- Asked about comments from the A-League
- Clarified his position after the match against Uzbekistan
- Says the A-League season should be longer
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold says he is not yet over the A-League Men, just the shortcomings in season length that have bothered him throughout his tenure.
After Australia’s hard-fought 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan in the Asian Cup in Qatar, Arnold praised the opposition players, who are largely playing domestically, and raised a few eyebrows in the process.
“You can see a lot of players from Uzbekistan playing in Uzbekistan and playing in their local league, whereas in Australia we have four players playing in our local league,” Arnold said at his post-match press conference.
“I’ve been talking about our national competition for a long time and it doesn’t bother me anymore.”
He clarified those comments on Friday.
Arnold was questioned about his previous comments about Australian domestic A-Leguea
Left back Aziz Behich, pictured against Uzbekistan, is the only A-League player in the current starting Socceroos squad
Arnold has consistently complained during his tenure about the ALM’s 26-match season, which is shorter than most domestic leagues elsewhere, and its late start.
Both factors limit the opportunities for locally established players to submit their files for selection.
“I’ve been saying for four years in the A-League that we need to start the competition earlier to align with the international windows, because I can’t pick players for September, October and November – and we don’t play enough football.” ,” Arnold told AAP.
‘That’s what I meant by it.
“I go home every week to watch it as I normally do and watch the players, but I know after this I pretty much have one window where I can pick anyone from the A-League: March.
“And then we have two games in June and I can’t pick players who don’t reach the semi-finals.
Plsyers have struggled to be dropped from the A-league, with Arnold saying the short length of the season was a contributing factor
“Again, you wish there could be a real good talk about why we need to have an NRL model or AFL model in football, when all over the world it’s based on doing what’s right for national teams,” he said. Arnold. continued.
“And I’ve been saying that for four years, so I’m over it. That’s all I meant by my comments. I’m not above the A-League in any other way.”
A lack of communication from the competitions has not helped in Arnold’s view.
But the Socceroos boss insisted he now wanted to focus on Australia’s campaign in Qatar, which continues on Sunday with the round of 16 against Indonesia.
“I’m over it, but at the same time there has been no response to the conversation,” he said.
‘I just have to concentrate on what I’m doing. I’m here to focus on the job I have here.’