Why Australian players still don't sell
The football world is once again open for business, but it seems there is less interest in Australian players than ever before.
Michael Cockerill is Football Writer for The Sydney Morning Herald
The football world is once again open for business, but it seems there is less interest in Australian players than ever before.
He may not be one of us – at least in a football sense – but there's a lot to be proud of in the ascension of Adama Traore at the African Cup of Nations.
If Australia is ever to return to the Oceania Football Confederation it helped form in 1966, it's now-or-never. So why not test the lie of the land.
The word is Tony Popovic didn't sign Jumpei Kusukami because he was Japanese. He signed him because he was a good player. But as Western Sydney Wanderers prepare to salvage some pride in the Asian Champions League, the passport definitely helps.
FIFA's landmark decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams finally gives Oceania - the game's orphan child - direct entry. That one spot has taken 51 years.
What's happened to the African revolution? Two decades after the first tide of African migration lapped our shores, we were expecting, and hoping, to see the fruits by now.
The Roar have proved how an ethnic DNA can successfully evolve into a broad-based, multicultural one – inclusive rather than exclusive.
It's generally a good time of year to be taking a holiday on the Surf Coast if you're a Melbourne Victory supporter. A day at the beach, and a balmy evening at Simonds Stadium. Monday night will be the fifth time Geelong will have hosted a Victory match, and the expectations are of a 15,000-plus crowd. Everyone wins. Or do they?
My New Year's wish for football? I'll make it personal. Football needs to reboot its relationship with professional media, a fourth estate which, believe it or not, still has a vital role to play in shaping the destiny of the game.
Graham Arnold might get to write his own headline after all. So far Sydney FC are living up to the 'Invincibles' tag given to them by their coach, and while it still remains a herculean challenge to go through the season unbeaten, the Sky Blues are looking more unbeatable by the day. Maybe, just maybe, they'll pull it off.
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