Socceroos legend Mark Schwarzer is confident the next golden generation of talent isn’t far away as a host of young stars get ready to strut their stuff on the biggest stage.
The qualification for the 2006 World Cup remains the highpoint of the Socceroos’ history with John Aloisi’s match-winning penalty against Uruguay in the famous 2005 playoff still gets replayed time and time again.
That famous night ended a 32-year drought for Australia at the World Cup and quickly erased the heartbreaking losses to Uruguay four years earlier and Iran in 1997.
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Australia’s squad for the 2006 World Cup featured superstars across every line with the likes of Schwarzer, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore and Brett Emerton all playing in the English Premier League, widely considered the best league in the world.
But fast forward 20 years and the Socceroos don’t have a single player in the EPL, and only a handful feature in the top leagues in Italy and Spain.
It’s a surprising statistic given many would have expected the 2006 heroes to have inspired a new generation.
The sport has exploded in Australia and is still thriving at lower ages, but there aren’t as many household names in the top leagues around the world.
“I think it’s generational. Countries around the world go through phases of producing generational talent. Certain levels of talent, then sometimes there’s a bit of a lull,” Schwarzer told 7NEWS.com.au on the eve of the World Cup.
“I mean, the thing about it is if you look at 2006 squad, on paper the levels of performances, the club football that all of us were playing at the time, no squad since then has come close to, to those sort of levels.
“But I mean, it was a very, very high bar. And I think what was really important to see is the, the growth of the game, the explosion of the recognition of the game, since that game, 2005 qualification, but also playing in the World Cup in 2006.
“That’s had a huge impact in the game. And that’s enabled players to dream to, to have a goal of playing for a World Cup with Australia.
“We’ve qualified for six World Cups in a row. That in itself has been a huge success and underrated.”
Schwarzer concedes Australia haven’t yet produced the level of talent from 20 years ago, but says there is plenty of potential in this group.
“I think we have built on this success for 2006. Have we produced individually the talent from 2006? No, but where you look at this generation of players coming through now, I think we’re slowly getting towards that again,” he said.
“We’ve got a really exciting bunch of players now at this World Cup, young players that are that are coming to the fore, that are starting to play at really high levels consistently at a younger age.
“I still think that there’s a lot of positives and I think a lot of that is also related to qualification in 2006.”
Rising star Nestory Irankunda appears destined for big things, but there are also other youngsters ready to make their mark at the World Cup.
Schwarzer identified defenders Alessandro Circati and Lucas Herrington “exceptional talents”, and is tipping big things from Paul Okon-Engstler, Cristian Volpato and Mohamed Toure.
“These are great opportunities for these guys. I’ve watched Lucas play against Curacao and also Cameroon in the in the FIFA series last March and he just looked like a natural. He looked like he’d always belonged to the national team. I think that’s really exciting to see.
“Okon-Engstler I think he’s done really, really well to step into those shoes in midfield. Also again, looks effortless.
“Volpato is obviously a huge talent and I think this is an opportunity for him to shine on this sort of stage.
“And Nestory is a real talent. I think we’ve seen it in spits and spurts. It’s about now trying to get some consistency and delivering at that stage.
“And you look at Toure, who’s been outstanding for Norwich.
“We’ve got a lot of really exciting young players that come through here and it’s about how they’re going to perform at this level. I’ve got hopes of quite a number of these players going up to another level after the World Cup.
“I hope that they have really good World Cups, which means Socceroos do well. They do well individually, and we start to get players back at the top levels more regularly, and and they’re really starting to make a mark on world football once again.”
Schwarzer, who was speaking at a Sportsbet media conference, is confident of Australia getting out of the group stage.
The Socceroos begin their campaign against Turkiye on Sunday (AEST), before facing hosts USA and Paraguay.
“I’m quietly confident we can get enough points to get out of the group,” he said.
“In what position that’s always going to be the interesting one. It’s a very, very tough group. I think every team in the group will be saying the same thing.”
