← The Morning Edition
Loading summary
Transcript20 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hey everyone, it's Samantha here, your host of the Morning Edition. Now we're not ordinarily in the business of sport, but there is obviously a lot of excitement about Australia's World cup match against Team usa. Our reporter Vince Vergari will be there for the game in Seattle our time on Saturday morning and he joins us today. Hey Vince, thanks for being with us.
- [00:23]
B
Hey Sam, no worries. Great to great to be with you.
- [00:25]
A
I okay. First off, there's a lot of angst behind this upcoming match.
- [00:29]
B
Why so well, there's a couple of reasons. One is the Australia and the USA played a friendly in October last year, I think it was, which was Quite Fiery, the US121. But there were a number of little scuffles that broke out during the game and allegations of dangerous tackles etc, and it was, yeah, pretty spiteful affair. So when the World cup draw was conducted a couple of years later and both teams landed in the same group, everyone's immediate thought was, okay, we, we're going to have the rematch now and that's going to be everyone was would be looking forward to this game regardless for that reason. But then we also have the additional reason of the way that the U.S. soccer punditry community has treated the Socceroos since then. A few things have been said and been remembered by the players and coaches and fans as well. Mike Grella, one of the analysts on cbs, immediately described the soccer routes as a layup for the US which is a basketball term for for a shot that is easily converted, let's say. So that's what he said. Alexi Lalas has described the Socceroos as the the weakest team in the group, that the group was a gift from the soccer gods for America. And Landon Donovan, another former US International turned pundit, described the Socceroos coach Tony Popovich as smug because of the way his face looked after the draw was conducted, which was I'm pretty sure that's just what his face looks like. But Landon interpreted it as a, as a degree of smugness because he was happy that and this is another thing that's important to remember as well, we were in Australia was in pot two for the World cup draw and we were the lowest ranked team in pot two. So the Americans are understandably happy that they got us from pot 2 and not some of the other higher ranking nations, for instance, like Croatia. But equally Australian fans are pretty happy that we got the United States from pot one and not a team like Spain or France or Brazil or some of the big dogs in world football. So both teams, both sides are happy. Well, were happy with the draw when it happened, but only one side sort of evolved that happiness into, you know, disregard and disrespect, some people might say about the opposition. So Australians haven't taken that well.
- [02:57]
A
Okay, Vince, so a lot of trash talking there from the American side towards the Socceroos. What's our side's response been to that?
- [03:05]
B
Australian stoicism? I would say no one's saying anything. In fact, the only thing anyone is really saying is keep talking. This is good for us. Basically. It's a, it's a great Australian sporting tradition of hearing the opposition say bad things about you and then printing it off and putting on it on the wall of the, of the dressing room before the game so all the players can read it and be fired up when they run out there. Australians are used to be written, are used to being written off at the World cup. And it seems it just keeps happening. No matter what the socceros do at the World cup, other teams have not learned from it. You'd think the United States to I should mention as well, like, it's not like the US Players or coaches are saying anything along these, these lines. It's only, only their pundits. But their pundits probably don't realize that they're not helping their team when they say all this stuff because they know that it's, it's material for the socceros. So, yeah, Tony Popovic and his players are just playing a straight bat, as they say, and just listening and remembering and preparing.
- [04:09]
A
Okay. But there has been a lot of shock, I think, in the country that we defeated Turkey last Sunday. So should we have been that shocked that we defeated Turkey? And perhaps you can answer that by telling us, I guess, about the star pedigree of some of our players and who we should perhaps be. Be looking out for on Saturday.
- [04:26]
B
Yeah, absolutely. I think we should have been, or I certainly was surprised, but I wasn't shocked. It was within the range of possibilities available to the Socceroos at the moment because they're in a, in an interesting spot as a team. They have a bunch of, you know, six or seven really good young players, you know, 23 and under, some, you know, 20 years old is Nesteria and Kunda, who I'm sure we're going to talk about. But Socceroos have this, this group of, of really amazing young players, some of the best young talent that Australia's produced, produced for a long time, coming through together at once. And the question for this tournament wasn't can they win games? Because everyone knows they've got talent and ability more so than some of Australia's previous World cup teams. It was just, are they going to do it on this stage at the World Cup? They're inexperienced. Do they need to, you know, get some runs on the board first, to use a cricket term, and, and experience what a World cup is like before they can go back to a World cup and win games? But sometimes I think the benefit of, of youth is that you, you actually don't feel the pressure, you don't actually care so much. So you can rip in on the World cup stage and it doesn't affect you so much. And that's what happened against Turkey. So Nestor and Kunda scored the first goal. I wrote about him for a good weekend last weekend. And this guy is, is the jewel of this generation, an absolute freak who, who can. His, his ball striking ability is like nothing I've seen in world football before. So there's a lot more to come from him. But there's so many others at the moment in the Socceroos. There's, there's Jordy Boss at left wing back, he's, he's 22, 23, playing in the Netherlands. Alessandro Ciccardi, a defender, he's playing in Italy. Serie A. Lucas Harrington, an 18 year old kid who is the subject of a, of a transfer bid from Barcelona, one of the biggest clubs in the world where no Australian's ever played at Barcelona before and they've been bidding on him before he's even played a minute at this World Cup. Muhammad Toure, I think he's 22, a striker at Norwich who's been scoring at an unbelievable rate since he went there in January. His coach has compared him to Earling Harland, one of the best strikers in the game. So it's a really exciting time to be a soccer roof fan because all these guys are coming through and no one knows where their ceiling is right now. No one knows. We, we know how good they could be and hopefully they're going to be very, very good and take Australia far at the next few World Cups. But the question is how far can they take Australia at this World Cup? We're still finding out and I think we're going to have a lot of fun on the way.
