Former Socceroo and Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson has praised the appointment of Bert van Marwijk as the new coach of the Australian national football team.
Despite scrutiny being directed van Marwijk’s way by football commentator Andy Harper, Thompson says the Dutchman is a great signing due to his prior experience, where he has coached the Netherlands and Saudi Arabian national sides and German clubs Borussia Dortmund and Hamburg, alongside two stints at Dutch giants Feyenoord.
“It’s a great signing,” Thompson, who played in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven in 2006, told SEN Breakfast.
“If you look at his CV, he has coached at the highest level. He has coached the Netherlands national team to a World Cup final. It doesn’t get any bigger than that.
“At domestic level he has coached some of the biggest clubs in Europe and he knows our game. He’s coached Saudi Arabia which was in our group for the World Cup qualifiers. He knows our players, he knows our style of football that we play so I think it is a no-brainer.
“Finally we have got someone in there and it’s great to see that the FFA have done something good, because there has been a lot of harsh talk about them over the past couple of months about a lot of things they are doing badly.
“This is a good sign of things to come and now we can focus on a World Cup. It’s the biggest event in the world. It’s now time to jump on the bandwagon and hopefully we do something special.”
Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat also sang the praises of the FFA’s appointment, believing his time in Asia gives him a head start above other possible candidates.
“His record speaks for itself,” he told SEN’s Time On yesterday.
“Saudi Arabia qualified automatically under him and obviously we went through via the playoffs. The positives form that perspective, not only his experience but he’ll have some first-hand knowledge of our team and our current group, I think that’s a head start certainly for anyone taking over.”
Listen to Archie Thompson chatting with Garry Lyon and Tim Watson on SEN Breakfast below: