Back Four Good – Part 3

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Ruben Zadkovich

He is a current Olyroos, he could soon be a Socceroo and by teams end, he could be an Olympian. By the way, he is also currently seeking employment as a professional football player if anyone is interested although he has apparently signed for Newcastle. To be honest, he confuses me when I see him play. In some games for Sydney, he looks all hustle and bustle and seems to lack all technical ability to produce anything of substance or quality. This was the player I saw in the first half of the recent friendly against Mexico and this is the player that should remain unemployed as a football player.

In the second half, he stopped looking like a chicken with its head cut off and really started to inject himself into the game. His work rate and energy, attributes he doesn’t lack, carried him on several overlapping runs as he started to combine well with the winger. He actually instigated several attacks for the Olyroos from his right-back position which was very impressive given that the Olyroos mustered only a handful of attacks in the entire first half. What is his international future? I got no idea despite having seen more of him than most other players on the list. I get the feeling that purely due to his willingness to run, he can influence some games. However, it can also give you the impression that he is imitating a headless chicken and he often does give me this impression. If I were him, I’d latch onto a move to Newcastle which will allow him to link up with Van Egmond, a manager who has shown that he has the ability to bring talent out of players. He will also get to link up with fellow Olyroo Tarek Elrich and given that they both have pace and plenty of energy, Newcastle could have quite a potent right flank.

Nikolai Topor-Stanley

Pim seems to rate Nikolai as he was included in the team against Qatar. Standing at 192cm, he is a big man for a left full-back. The fact that he is left footed almost seems to guarantee him a place in the future of Australian football, as he himself recognised, since natural left-footers are so rare. Nikolai said it best himself when he was good enough to do an interview for this site: “I’m quite a tall bloke, my footwork and acceleration can always improve.” In the game against Iraq at Gosford, I thought Nikolai somewhat struggled against the tiny, pacey Iraqi winger who was able to get to the by-line several times and put in dangerous crosses. Nikolai seemed to get a better grip on his direct opponent the second half and was better able to shut-down the service from his wing.

In the Mexico friendly, Nikolai played as centre-back and looked alright. He was moved to his normal position of left-back after Adam D’Apuzzo was substituted after he was given a torrid time by the pacey Mexican winger. Although Nikolai was himself beaten a few times by the pace of the Mexican right-winger, that flank looked less dangerous after the switch was made.

As I said, just because Nikolai can swing his left leg will almost guarantee him some kind of involvement in the future of Australian football, how much that involvement will be will depend on his development. If his pace and technical ability go to the next level, so will he.

Adrian Leijer

I saw Adrian play a few times for Melbourne before he left for England while I also watched him in several Olyroo games. His second season with the Victory was very impressive, as was the whole Victory outfit. He won the Young Player of Year award which has become a bit of a poison challis as the previous winner, Nick Ward, has since returned to the A-League after struggling in England while Adrian is yet to make an appearance for the Fulham senior team.

Again Iraq, I thought his partnership with Milligan looked shaky, particularly in the first half. The partnership certainly didn’t give the impression that the two were confidently commanding the game. In the game against Mexico, Leijer seemed nervy against the fleet-footed Mexicans. Actually all the defenders gave off this impression. I guess it is hard not to look nervy when you defend from the end of your box for extended periods of time.

Since I have only seen Leijer on sporadic occasions in the last year, it’s pretty hard to gauge his development and determine whether his move to Fulham has been a good career choice. At 21, Leijer is really at the stage of his career where he should be finding regular first team football and he seems to realise this too as he tried to line-up a loan deal to Leeds earlier this year which never materialised. Given the previous team selections by Arnold, it seems certain that Leijer will be in the starting team for the Olympics. That campaign will give us a much better idea as to where he is at.

The Others

I haven’t seen too much of the other players and certainly not enough to form any kind of judgement. Adam Griffiths is now 28 and will be 30 by 2010. Given that he has yet to earn a cap for the senior team, I doubt that he has a realistic chance to become a first-team regular for the Socceroos. I think the same applies for his former team-mate, Andrew Durnate, given that Durnate wasn’t even included in the A-League based Socceroos squad for the game against Singapore.

Jacob Timpano was solid in the inaugural season and looked like a real talent. Unfortunately, injury has effectively robbed him of two seasons of football and it is almost impossible to determine how he will recover and develop. I have no idea what Ljubo Milicevic is doing since he parted ways with Melbourne. Despite being constantly reminded that Ljubo had defended against the likes of Henry in the Champions League, he didn’t look that commanding at all when I saw him in the A-League.

I’m not sure if the likes of Boogaard, Cornthwaite, Griffin and D’Apuzzo have what it takes given that the first three have only recently broken into the Olyroos squad and seem a long way off getting a senior call-up while D’Apuzzo had a torturous time against the Mexicans. As for the under 20’s players of Ryall, Porter and Spiranovic, I actually haven’t seen any of them play.

Doom & Gloom

I’m not all doom and gloom. I think that Australia is actually looking quite solid in the other departments. Between the sticks, both Vukovic and Velaphi have been playing regularly in the A-League and Velpahi was a clear man-of-the-match for the Australians against Mexico. There is also a host of overseas contenders for Schwarzer’s throne such as Bradley Jones, Adam Federici, Nathan Coe and Jess Vanstrattan.

In midfield, Carl Valeri, Nick Carle and Brett Holman are starting to challenge for the places held by the current incumbents. There is also a whole host of young A-league talent as well as players developing abroad. In defensive midfield there is the likes of Leigh Broxham, James Holland, Stuart Musialik and Mile Jedinak. On the wings, you have Michael Zullo, Tarek Elrich, Jimmy Downey and James Troisi. The attacking midfield options are positively overflowing with the likes of Kristian Sarkies, Billy Celeski, Nick Ward, Dario Vidosic, Kaz Patafta and Troy Hearfield. In attack, we could see the likes of Mark Bridge, Bruce Djite, Nathan Burns, Nikita Rukavytsya and David Williams. The above list is in no way comprehensive, it’s just intended to give you an idea as to what will be available in the other positions.

Australia seems to be developing more talent in the other departments. Just one or two from each category needs to develop into quality players for Australia to have a competitive team. In relation to the defenders, we do seem to be highly dependent on Topor-Stanley developing so we have left-footed options and we’re praying that Milligan and Leijer can develop into a formidable partnership or that Spiranovic fulfils his talent. There just doesn’t seem to be the same quantity of future talent in our defensive stocks and we are pinning our hopes on one or two really making the step-up.

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