It was a dreadful end to the Youth World Cup after almost an equivalent dreadful start and a dreadful middle. A lucky 1-1 draw with Ecuador was followed by a 3-2 loss to Costa Rica, and ended with 5-1 loss to Spain.
Even allowing for Spain's reputation, it was a terrible loss for a must-win game that saw the team a goal down within a minute and 4-0 down after 18 minutes after Coach Jan Versleijan inexplicably switched system for this game. It was the first time the system had been used in a match and, from some of the remarks from the players, had only really been properly trialled in training the day prior.
Why you'd switch a system on such a crunch match is mystifying. It reeks of the similar situation that Australia faced at last year's World Cup, where Pim Verbeek panicked against Germany and tried an untested system. The excuse for this tournament from Versleijan that qualification was lost by losing to Costa Rica, is not really good enough. While Australia's true place in the football world order is often hyped beyond reality, there's still no excuse for a sensible and composed approach to any game. Verbeek never had confidence in his players. Did Versleijan in his? Post-match he said some players were not World Cup level. That's not really an attitude to take.
There's also bigger issues, as mentioned after the recently completed U17 World Cup. Australia failed there, not to forget the disastrous U20s in Egypt two years ago that ended with 3 horrible losses. The "Dutch system" just does not work. Australia does not have the players, nor does it suit the mentality for, as detailed in the U17 World Cup blog, it's a system for cowards. It's not an attacking system at all; it's one about "keepings off". That is only done out of fear of the opposition's response with the ball.
In this game against Spain, lunacy was added by a system change that supposedly was to pressure Spain. A more suitable and attack-minded approach would actually to have sat back a little and let Spain come (as they so obviously would) then pick them off on the break. Some readers might recall a similar scenario in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics final group game, where Australia did exactly this, to have Spain 2-0 down early, only to eventually lose 3-2 by poor finishing from later chances resulting from Spain's sudden desperation. To pre-meditate pressuring Spain is simply misplaced aggression, bordering on stupidity.
The only bright spots of the World Cup were Tom Oar's spectacular 35m free kick in injury time to steal the draw against Ecuador, the fact the team could score goals all in matches that included responding twice to Costa Rica, and the reasonable effort to keep the second half goal-less against Spain. Several players are young enough to be at the next World Youth Cup, so good experience in Colombia. Versleijan's contract is also about to expire.
Mostly, Australia were out-played, out-thought, out-coached and, most of all, out-classed. The class factor was less to do with the players, and more to do with the system. Australia was always good for knocking off teams like Brazil and Argentina in the past and often qualifying for knockout stages, and that was in tougher 16 team tournaments, not like 24 teams of today with their 4 best third-placed teams. Now it never happens. If Australia soon develops a strong national team as a product for these Youth World Cup debacles then, and only then, can the experiment of trying to play an unsuited system at the expense of results be justified. Considering that most Australian players do the bulk of their development with their clubs under an assortment of systems and the Socceroos are also independent from the structure, that's hardly ever likely to be the case.
Spain vs Australia
Spain underlined why they are many people's favourites to win this FIFA U-20 World Cup in the thickest of fonts in their Group C crescendo. Julen Lopetegui's side produced a scintillating first-half performance en route to a 5-1 defeat of Australia, which sent them into the Round of 16 with a 100 per cent record and eliminated their outclassed but spirited victims. All Spain's goals came in the first 31 minutes, with three of them from Alvaro Vazquez.
The sun was out in Manizales, and the contest got off to a scorching start. Just one minute was on the clock when Spain burned the deadlock. The Iberians passed the ball around in masterful, patented fashion, before Daniel Pacheco delicately touched it into the path of Sergi Roberto, who struck it into the roof of the net from the edge of the box.
Pacheco was also the creator of a sixth-minute second. The Liverpool winger cut inside from the left and played a cerebral reverse pass, which deceived the Australian defenders and put Alvaro Vazquez one-on-one with goalkeeper Mark Birighitti. The Espanyol forward made no mistake, striking it into the roof of the net from 12 yards.
La Roja's cushion was extended on 13 minutes. Sergio Canales sliced open the Australia backline with a gorgeous through-ball, which Vazquez ran on to before rounding Birighitti and tapping home. Three become four on 19 minutes, with Vazquez, unmarked at the back post, completing a rapid treble by heading home a Pacheco corner from close range.
On 25 minutes, Marc Bartra carried the ball unchallenged from his own half to the edge of the Spain box. He had options left and right, but he lost control as he was ready to make the pass.
Despite being 4-0 down, the Australian supporters never stopped singing. On 27 minutes they finally had a goal to celebrate - one that was exclusively indebted to Kerem Bulut. The shaven-headed No9 intercepted a back-pass, cut inside goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco and, under pressure, fired the ball into an empty net from six yards. Inevitably, a huge roar went up from the fans.
