Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
In his latest AFC Asian Cup column, former Australia coach Pim Verbeek explains why being on the best of terms with the club’s where national team players ply their trade is of the utmost importance.
By Pim Verbeek
With more and players attached to clubs outside the continent, the task for coaches of Asia’s national squads has become more complicated; it’s no longer a simple case of picking the best players from your domestic league and preparing as you would like.
Coaches now have to know how to work with their counterparts in Europe or elsewhere, and the art of negotiation and diplomacy is more important than ever; having positive relationships with the clubs where your players earn their salaries is key.
For so many coaches in Europe, Asian football isn’t on their radar, and that’s because the game in this part of the world doesn’t get as much media coverage as it deserves outside the region. By contrast, the African Cup of Nations has a higher profile, because of time zones and because there are so many African players in Europe.
Because of that, clubs managers don’t always tend to be very understanding, and to overcome that you have to go yourself and deal with the coaches face-to-face. Trying to do it by phone or via email just doesn’t work. That’s what they appreciate and it makes things easier in the long run.
When I was head coach of the Socceroos, I had to go to Everton to see David Moyes about releasing Tim Cahill for a round of World Cup qualifying matches. Right from the start, David said there was no way he would be made available; he thought we wanted Tim for some friendly matches.
It was only when we sat down and discussed the situation and that I explained it was for World Cup qualifying that Everton changed their approach, and then they cooperated fully with us. Those kinds of conversations should be had manager-to-manager; it just makes things easier in the long run.
You have to build up the relationships with other coaches because their cooperation is very important for what you want to do. For the Asian Cup, it’s different than for the World Cup, where you have three weeks with the players. For continental championships you only have 10 days and because of the timing everyone is at a different stage of their season.
A team like Japan, for example, has many of their players in the Bundesliga, and because of the winter break they should be in good condition for the Asian Cup, and they won’t have many problems securing their release. And with the J.League finishing in early December and the Emperor’s Cup final to be played earlier this year, Javier Aguirre should have the majority of his key players ready.
It’s much the same for China, with their league and cup competitions both finished while the Koreans have a similar situation for their domestic players; the only problems they have are with their England-based players, like Ki Sung-yueng and Yun Suk-young
It’s hard to know what the teams in the Middle East will do because they’ve already stopped their leagues for the Gulf Cup – and playing in that tournament will certainly help with the teams’ preparations with at least four tough games in a very pressured environment.
Australia, too, will have some problems because the A-League will keep playing right until just days before the Asian Cup kicks off, and there are a few players in England as well.
Ange Postecoglou has used a lot of players from the A-League and we’ve already seen the league continuing even when the national team has been overseas playing in friendly matches. I’m not sure it’s the best approach for the development of the team.
But I must say I think Ange is doing a good job; I know the results haven’t been great, but sometimes this is what happens when you make the decision to regenerate the team and the only way to give new players the experience they need is to give them a go.
I was at the game against Belgium in Liege in September and for the first 25 minutes they played well against a very good team; that was a great test and they should take some confidence from that and some of their other performances.
Ange has a great relationship with the media and most importantly the support of the federation. He clearly has a plan that he’s working towards and everyone is backing that.
He made it clear even before the World Cup that the Asian Cup was his main focus, and when you say something like that then you have to deliver.
The pressure is on, especially because they are at home and the Australian public expects their sportsmen to win, but in Tim Cahill they have a player who remains truly world class and who still scores great goals while Mile Jedinak has become very important to them, too.
I’m sure the Socceroos will do well, but much will depend on just how much time Ange has with his players in the run-up to what is such an important tournament for Australian football.
Dutch coach Pim Verbeek took Australia to the finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Australia having previously steered Korea Republic to the semi-finals of the AFC Asian Cup in 2007. He has also worked in Japan and Morocco, and served alongside Guus Hiddink as assistant coach during the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals.