Keep Writing Us Off Says National Team Favourite

Australian national team favourite Stan Lazaridis believes the more people keep writing off the Socceroos hopes of qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the better it will actually be for the team.

Australian national team favourite Stan Lazaridis believes the more people keep writing off the Socceroos hopes of qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the better it will actually be for the team. 

Lazaridis, in the Netherlands for a four-day training camp, under the watchful eye of new national team coach Guus Hiddink, says it could actually be a blessing, if people don't have such high expectations of the teams chances.

“I actually think that is not a bad thing,” replying to a question that there is an air of doom and gloom about our the teams chances of qualifying for the World Cup.

“The reason I say that, is we may have been a little bit over confident in the last campaign, maybe we felt we just had to turn up and we would qualify.   “I think we play better when there is that pressure and that little bit of doubt about us.  

“I actually feel the way we are positioned now and Guus taking over, maybe that might be the deciding thing, the thing that changes it for us this time round. Guus will come in, organise us and get us right.”

“I think so, I really do,” was Lazaridis direct response when asked again if he thought the Socceroos were at their most dangerous when written off.

Lazaridis, was one of several players to miss the disappointing 2005 Confederations Cup in Germany, after undergoing surgery and he is now nearing full fitness again.

The veteran left-sided fullback of three previous World Cup campaigns, was noticeably missed at the Cup and is happy to be back in the national team fold and looking forward to working with Hiddink.

The team underwent its first sessions with the PSV Eindhoven coach yesterday and Lazaridis came away impressed.

“Everything was very positive,” when asked about the first sessions.

“We worked on a lot of defensive drills and patterns of play and it-s all very encouraging really. He is very technical, which is what we probably needed.”

Hiddink, who took Holland and then South Korea to the semi-finals of the last two World Cup finals, has just three months to get his ideas across to the team and Lazaridis has already noticed some subtle differences.

“From what I have seen and been doing, I would say, organisation,” Lazaridis said when asked how Hiddink compared to previous managers he has worked under.

“How to organise the team starting from the back all the way to the front. That means defending right, body positions, how we are going to be approaching teams.”

“He is not going to change everything in three days, but that is why he is focusing on getting the structures and organisation right, so we have a good base to work from.”

Those sentiments were shared by Ahmad Elrich, who lined up for Fulham against Lazaridis- Birmingham City side last weekend. Both players started on the bench, with only Elrich getting on the park late in the game for his Premiership debut. "Once you-ve got your defensive shape, then it's all about pressure and winning the ball back and then attacking,” Elrich said when asked about the training drills. “The number one focus though was on working defensively as a unit, and not just the back four. It was the whole team from the strikers and midfielders working together in the right positions.” Elrich said the camp has created a lot of interest with the Dutch media, who have been at both sessions on the opening day.

“Obviously he (Guus) has a lot of respect in this country (the Netherlands) and they think highly of him.

“It-s a big deal to the media in Holland, the fact he has taken over as national team of Australia.”