

luckily the african population continues to grow in australia

ive given my view on the fact i believe at least 6 of the starting XI of australias next world cup appearance in 2026 (if they qualify lol) will have african heritage.

blessed with natural athleticism, power and most importantly speed.