The four-goal cushion was restored three minutes later. Vazquez got to the ball before Trent Sainsbury and was tripped in the area. The defender was subsequently yellow-carded; Canales subsequently sent Birighitti the wrong way from the spot to make in 5-1.
The second half, in contrast to the first, began at a slow pace. Terry Antonis brought the game back to life with a thumping strike from distance on 67 minutes, which substitute Alex did well to parry away.
Bulut almost turned a Spain corner into his own net, but the ball went narrowly wide, before Antonis broke through the middle and unleashed a low drive, which was heading for the bottom corner until the outstretched left arm of Alex pushes the ball around the post.
The Europeans had a few speculative shots from distance thereafter, but failed to come close to the game's seventh goal. Tommy Oar almost got it with a superb half-volley into the back of the net in injury time, but the referee's whistle had blown for offside.
One minute later the game - and Australia's run in the competition - ended.
Australia's coach, Jan Versleijan...
"Six minutes and it's already 2-0. Thirteen minutes it's 3-0 and eighteen minutes it's 4-0. Then you have to play against Spain which is one of the better teams in this World Cup, who are very good at possessing the ball, moving the ball around, a lot of technical skills. After six minutes you can almost say the game is gone.
"It is very obvious that, in the first 15 minutes of this game, especially in the backline, we had some players that were not at a World Cup level.
"And if you're not concentrating and not in the game then against good opposition like Spain you will be penalised straight away.
"The thing is, when you have to play a third game against one of the better teams in this World Cup and you know you have to win this game, you have to also take some risks.
"Spain took very good advantage of the risk that we had to take in order to put more pressure on them."
After the debacle of Australia's quick elimination from the Youth World Cup in Colombia and the elimination from the U17 tournament in Mexico by a 4-0 defeat Uzbekistan - a team that lost 4-1 in the group games to New Zealand, there many calls for Jan Versleijan to be sacked. He responded in the press, citing improvement after the equally bad debacle in Youth World Cup in 2009 where Australia meekly lost all 3 games...
"It’s about looking at the long-term. Of course when you go to a World Cup you want results. But compared with two years ago in Egypt that time we had no chance in any game. Now we are part of the game. We are playing better football.
"We know we have to get better in many areas but we have come a long way from Egypt. It’s about the progress you make ... it’s not only about looking at one game against Spain and saying ‘let’s change the coach’.
"My future is not only up to me... I am sure the FFA has an opinion and certain questions it wants answered and it will be an open discussion when I return and from that we will see if there is a good base to continue.
"I am not driven by one game... that is not my motivation."
Versleijan is a goose. He was apparently a coaching candidate for Melbourne Victory, so his intentions seem insecure if he's really claiming a "long term project" with the youth teams. This attitude possibly rubbed off on the players and they are just not playing for him. Normally you hear some sort of endorsement from players about their coach. The striking aspect of this tournament, and the recent U17s, coaching praise was very quiet. The only improvement from Egypt - results-wise - was the lucky draw against Ecuador. In all other aspects, nothing changed. The team were largely clueless on the ball, and easily dispossessed through pressure.
About the criticism, most notoriously from former youth coach Les Scheinflug, that the Dutch experiment is failing...
"We are not playing in a Dutch way necessarily. We are trying to play at a technically high level. We cannot play any more in an old style. Sometimes you can get a result playing that way but it’s also about developing players for the future.
"You can discuss if it’s the right way of playing or not but we are not playing in a Dutch style. We are playing an international way. You cannot close your eyes to what is happening in international football. At last year’s World Cup in South Africa the top four teams all played the same style with some subtle differences.
"If you look at Brisbane Roar and the way they played last season ... was that an Australian style of football? I don’t think so. But it was performed by Australian players and it was successful.
"In international football almost all countries play 4-3-3. It is not just us.
"We made a choice to try and get a higher technical and tactical level in the game in Australia. That is not an easy choice. In every situation it challenges the players. In truth, we have to play more games against the bigger countries to really improve and go to the next level."
This notion that Australia plays 4-3-3 must stop. They play 4-5-1 or, at best, 4-2-3-1. The 4-3-3 is always the fall-back excuse (we heard it often from Pim Verbeek as well) because 4-3-3 sounds so sexy and validates Australia's move to "play football".
The reality is that most international teams don't play 4-3-3. The Dutch certainly don't, sensationally giving it away to make their run to the 2010 World Cup final. Most teams play one-striker. Even if it is the "international way", since when is it an obligation to follow the flock? Not long ago the sweeper system seemed compulsory. Then it moved to a flat-back-four with a "front sweeper". The worst part of following someone else is that Australia simply doesn't have the players. Follow the style of teams like Spain and they will pummel you. With Australia's lower standard of players, then it's necessary to innovate elsewhere. Those areas are tactics, systems and coaching.
