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Monday, October 02, 2006

Schwarzer blast for Hiddink

Australian keeper Mark Schwarzer slammed former Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink's “man management” skills yesterday in Sydney.

Schwarzer told The Australian that he thought Hiddink was a great coach adding, "However, he surprised me with how he approached the goalkeeping situation. I think that, in some respects, he showed a lack of man-management skills and a lack of appreciation of what players need in terms of getting ready mentally and emotionally for a big match,"

"I could never understand why he would name the team just hours before kick-off. I always believed that finding out your selection status at such short notice was far from ideal. My best performance at the finals came after he gave me 24 hours' notice about starting."

"Certain individuals in the media have been pushing for Spider (Kalac) for so long. It started before the Oceania World Cup qualifiers against the Solomon Islands," he said.

"I was particularly angry when one journalist re-hashed this thing about me being indecisive with crosses and not coming off my line. He blamed me for the goal that Japan scored in the first match of the finals when everyone at the ground and watching on television saw that I had been clearly fouled."

For mine, I’ve always thought Kalac to be the better keeper, however, he spent the last 12 months sitting on the pine watching AC Milan.

I wouldn’t have thought there was a decision to make with one keeper playing regularly and one not playing at all.

Schwarzer will step out for the Socceroos on Saturday against Paraguay in Brisbane

posted by Footballer at Schwarzer blast for Hiddink

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