The Socceroos are in a state of paralysis. Australian football has a lot to learn

There is a special corner of Twitter which spends much of its time lamenting the flaws of football in this country. It is referred to – in equal parts affection and frustration – as #SokkahTwitter. This inebriating sphere of pandemonium is a silent-but-deafening concoction of joy, rage, intellectual acuity and utter nonsense.

But it is also, almost unanimously, in agreement on one core belief: player development pathways in Australia are fundamentally flawed.

This online conversation would barely register for the many Australians who tune in only to watch the national team play the big games – the matches trumpeted as those that matter. So they buy a ticket or turn on the TV and then, in a flash, are hit with it, overcome by the heat of an oven opened in their faces.

As it stands, after Thursday night’s 2-0 defeat to Japan, the Socceroos are hurtling inexorably towards some place other than the World Cup. They are on the road not to Qatar 2022 but an arid oblivion not experienced since the finals in South Korea and Japan 20 years ago. They have just lost a home World Cup qualifier with a result riding on it for the first time since 1981.

The casual fan may not hear or read the stream of analyses – #SokkahTwitter or otherwise – dissecting Australia’s performances in many a Fifa window. They come away with only what they have seen in front of them. And perhaps this is not an entirely irrelevant lens through which to consider the Socceroos’ predicament – a mortifying mess which is also confusing because this team which symbolises so much to so many people now looks like bric-a-brac of a past era.

There were a couple of positives to appreciate, such as the classy Ajdin Hrustic and, for the most part, Mat Ryan. Viewers