Fifa World Cup: Chinese football can learn from PFA report into Australia’s ‘golden generation’

It’s fair to say that Chinese football does not have a “golden generation”. Arguably, it never has. If you were being kind then the team that qualified for China’s only World Cup in 2002 is its golden generation by virtue of reaching the highest stage. That is without looking at the route to Japan and South Korea that was aided by the hosts automatically qualifying and easing the route through Asian qualification. Australia were not at that World Cup and it was a source of national shame. It was something their own “golden generation” put right four years later, qualifying for their first tournament for 32 years. The Socceroos have not looked back, appearing at every World Cup since. So how is it that Australia, a country of just 24.6 million (as per the last census in 2017), has found success where China’s 1.3 billion populace cannot? “Ultimately where we have landed is building a really good framework around what preconditions exist to producing high quality, internationally competitive Australian footballers.”@thepfa's John Didulica and John Aloisi summarise the launch of 'Culture Amplifies Talent' pic.twitter.com/lierzYlpI1 — The PFA (@thepfa) October 22, 2019 A large part of the answer can be found in a new report from Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) in partnership with Victoria University. “Culture Amplifies Talent: Building a Framework for Golden Generations” was published on Tuesday after 18 months of research, based around interviews with elite footballers born between 1972 and 1989 – the birth dates of the players that took the team to Germany in 2006. The researchers interviewed players such as Paul Okon, Josip Skoko and John Aloisi, three of Australia’s World Cup internationals, and focused on “all aspects of their football developmental history”. This was to answer the question of what makes an elite footballer and it makes for fascinating reading. The study found six underlying reasons for Australia’s success – passion, family, mentality, environment, practice and pathway – none of which will come as a shock to those who have taken any interest in the growth of football cultures around the world. These reasons include “the underlying importance of a deep emotional connection between the player and the sport from the earliest possible age” and “the importance of unstructured and informal play”. It found that players spent more than twice as much time playing informally compared with formal team training between the ages of five and 18, playing with friends in backyards, on beaches and on the street. Despite the imposition of a top-down football culture in China over the past few years, pushed through by then deputy and now President Xi Jinping, these are areas that have not been addressed. For all the children now playing in China and the hundreds of thousands of football pitches created over the past few years, they are often empty but for formal coaching. Many of these children are now introduced to the sport an earlier age than years past, but this is either as part of their school curriculum or structured after school activities. ️ "Next Tuesday @thePFA will be releasing a document called 'Culture Amplifies Talent'. "In essence it's a research piece that was 18 months in the making, but for the first time, is a really close study on what components made the Golden Generation what they were." pic.twitter.com/o2Yml2ciOm — The PFA (@thepfa) October 16, 2019 The introduction of thousands of football kindergartens and the rise of private sports schools is not going to change this, especially while basketball remains more popular as a participation sport in urban areas. There is no culture of playing football outside of pitches like the rest of the world. That needs to change for China to create a first golden generation of its own. Not that this was the only factor in Australia’s ongoing success. In the background was the Crawford Report conducted on the back of not qualifying for the 2002 World Cup. This led to a restructure of the game’s administration with Soccer Australia replaced by the Football Federation Australia. Mark Schwarzer, John Aloisi and Tim Cahill celebrate Australia's qualification for the 2006 World Cup finals after defeating Uruguay in a penalty shoot-out following a 1-1 aggregate score pic.twitter.com/UQVHhBU81A — Football Past (@thecentretunnel) February 26, 2018 They also joined the AFC in 2006 in a move that has facilitated their subsequent World Cup appearances, providing a more stable path to the finals than the Oceania Football Confederation’s inevitable intercontinental play-offs. Nevertheless, the “golden generation” qualified via that circuitous route, beating Uruguay on a balmy and barmy night in Sydney in 2005 to end a generation of World Cup qualifying heartache. Australia’s 2006 World Cup campaign was a success. Despite being unfancied – they were the second-lowest ranked side on the Fifa rankings going into the tournament – they kicked off with a win. Their 3-1 victory over Japan saw them score their first goals at a World Cup and get their first win. They lost the next game to Brazil before a dramatic 2-2 draw with Croatia saw them through to the knockouts. Another two steps closer to our goal. Great camp from the boys and great to see the progress being made. A huge honour to have joined the illustrious players before me to have led our great nation, even more special to share it with this group. #allforthesocceroos pic.twitter.com/QNC0dVxbVI — Maty Ryan (@MatyRyan) October 16, 2019 There they met Italy, the eventual winners, who triumphed 1-0 thanks to a controversial penalty conceded deep into stoppage time. Since then, Australia have qualified for the three following tournaments and in between that the “golden generation” made the final of the AFC Asian Cup in 2011. The PFA report argues that the “golden generation” was an outlier. Australia have simply reverted to the mean after the “once in a lifetime” golden generation but the greatest triumph came after they retired from international duty if not football between the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. The Socceroos moved on, winning the 2015 AFC Asian Cup on home soil when the only one of the “golden generation” left was Tim Cahill. Furthermore, they are on course to be at Qatar 2022, topping their qualification group and the state of Australian football is healthy if not as sparkling as it once was. Of the current Socceroos squad, only four are playing in the A-League and while their foreign clubs are not the likes of Liverpool and Leeds United as per the “golden generation”, it is in stark contrast to China’s sole representative overseas, Wu Lei at Espanyol. There’s Brighton pair Aaron Mooy and Mat Ryan in the English Premier League and Massimo Luongo in the Championship with Sheffield Wednesday, with plenty more of the Socceroos squad in Leagues One and Two. Milos Degenek is playing in the Uefa Champions League with Red Star Belgrade, who are in a group with European heavyweights Bayern Munich, last season’s finalists Spurs and Olympiacos. Elsewhere, there’s Tom Rogic and Daniel Arzani at Scottish champions Celtic, Awer Mabil at FC Midtjylland in Denmark and Toni Juric at CSKA Sofia. Closer to home, Adam Taggart has been smashing them in for Suwon Bluewings in South Korea. All of these journeys started like those of the “golden generation” and, as the report’s existence suggests, the Australians are not done yet. “For far too long we have viewed talent development through the narrow lens of a curriculum or a coaching methodology,” PFA chief executive John Didiluca said at the announcement of the report at PFA headquarters in Sydney on Tuesday. “It is clear from the research that what we need to expand our thinking and promote the important role and interdependence of the game’s different constituent parts: family, community clubs, professional leagues, state federations and media partners. They are all critical to helping world class talent emerge. “Importantly, we cannot lose sight of the focus of our mission – the young player. It is not enough to reimagine our football culture, we must remake it in such a way that generation after generation wishes to immerse themselves in it.” China wants 20,000 football schools by end of 2017 John Aloisi, scorer of the decisive penalty in the shoot-out against Uruguay that saw Australia qualify for Germany 2006, was also at Tuesday’s announcement. The striker has since moved into coaching, managing three A-League clubs, most recently Brisbane Roar. That gives him a unique insight. “As a player and a coach over 20 years, I’ve been witness to so many discussions within the football community about these sorts of issues, so it’s great to see this quality of work actually being done,” Aloisi said. It’s nothing new, he suggests, but that does not make the findings any less valuable. Chinese youngsters honing their skills in Sao Paulo, not Shandong “The evidence in the findings confirms in many respects what we intuitively suspect, but the important aspect it actually now provides is a framework for us to ensure we can create the conditions needed to develop world class players,” said Aloisi. “The report shows that the process goes much deeper than just coaching, facilities and style of play but to building a deep culture and connection to the sport we all love.” That’s what China needs to develop, because they’d take Australia’s current reversion to the mean, never mind its golden generation.