On the change of tactics before the game against Spain...
"We talked about it as group. We trained the day before with a change of approach in mind and we knew it was a gamble but it was one we had to take because a draw was never going to be enough. I can live with criticism over this because I always knew that would come if things did not go well, which they didn’t. That’s part of the job and you accept that.
"We tried to play with full risk. If you sit against Spain there is a guarantee you will lose the game. Where we really failed in Colombia was against Costa Rica which was a game we really should have won."
This is the absurdity of the entire World Cup. When the pivotal moment is there to play the system hammered into the players, the one that supposedly all international teams play, and for a coach whose motivation is not driven by one game, it's all thrown out the window. The Dutch experiment is a failure. It fails so badly that at crunch time it's jettisoned for a one-off "full risk" experiment. Ridiculous. A World Cup should never be treated in this fashion. It should always be about results. Those results are clear, and the reasons obvious: the coach and the system. Both are deficient. Enough is enough.
30/07 18:00 Bogota Mali 0:2 Korea Republic 30/07 21:00 Bogota Colombia 4:1 France 02/08 17:00 Bogota France 3:1 Korea Republic 02/08 20:00 Bogota Colombia 2:0 Mali 05/08 20:00 Cali France 2:0 Mali 05/08 20:00 Bogota Colombia 1:0 Korea Republic
Team P W D L F A Pts Colombia 3 3 0 0 7 1 9* France 3 2 0 1 6 5 6* Korea Republic 3 1 0 2 3 4 3* Mali 3 0 0 3 0 6 0
30/07 17:00 Cali Cameroon 1:1 New Zealand 30/07 20:00 Cali Portugal 0:0 Uruguay 02/08 17:00 Cali Uruguay 1:1 New Zealand 02/08 20:00 Cali Portugal 1:0 Cameroon 05/08 17:00 Cali Portugal 1:0 New Zealand 05/08 17:00 Bogota Uruguay 0:1 Cameroon
Team P W D L F A Pts Portugal 3 2 1 0 2 0 7* Cameroon 3 1 1 1 2 2 4* New Zealand 3 0 2 1 2 3 2 Uruguay 3 0 2 1 1 2 2
31/07 15:00 Manizales Costa Rica 1:4 Spain 31/07 18:00 Manizales Australia 1:1 Ecuador 03/08 17:00 Manizales Ecuador 0:2 Spain 03/08 20:00 Manizales Australia 2:3 Costa Rica 06/08 17:00 Pereira Ecuador 3:0 Costa Rica 06/08 17:00 Manizales Australia 1:5 Spain
Team P W D L F A Pts Spain 3 3 0 0 11 2 9* Ecuador 3 1 1 1 4 3 4* Costa Rica 3 1 0 2 4 9 3* Australia 3 0 1 2 4 9 1
31/07 15:00 Armenia Nigeria 5:0 Guatemala 31/07 18:00 Armenia Croatia 0:2 Saudi Arabia 03/08 17:00 Armenia Saudi Arabia 6:0 Guatemala 03/08 20:00 Armenia Croatia 2:5 Nigeria 06/08 20:00 Pereira Saudi Arabia 0:2 Nigeria 06/08 20:00 Armenia Croatia 0:1 Guatemala
Team P W D L F A Pts Nigeria 3 3 0 0 12 2 9* Saudi Arabia 3 2 0 1 8 2 6* Guatemala 3 1 0 2 1 11 3* Croatia 3 0 0 3 2 8 0
29/07 21:00 Barranquilla Brazil 1:1 Egypt 29/07 17:30 Cartagena Austria 0:0 Panama 01/08 17:00 Barranquilla Egypt 1:0 Panama 01/08 20:00 Barranquilla Brazil 3:0 Austria 04/08 20:00 Barranquilla Brazil 4:0 Panama 04/08 20:00 Cartagena Egypt 4:0 Austria
Team P W D L F A Pts Brazil 3 2 1 0 8 1 7* Egypt 3 2 1 0 6 1 7* Panama 3 0 1 2 0 5 1 Austria 3 0 1 2 0 7 1
29/07 14:30 Medellin England 0:0 Korea DPR 29/07 17:30 Medellin Argentina 1:0 Mexico 01/08 17:00 Medellin Mexico 3:0 Korea DPR 01/08 20:00 Medellin Argentina 0:0 England 04/08 17:00 Cartagena Mexico 0:0 England 04/08 17:00 Medellin Argentina 3:0 Korea DPR
Team P W D L F A Pts Argentina 3 2 1 0 4 0 7* Mexico 3 1 1 1 3 1 4* England 3 0 3 0 0 0 3* Korea DPR 3 0 1 2 0 6 1