Adelaide’s Louis D’Arrigo saw the quality in European football, but also how Australia can tackle it, writes Tom Smithies.
It wasn’t just a backdrop of the Italian Alps that told Louis D’Arrigo that the environment was a little different. Now the Adelaide United midfielder has had a taste of the Olympic challenges that lie ahead – and how well-equipped the Olyroos are to meet them.
D’Arrigo and Adelaide teammate Alexander Popovic have had little time to draw breath after returning to Australia from a nine-day Olyroos training camp in northern Italy, pitched straight back into A-Leagues action in Friday’s showdown with Western Sydney Wanderers.
But the two games Australia played left D’Arrigo both newly aware of the standards in Europe’s elite, but also with a fresh sense of belief that the Australian squad under head coach Tony Vidmar is more than capable of competing.
A 1-0 loss to the Switzerland Under-20 national team in Bellinzona, Switzerland on Friday was followed by a 4-0 defeat of Serie B side Como, whose star veteran Cesc Fabregas watched the game closely, as Vidmar assessed an A-Leagues-heavy squad ahead of the Olympic and U23 Asian Cup qualifiers that start later this year.
D’Arrigo scored in the victory over Como but – even though he played at the U23 Asian Cup held last year in Uzbekistan – it was the quality inherent in the narrow loss to the Swiss U20 team that struck the 21 year old.
“I think we all knew how important this game was going to be as a test for us and you could literally feel the tension as soon as the national anthems finished,” D’Arrigo told KEEPUP.
“So it was frustrating to concede inside two minutes or around that, and really we should have buried them. We had some really good chances that we couldn’t take – they had two shots on target I think but got the win and that’s the difference in playing a strong European side.
“The video sessions were pretty helpful in seeing how we could have done better but also what we did well, and playing these types of game is really helpful for us.
“Obviously the standard is high, but also when we play in Asia a lot of the teams we play in qualifying tend to sit off us. Playing against Switzerland in particular was more like an A-League game, very transactional, but I honestly felt we were the better team.
“There wasn’t much time for training given we had two games, but the squad gelled pretty well.”
The experience D’Arrigo has garnered at 21 – just two games short of registering 100 for Adelaide – is one of the reasons he was chosen along with Jacob Italiano, Alou Kuol and Callum Talbot to be in the leadership group for this camp, getting the captain’s armband for 20 minutes against Como.
“I did feel more like a leader in the group as I’d played for the U23s before, and I was conscious to be someone who younger players could ask questions of and try to make them comfortable and relaxed,” he said.
For Popovic, in his first U23 camp, the achievements of the Olyroos at the Tokyo Olympics serve as the ultimate motivation.
“This is what you want as a young player, a camp like this with sessions that are short, sharp and real quality,” he said.
“It’s very different to a club situation, you’re all the same age and you’re all motivating each other to do better.
“We all want to be at the Olympics and we saw what the previous squad did in Tokyo, but we want to go further. They set the benchmark but we have to aim to improve on that, even though we know how much hard work will be involved.”
