Tom Rogic is Australia’s World Cup wildcard — heres why
Socceroo Tom Rogic is something of a footballing relic.
All at once gangly and elegant, he is a fluid playmaker of the old school. Twenty years ago, or 30, it was much more common to see players like Rogic — gliding across the pitches of South America and southern Europe especially.
They usually wore the number 10 on their backs, and their job was to be the linkman between midfield and attack.
His game might be something from another era, but as Australia prepares to kick off its World Cup dream against France on Saturday night, Socceroos greats say Rogic is the man to watch.
Tom Rogic has an array of arrows in his quiver. Most spectacular and obvious is his powerful and accurate shot on goal, which he can unleash with either foot, from distance or in a crowded box.
His loping runs with the ball at his feet are all the more impressive due to his height — most of the great dribblers of the football have been lower to the ground.
But the 25-year-old's particular style of play represents both an opportunity and a risk for Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk as the Dutchman attempts to guide heavy underdogs Australia through to the World Cup knock-out stages.
In Group C, the Socceroos face France, one of the World Cup favourites, then the highly ranked Denmark and Peru, so there is the potential for things to go wrong. Very wrong.
The temptation will be strong for the coach to play it safe and stack his side with solid, defensively astute players.
But that raises the question: is Australia in Russia to compete for a spot in the knock-out rounds (a win and a draw from the three group games would be the minimum requirement), or simply survive without being too humiliated?
If Bert bets big on Rogic by making him the focal point of the side, the Socceroos stand a chance — even if it's a slim one — of giving the World Cup a proper shake.
If he grew up playing in Italy, Rogic would be called a "trequartista", or three-quarter man — not a forward, not a midfielder, but something in-between. In Argentina he would be known as the "enganche", the link.
No matter the language, football people everywhere understand this role as the "10", even if that doesn't happen to match the number on the shirt — Rogic himself wears 23.
A number 10 operates in the gap behind the forwards, using vision and skill to create a spark that can, hopefully, result in a goal.
That spark could be a clever turn, a dribble to escape a marker or a killer pass or shot.
Just like that, a gifted enganche can turn a game on its head.
One of the Socceroos' most talented and cerebral footballers of recent times, Ned Zelic, says true 10s are a dying breed.
"It's interesting that [Rogic] has been able to fill that role as a number 10 for Australia," Zelic says.
"In the past we've had guys who were similar to a 10, but never that Italian or South American-style playmaker.
"I can't think of many current players in world football who perform that role in the same way. You have to go back to someone like [Juan Roman] Riquelme for Argentina. These guys seem to have more time than anyone else."
A different football journey, a different set of skills
Rogic grew up playing futsal — five-a-side football on smaller pitches — before switching to 11-a-side on full-sized pitches. He represented Australia with the Futsalaroos in 2010 just two years before his debut with the Socceroos.
Futsal encourages close ball control, exceptional dribbling skills and the ability to work in a small amount of space. The majority of Brazil's hyper-skilful footballers famously serve their apprenticeships in the smaller version of the game, as do many in Spain, Germany and football's other world powers.
When receiving the ball with his back to goal, Rogic's trademark move is to drop his shoulder and swivel, sometimes with a touch, sometimes with a feint.
It catches the closest defenders off guard, and immediately changes the setting of the pieces on the gameboard in front of him.
In an instant he can be up to a gallop, with opponents forced to decide whether to backtrack frantically or try to lunge in with a tackle — a risky move when Rogic has the exquisite footwork to dance past in a moment.
While his footwork is what bamboozles opponents, Zelic says Rogic's understanding of pockets of space on the field, even without the ball, is what makes him really special.
"He clearly has the ability to find the space to receive the ball, which is a tremendous skill to have. You watch his movements off the ball, and that's the really impressive thing about him, giving his teammates an outlet.
"I've been watching and analysing football a long time and I think that is something special that not many players can do.
"And then once he gets the ball, Tom has that rare skill in that he can turn in a small amount of space and take on defenders or find that through pass."
Rogic was able to forge a path in the A-League, where delicate footwork isn't always the first thing managers look for, and, after some years of doing it tough, has now established himself as a genuine star in the rough and tumble of Scottish football. It's a tough league, where the Glasgow derby between Celtic and Old Firm rivals Rangers can sometimes resemble the scene in Trainspotting after Begbie throws his pint glass over the balcony.
In fact, he has just extended his contract with Celtic, the country's biggest club, for five more years, to the delight of fans.
