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World Cup Qualifiers


Shahanga
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10 hours ago, Shahanga said:

Well that’s novel refereeing.

Offside from a defenders deflection.

you still awake @NewConvert? We’re all over them but not playing well. 

sorry I kinda of went into a coma...

Didn't mind the refereeing as it provided the extra man that Nepal needed.

I just wonder whether Arnold should have been more experimental in his selection.

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Apart from a routine win, there's not a lot that you can read into the performance. I Don't think we ever need to see Milligan again. Mooy, Irvine, Jeggo, Luongo, Hrustic, Amini, Antonis, etc should all be ahead of him in the pecking order. Aziz needs some game time in Turkey, he was as poor as he's ever been against poor opposition. Glad we've now locked Souttar and Hrustic in. Not sure why we've never tried Goodwin at LB internationally, his delivery is good, but he doesn't have the tricks 1v1 that a winger needs. Jordan dropping points at home to Kuwait makes things a lot easier.

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  • 1 year later...

I had a bit of play with a potential squad for the upcoming games. My research is a little light so I’ve probably included a few injured guys and forgotten 1 or 2.

Ryan, Langerak, Frederici 

Grant, Risdon,

Behich, Smith

Good, Sainsbury, Soutter, Wright

Jeggo Mooy Irvine Rogic Amini Hrustic

Boyle Borrello Leckie Nabbout 

Mclaren (Mc)Taggart

plus:

Tongyik, Goodwin, Gersbach, Milligan (for the dressing room), Juric, Mabil, McGree

Doubtless Arnie will included a Smokey or 2 but if I could guess those they wouldn’t be smokeys. With Olyroos playing at a similar time we don’t especially need to blood kids.

Feel free to make suggestions. Who have I missed?

update:

forgot Rukatvtska. Blokes killing it in Israel. Surely must fit in somewhere.

Update 2 : Gersbach not playing, he’s no chance and Borrello struggling for game time in B2 - he’s at best an outside chance I’d say.

Update 3: pointed out to me that Milligan retired 2 years ago and Langerak retired last week as well.

Update 4: Jeggo injured.

I do wonder who will play DM.

Edited by Shahanga
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16 hours ago, Shahanga said:

I had a bit of play with a potential squad for the upcoming games. My research is a little light so I’ve probably included a few injured guys and forgotten 1 or 2.

Ryan, Langerak, Frederici 

Grant, Risdon,

Behich, Smith

Good, Sainsbury, Soutter, Wright

Jeggo Mooy Irvine Rogic Amini Hrustic

Boyle Borrello Leckie Nabbout 

Mclaren (Mc)Taggart

plus:

Tongyik, Goodwin, Gersbach, Milligan (for the dressing room), Juric, Mabil, McGree

Doubtless Arnie will included a Smokey or 2 but if I could guess those they wouldn’t be smokeys. With Olyroos playing at a similar time we don’t especially need to blood kids.

Feel free to make suggestions. Who have I missed?

update:

forgot Rukatvtska. Blokes killing it in Israel. Surely must fit in somewhere.

Degenek. Played a lot of football, including some Champions League and Europa League recently. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I watched the Arnold interview that has just been released. Probably the most interesting thing he said was there really should be about 6 olyroos players in the Socceroo squad. You’ll see a little of that when the squad comes out.

He also mentioned in passing that in 100 years only 606 players have played for Australia and thus what an honour and an obligation as him as the selector to respect that.

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Ok actual squad.

(a fair few injuries and unavailabilities, the most prominent of whom is Mooy, we’ll miss him).

Ryan, Thomas, Vukovic Redmayne 

Behich Smith

Grant Karacic

Degenek Good R McGowan Sainsbury Souttar Tongyik 

Genreau Holland Hrustric Irvine McGee Metcalfe Dougall
Borello Boyle Ikonomidas Leckie Mabil Rukavtyska 

Duke Giannou Maclaren MacTaggart

So there you have it. Most alarmingly, it’s the most “no name” midfield we’ve put together in many a year. Hrustric is starting in the Bundesliga though, so he’s probably the bloke at the highest level right now in the entire squad (Leckie and Ryan aren’t regulars).

The 2 big games are game 1 vs Kuwait and game 4 vs Jordan. For those who can’t remember the process Ist goes through and 2nd “probably” goes through. We are top after the first round with 4 wins.

Arnold’s no idiot, he’ll well remember Thailand all those years ago and I expect will only play players who can handle the heat. I fully expect Souttar to play against Nepal and I wish their 5’6’ defenders well at set pieces.