- [06:55]
A
Okay, so obviously like you say, an exciting time there and you did mention one of the standout players of course, in that match against Turkey and that was Nestery Iron Kunda. Now he is one of four players of African descent from Adelaide in the team. Can you just tell us a bit about the significance of that particular crop of players?
- [07:13]
B
Yeah. The Socceroos, in my opinion, and some others, including some players, have always been the best sporting reflection of Australia in terms of how our society actually is, our multicultural society. You know, in the 70s, 80s and 90s, the team was filled with a lot of names of like, Italian, Greek, Croatian background, because that was what our migration patterns were serving up the national team at that time. And what's been happening in the Last sort of 10 or so years is a bit of a shift. And now some African communities, including refugees, some of these boys come from refugee families, have all moved to Australia. And now people from those communities, or second generation sons and daughters from those communities are starting to come through the Australian system at the moment. And some of them are insanely talented, have attributes that the Socceroos have never really had before, that, you know, quite often, quick, powerful, direct players. You can see the, you know, throughout international football, migration is a huge driving force. Never before have there been so many players at a World cup where they're representing a country other than the one that they're born in. And if you look at a team like France, for instance, you can see the influence on, you know, probably colonization, to be honest, but. But, you know, multiculturalism within France, and that's made them a very, very powerful team in the last few decades. A similar thing could be happening now with the Socceroos, and it's good for a few reasons. One is it benefits Australia on the football field, but two, it also showcases a side of Australia to the rest of the world who might not understand much about who we actually are as a country.
- [08:57]
A
That's so interesting and timely. Now, I wanted to ask you a bit about the team selection that we might see on Saturday against the United States, because Socceroos coach Tony Popovich, he sort of had a few surprise there, a few surprises in there in terms of who he selected to play against Turkey. So are we going to see some surprises on Saturday, do you think?
- [09:16]
B
Almost certainly. I've literally just finished a story where the first line is, if you happen to Predict Australia starting 11 against Turkey, the next thing you should have done is buy a lottery ticket, because Tony Popovic is a master at throwing curveballs. He does it all the time. Nobody thought he would drop Matty Ryan and Jackson Irvine to the bench against Turkey. When everyone saw that he'd done it, everyone thought he'd gone crazy. And then they won. And now he's a genius and I think he's earned a bit of trust. One thing I know about Tony Popovic is that making predictions is absolutely futile because he will come up with something that no one has thought of or considered before. So I have no doubt that something crazy is going to happen in the team sheet when it drops again when I get to Seattle in a couple of days. And it'll be interesting to see what happens after that. But I think Popper, as the fans call him, deserves a little bit of latitude because there's always a method to his madness.
- [10:14]
A
Interesting. And I wanted to ask you about the American side. I mean, let's start off with a basic question. Why do they think they're better than us? Are they?
- [10:21]
B
Yeah, they probably are. Man for man. I think the American team is where kind of where the Socceroos would like to be at, you know, in four years time or a little bit further down the track. Some of their, you know, talented players are a little bit further ahead in their careers. They've developed better, they're at better clubs in better leagues across Europe and they've got a few who are really starring at the top level. Christian Pulisic plays for AC Milan in, in Italy. Western McKenna plays for Juventus. So they really do have some top caliber players. I don't think they're a whole lot better than Australia. And even if they are, the great thing about the World cup that we've seen so far is it doesn't necessarily, if you have quality players, it doesn't necessarily guarantee you victory. Spain were held to a nil nil draw the other day by Cape Verd and nobody thought that was going to happen. And there's been upsets all over the place at this World cup so far. So just because a team or a squad is better on paper doesn't mean that's the way it's going to be on the grass. And that's. You could say the same thing about Turkey. Turkey have or. Yeah, they still have. I was going to say had. They're still there. Two of the best young players in the game, but they couldn't figure out what to do against the Socceroos defense. So, yeah, it means nothing really.
- [11:38]
A
Okay, so this brings me to a vexed question then, which is Vince, who going to win on Saturday?
- [11:44]
B
I have absolutely no idea, but I hope to God no, no, no. I had no hunch against Turkey either and I was pleasantly surprised. So I'm going to keep going with that. But obviously I really hope it's the Socceroos because there's a strong chance if they win again, they could have sealed top spot in Group D with a game to spare, depending on the result in the other game, which would mean Tony Popovich could rest his players in the third game and that also know where they have to travel for the knockout phase as well. That would be fantastic. That's getting slightly ahead of myself though. But yes, to reinforce my answer to the question, I have no idea.
- [12:22]
A
And so this is from someone who's not an expert in this area. So let's just say the Socceroos do win. Do we know who they'd be playing next?
- [12:29]
B
Well, yes. Our third group game is against Paraguay. That will be next week in San Jose. How much that game matters will be determined by this weekend's game. Yeah, and it's going to be a tough game as well. But soccero started, you know, ever so well. Turkey, people thought was the toughest game in the group on paper when we, when we looked at the group and we've come through with that with a 2 nil win, which is more than most people expected. So they're in a really good spot at the moment. And I just have a feeling that this, this US game is going to be an amazing spectacle. Two national teams that, you know a similar in a lot of ways. Two nations that are similar in a lot of ways in, in soccer as well. It's not the number one sport in either country. They're both used to being told by other countries that, you know, they don't matter, that they're not very good at the World Cup. And so, yeah, they're going to go at it in front of a massive crowd and a high stakes game. I can't wait.
- [13:26]
A
Wow. Very exciting. Well, thank you so much, Vince, for your time.
- [13:30]
B
My pleasure.