Culina Fitsbill As Socceroos Pacemaker Against China
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday March 26, 2008
METRONOMIC Socceroos midfielder Jason Culina runs for fun, but even he recognises he will need to pace himself to survive today's key World Cup decider against China.
As Pim Verbeek deals with a casualty list which is verging on a full-blown crisis, the importance of Culina grows by the hour. All Dutch coaches places a huge emphasis on versatility, and Culina gives Verbeek three choices in the make-up of his midfield. But whether the PSV Eindhoven star plays as an anchorman, out wide, or in a box-to-box role, one thing he guarantees is workrate, and lots of it.In the altitude of Kunming, and at the end of a typically taxing journey from Europe, Culina is one player Verbeek can rely upon to last the distance. Fit players were always going to be key players in this game super-fit ones will be decisive.Along with the likes of Luke Wilkshire and Mark Bresciano, Culina's aerobic capacity will provide a security blanket for the Socceroos, but even he accepts he will need to use his head as much as his legs in the rarefied atmosphere of Kunming."No matter how fit you are, the travel, the jet lag, do take an effect," he said. "We're not getting a lot of time on the ground for these [World Cup] matches, and it does get difficult towards the end of the game. "In the first half you play out of freshness, and enthusiasm, but in the second half it catches up a little."Against Qatar it wasn't so bad, but now there's altitude to deal with, and to be honest I don't really know what to expect. Obviously I'll run as much as I can, but it also depends on what role I play. "Because none of us have any experience of altitude, the tactics will probably change a bit. I would think we'll try and slow the game down at the start to see what effect it has."But has he measured [by GPS] exactly how much ground he covers in a game?"I know they do that in England, and back in the A-League, but we don't do it in Holland, and I've never done it with the Socceroos," he said."From what I hear a midfielder should be doing between 10-12kms, so I guess I'm in there somewhere."This is Culina's second World Cup campaign, but he is a much more influential figure than he was in 2005, when he was often a fringe player in the qualifiers before Guus Hiddink made him a linchpin for the play-offs against Uruguay, and then the finals.Like Hiddink, Verbeek needs no convincing about a player who has been moulded into the Dutch prototype after almost a decade in the Netherlands. SMH
© 2008 Newcastle Herald