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Too Risky To Use Domestic Based Players
As the Dutchman lead the Socceroos out against Qatar, he will be looking back at the controversy he was stirred up for relying on his foreign-based stars. When he first took over the reins from interim coach Graham Arnold, Verbeek promised to utilize players from the domestic A-League.
After watching several matches for the past weeks, he stoically decided the domestic-based players do not have the experience to take on the teams in Australia’s “group of death”. The Socceroos are drawn together with Qatar, China and Iraq.
"It's a big challenge and when I came here at first I had hoped we could use the A-League players in the game against Qatar, so I didn't have to bring the players from Europe back," he explained.
"But in the end I decided it was too risky because they don't have any international experience."
Honest Opinion
On the controversy he has stirred up, Verbeek reiterated that he was simply giving an honest assessment about the fledging A-League.
The Australian media had latched on to Dutchman's suggestions that players training with club sides in Europe were still being exposed to a higher level of football than those performing in the fledgling A-League.
"I explained later that I didn't say it to insult anyone, I was just being honest," he said.
"I said if you train six or seven times a week for a Bundesliga club then you are playing at a higher level than in the A-League."Everybody says, 'You are right,' but nobody wants you to say it. But at least they know I am honest.
"In three years they have done so well with the league. As entertainment it is unbelievable because there are lots of chances and goals in every game. But as a coach I'm looking for something different than the fans. I want tactical discipline, no mistakes and chances. I see a lot that we have to improve.
"It was a slip of the tongue and I didn't want to say anything shocking but it was my honest opinion. But because of it, football was on the back page instead of cricket and that can only be a good thing."
Gave A-League Players A Chance
The former South Korea coach also insisted he had done his best to give the A-League players an opportunity to feature for the Socceroos. But after their recent 1-1 draw against Melbourne Victory, Verbeek felt they are not entirely up to the mark yet.
He said: "All the clubs play with different systems so you could have five or six players playing with one system and four or five others playing in another. So you would have five or six who would understand what you want and others who didn't.
"They also have not played any international matches, so it wasn't possible. When I look back now it was mission impossible. We tried it, we gave them a chance and now I can look in the mirror and say I gave it a try."



source:goal.com