Socceroos legend Mark Schwarzer is confident that the next golden generation of talent is not far away, as a host of young stars prepare to showcase their abilities on the biggest stage. The qualification for the 2006 World Cup remains the high point of the Socceroos' history, with John Aloisi's match-winning penalty against Uruguay in the famous 2005 playoff still replayed time and time again. That memorable 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.
2006 Squad Set a High Bar
Australia's squad for the 2006 World Cup featured superstars across every line, including 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. However, fast forward 20 years, and the Socceroos do not have a single player in the EPL, with only a handful featuring in the top leagues of Italy and Spain. This surprising statistic comes despite expectations that the 2006 heroes would inspire a new generation. The sport has exploded in Australia and continues to thrive at younger ages, but there are fewer household names in top leagues globally.
Schwarzer's Optimism
Socceroos great Mark Schwarzer is confident that the next golden generation is not too far away. "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. "The thing about it is if you look at the 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 those levels. But it was a very, very high bar. And I think what was really important to see is the growth of the game, the explosion of the recognition of the game, since that 2005 qualification and playing in the World Cup in 2006. That's had a huge impact on the game. And that's enabled players to dream, 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."
Rising Young Stars
Schwarzer concedes that Australia has not 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 from 2006. Have we produced individually the talent from 2006? No, but when 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 coming to the fore, starting to play at really high levels consistently at a younger age. I still think there are 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 as "exceptional talents" and tipped 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 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 has 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 coming 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 they have really good World Cups, which means the Socceroos do well. They do well individually, and we start to get players back at the top levels more regularly, and they're really starting to make a mark on world football once again."
World Cup Hopes
Schwarzer, speaking at a Sportsbet media conference, is confident Australia can advance from 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."
