Pim Verbeek has decided to end his time as head coach of the Australian national team following the World Cup which ends on July 11 this year. That means the Dutchman has at least five matches left in charge of the Socceroos as he attempts to emulate what his countryman Guus Hiddink achieved in Germany four years ago.
Australia meets New Zealand and the USA in World Cup warm-up matches in late May and early June before Verbeek leads the nation in the sports biggest tournament with their first game on the 14th of July against Germany before tackling Ghana and Serbia.
Provided, of course, that Verbeek leads the team into the second stage of the World Cup, the Serbia match could be his last in charge, but the fact that we all know that already, leads me to believe that what he has done is very un-Australian.
To start with, the Rotterdam-born tactician never gave our national competition a chance. From day one, he slagged the A-League, saying it was of poor quality, when somebody who really had the best interests of the nation at heart would have helped nurture the league in its infancy and put up with the fact that it may not have been to a level he expected it to be.
He constantly questioned the decisions of some Socceroos players who returned home to try and boost the profile of the domestic competition whilst preparing themselves for World Cup selection.
The fact he did not attend Saturday's A-League Grand Final between Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC at Etihad Stadium was insulting to the league and Football Federation Australia will now need to think long and hard about finding a new man that has passion for Australia and our sporting culture.
Despite the fact he has lost just four games in 27 outings since taking over from Hiddink (after Graham Arnold and Rob Baan acted as caretakers) in late 2007, those matches have yielded just 33 goals and produced non-inspirational draws against countries of much-lesser rankings.
The results are not the argument though. Sure, he has guided the Socceroos to Asian Cup and World Cup qualification but he has turned many Australian supporters off the team purely for the fact that they play boring football and do not provide many chances during 90 minutes of a football match.
If Verbeek wanted to be remembered as an Australian icon, like Hiddink is, he should have re-thought his decision to end his tenure as head coach and perhaps made the announcement once his World Cup duties were over as it is very un-Australian to quit something before it has even started.