Paul Okon, one of Australia's most gifted footballers who found himself right at home in the Belgian and Italian leagues in the '90s, also sees Rogic as a man who can tilt the balance in attacking areas.
"He's a very good dribbler. He takes up very good positions, facing forward, which is important. He scores goals and gets assists, which are the big weapons you need in that position.
"He's a big guy who is deceptively quick, it's important when you're in that central position that you can glide past one or more opponents, as that suddenly gives your side an overload of numbers in that attacking area."
Will Van Marwijk opt for moments of mastery over sweat and toil?
Rogic could have a better understanding of space than Neil deGrasse-Tyson, but it doesn't necessarily mean he'll be in the starting XI for the Socceroos throughout the tournament.
The safe option, against France especially, will be to fill the midfield with disruptors (Mark Milligan, Mile Jedinak) and skilled but versatile box-to-box players (Aaron Mooy, Massimo Luongo), thus lessening the risk of being completely overrun by French flair.
"Much will depend on the playing style of the man in charge," says Okon of Bert Van Marwijk, the 'FIFO' coach who has been brought in for a few months to guide the Australian side in this one tournament before leaving the job.
"The more attacking the team is the more it will allow Tommy to show his best attributes. But the team has to be playing well in the end, if the side is struggling it will be hard for him."
The man who will take over from Van Marwijk after the World Cup, Graham Arnold, handed Rogic his A-League debut in 2012, when he was coach of the Central Coast Mariners.
"He came up from Canberra to train with us for a couple of weeks," says Arnold. "I thought, 'wow, what a player'," Arnold says.
"When he's at 100 per cent his technique is frightening. He's a big boy, 6 foot 3, but very light on his feet.
"Though he's a different type of player, a 10 rather than a nine [striker], he reminds me quite a bit of [Mark] Viduka for that reason. The size and fast feet."
Nowadays the true number 10 position is often considered a luxury, and players with talent are required to produce more than just the odd flourish of creativity. They are expected to press, track back, defend, help out.
Arnold says Rogic's early struggles at Celtic, where he was used as a wide player and expected to patrol back and forth, are an example of how he can be misused by a coach. Rogic only reached his potential at the Glasgow club under the stewardship of the attack-minded Brendan Rodgers, who took over from Neil Lennon in 2016.
"It's about managers and systems. Under Lennon it was 4-4-2 and didn't work at all for Tommy. Rodgers's style suits him a lot.
"You have different types of 10s. Like, Timmy Cahill is a running 10 but Rogic is the more European-style, working off the front line. He reminds me of a Denis Bergkamp in that sense."
Since then he has become a star for Celtic.
Taking the gamble
If the pre-World Cup camp and the friendly match against the Czech Republic are indicators, then Bert is backing his number 23 in the number 10 role.
After the Czech Republic game, Van Marwijk called Rogic his "free man" — the unmarked guy who everyone else must get the ball to.
"In the first 20 minutes we couldn't find our free man. Rogic was free all the time but we didn't have the right solution," Van Marwijk said.
The first time one of his teammates found him in the attacking zone, he instantly laid on a pass to spring the dogged Czech defence which resulted in the opening goal.
According to Zelic, when Rogic plays, the whole system will need to be geared towards getting the best out of him.
"Certainly he's one of the key players for Australia, if not the key player," he says.
"You need his teammates to be on the same page, though, to get him playing at his best.
"The smarter opponents will isolate him and cut off supply, so there's no point having him there as this brilliant playmaker and nobody being able to get a pass to him. So it needs to be a team effort."
Rogic is shy, media-wary since an early association with the Nike hype-machine — not at all the kind of character you would normally expect to be the fulcrum of a side. He doesn't like to be the centre of attention, declining to speak to the ABC for this story, yet in Russia he will likely be at the centre of the Socceroos' game plan, and pivotal to their chances of success.
The spotlight will well and truly be on him, whether he want to be centre stage or not. Australia's future coach, thinks Rogic is ready.
"When he's ready and he's right he's really something special," Arnold says. He'll be a big star for the Socceroos at the World Cup."
Credits
- Reporter: Dan Colasimone
- Camera operator: Lincoln Rothall
- Drone footage: Courtesy Football Federation Australia
- Motion graphics: Tim Madden
- Producer: Tim Leslie
- Developers: Colin Gourlay, Nathan Hoad
- Editor: Matt Liddy
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