Verbeek praises Australia

[the_gun]

On the eve of his farewell match, Australia coach Pim Verbeek has praised the country, but expressed disbelief that football is not yet the number one sport given what the Socceroos have achieved over the past four years.

The 54-year-old Dutchman hopes he can say goodbye with a stirring MCG victory over old foe New Zealand in his last match in charge on home soil.

He has done everything asked of him so far, guiding the Socceroos to both the FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup finals and racking up an impressive record in his 27-match reign - 15 wins, eight draws, only four losses and more than twice as many goals scored as conceded.

"I have enjoyed every minute I have spent in Australia because it's a fantastic country with fantastic people," said Verbeek, who has opted for a less taxing role after the World Cup as mentor of Morocco's national youth teams.

"I have made a lot of friends, which is good in life I think.

"The most important thing in life is that you enjoy yourself and have friends.

"I've had a fantastic squad and I've enjoyed every minute I've had with my players.

"The last two and a half years were fantastic, not the best of my life, but very, very close," said Verbeek, who was an assistant to his Socceroo predecessor Guus Hiddink with Korea Republic at the 2002 World Cup.

"The only way to finish it off is to have a great result in the World Cup (in South Africa)."

Verbeek was also full of praise for Australia's "fantastic" coaching, medical and support staff, saying it would be very difficult to get the same level of assistance anywhere.

The Dutchman, however, has always found football's status in Australia a curiosity.

Early in his reign, he couldn't believe how a Socceroo match could be relegated to the inside pages of newspapers, unlike his experience around the rest of the world.

He still doesn't understand how a football international can play second fiddle to another code of football.

For example, he praised all of the Socceroos' training venues in Melbourne this week, from Monash University to Olympic Park, AAMI Stadium and finally the MCG on Sunday night.

"There has been nothing to complain about," he said, "but you always want more.

"I am never satisfied.

"I should have preferred to have every training session in the stadium (MCG).

"But this is Australia, huh?

"There are other things more important than the World Cup."

A glance at this week's MCG gates for AFL matches could go some way to helping Verbeek understand why.

Friday night's Geelong-Collingwood game drew 88,000, and even lowly rated Richmond and Essendon pulled 64,000 the following night.

Football Federation Australia would be happy with anything approaching that against New Zealand.