"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football

Pim Verbeek: "Oman more important than Oranje"

Friday 09 October 2009

Australia boss Pim Verbeek wants to surprise Holland tomorrow just like he did in August (1-2).

Still he believes the game on Wednesday against Oman is much more important: "That's a game we must win," the coach emphasized.

Oman are Australia's third opponent in the qualification campaign for the Asia Cup.

Indonesia kept the team of Verbeek to a 0-0 draw and Kuwait surprised by beating Australia 0-1.

Some journalists in Australia expect that Verbeek's position might come under pressure even before the start of the World Cup in South Africa when Australia fail to beat Oman.

Verbeek is not impressed by the speculations about him getting fired.

"Ah well, I know how things work around here. The first pages of the sports pages are for rugby, then there's cricket and if there's any room left the national football team gets a column or two. Not everyone apparently understands why we haven't one a game yet for the Asia Cup."

Verbeek pointed out the fact that did not have his best players at his disposal for the Asia Cup qualifications.

"The European clubs don't have to let their players go for such games, like they do for World Cup qualifiers. So in these games we use mainly players from the Australian league. You can compare the level with the Dutch Jupiler League. Then you can drop a few points. Against Oman on Wednesday everyone will be there."

The former coach of South Korea will use his best players against Holland as well.

"We start with our best team. Only in the second half will we think about Oman. That match is more important. I probably will not be coach here when the Asia Cup finals are played in January 2011. But we have to qualify of course."

Verbeek wants to find a club team after the World Cup in South Africa.

"The standard of living in Australia is fantastic and of course it's great that we get to go to the World Cup for the second consecutive time. But it's a tough job at times as most my players play in Europe. They arrive one day before a game and have a jetlag. Then you don't just easily beat a team that has been preparing for four weeks for an encounter with Australia. Not even when that opponent is Qatar or China. Sadly people forget that sometimes. It's not at all ordinary that we qualified so easily for the World Cup."