Aussie Analysis: Is Pim Verbeek Too Good At His Job?

The golden rule of any job is to under-promise, over-deliver.

Unfortunately for Pim Verbeek, the Socceroos’ strong showing in the 2006 World Cup ensured that Australians developed a taste for a football team that performs - both in terms of goals and in good old fashioned ticker. That, combined with years of sporting prowess and gutsiness shown by the likes of fleet-of-foot Cathy Freeman and flipper-like-feet Ian Thorpe has raised the Australian sporting achievement expectation bar high.

Over 70,000 fans turned out in chilly Melbourne temperatures to witness the Socceroos take on their nearest and arch Asian rivals. With both teams already qualified for 2010 and the Socceroos needing just one point from the match to finish top in the group, it was tipped to be a celebration. And after not having conceded a goal in seven consecutive games, the point seemed very achievable, even if Verbeek was forced to field a relatively rookie defensive line up so as not to risk players on yellow cards. But the early physicality clearly signalled that, dead rubber or not, it was game on.

Australia had some decent early chances, including a Tim Cahill shot across the face of goal that the goalkeeper only just managed to parry, that target-man Joshua Kennedy dived back to tap onto target-man-of-the-moment Mile Sterjovski, whose shot was denied only by a deflection.

But Japan going 1-0-up courtesy of an unchallenged Tanaka header in the 39th was exactly what the Socceroos, and Australians, needed. It marked the first time that the team had had to come from behind in their qualification campaign. The first time they’d had to show some ticker.

That it was 2006 Japan-game hero Timmy Cahill who dug deep to find not one but two goals was something that couldn’t have been better scripted. Such underdog-overcoming-the-odds history repeating was also sure to satisfy the media, hungry for newspaper-selling headlines.

"I think we should give them a little more respect for what they do, they love to do it, but still they did a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances and they deserve a little more respect," Verbeek said of the Socceroos earlier in the week.  

So, you could say, does he.

And with a handful of friendlies between now and South Africa 2010, the Socceroos’ real tests, which are unlikely to look easy, lie ahead of them.

Here’s hoping Verbeek can continue to over-deliver.

Fiona Crawford, Goal.com

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