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Obviously the starting XI will fluctuate given the heavy schedule, but this would be my ideal best XI:

 

Ryan

Grant - Sainsbury - Degenek - Behich

Leckie - Irvine - Holland - Mabil

Maclaren - Rukavystya

 

Hrustic, McGree and Duke the best impact players to come off the bench for mine, while Souttar and Smith may well prove to be starters.

 

3 hours ago, Shahanga said:

Most alarmingly, it’s the most “no name” midfield we’ve put together in many a year.

By a mile, yup. Kind of worrying, though I back Arnie to get the best out of an average squad. If anything, we might actually perform better as the players won't be playing with entitlement, which we know has nearly cost us in AFC qualifiers of the past.

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7 hours ago, CityBoyz said:

We have already qualified which gets to the question the need to take A-League players but not Arnold’s fault it’s the APL who scheduled the season to overlap an international break 

Have we?

I didn’t think so. You’ll need to explain it. 

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4 hours ago, Nate said:

Obviously the starting XI will fluctuate given the heavy schedule, but this would be my ideal best XI:

Ryan

Grant - Sainsbury - Degenek - Behich

Leckie - Irvine - Holland - Mabil

Maclaren - Rukavystya

Hrustic, McGree and Duke the best impact players to come off the bench for mine, while Souttar and Smith may well prove to be starters.

I’m not expecting 442. Especially with 6 wingers.(I don’t think wide midfielders are “wingers”).

my best XI.

Ryan

Grant/Krusicicic Sainsbury Good Smith

Holland/Dougall 

Irvine Hrustric 

Boyle Maclaren Mabil

impact:

Ruka Duke Taggart Leckie

I’d have to say that’s a fairly average side. 

 

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We def havent already qualified, and a quick look at how the next round works means its imperative we top the group.

In saying that, should we win the first two we're a near certainty to top the group; the kuwait game is the big one.

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For those who are interested, the squad of XXXI comprises players from:

ALeague - 10

Belgium -3

Championship - 2

Bundesliga -2

SPL - 2

EPL - 1

Turkey - 1

MLS-1

Serie B-1

Serbia -1

Austria -1

League 1-1

Bundesliga 2 -1

Denmark -1

Israel -1

Cyprus -1

J League- 1

That truly is an amazing list. A couple of thoughts come to mind.
1. Shows just how international it’s become for professional footballers.

2. Good luck scouting all those leagues, keeping tabs on the boys.

Edited by Shahanga
Serbia not Croatia
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For those who haven’t been following too closely we play Kuwait at 5am tomorrow.

I believe it’s broadcast on ABC, Kayo and Foxtel.

Kuwait are currently second on 10 points. Subsequent to those World Cup Qualifiers, they played in the Gulf Cup in November and had a “Barry Crocker” of a tournament, coming bottom of their group.

The game’s in the evening over there but still likely to be played in about 39 degrees.

Edited by Shahanga
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1 hour ago, Shahanga said:

Very professional performance.

We’ve seen some poor performances in the Middle East since we joined the AFC, that wasn’t one of them.

My best: Irvine & Hrustric.

Well placed to top the league now.

Agree re motm's. Need one point to secure top of the group, however winning the remaining games is important to ensure we get the highest possible seeding going into the final round of qualifiers.

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2 hours ago, bt50 said:

Agree re motm's. Need one point to secure top of the group, however winning the remaining games is important to ensure we get the highest possible seeding going into the final round of qualifiers.

Jordan are on 10 with 3 games to play, including the two minnows, so surely we need 5 more points.
Of course that equation changes if we take points off them.

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2 hours ago, bt50 said:

Agree re motm's. Need one point to secure top of the group, however winning the remaining games is important to ensure we get the highest possible seeding going into the final round of qualifiers.

 

39 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Jordan are on 10 with 3 games to play, including the two minnows, so surely we need 5 more points.
Of course that equation changes if we take points off them.

We face Chinese Taipei next, who have lost every game so far. They've have lost by an average of 5 goals, including their game this morning 2-0 to Nepal (second worst team in the group). 

A win locks in top spot (which should be the case by a wide margin) 

Kuwait would be to far behind and Jordan (a) would have to win every game (including against us) while (b) we'd also have to lose to Nepal. Fat fucking chance.

Its in the bag. 

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56 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Jordan are on 10 with 3 games to play, including the two minnows, so surely we need 5 more points.
Of course that equation changes if we take points off them.

Correct, i thought we'd played 5 and this morning was 6, my bad. 5 is mathematical, but 4 is realistic as the only way we get that GD difference overturned is if Jordan do us by 5. Wont happen.

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Add Mooy or Rogic to that starting XI and we're an instantly better side.

I thought it was a really good performance considering it's been a year and a half since our last match and it was 39 degrees or something lmao. Kuwait were shit but I think we definitely pressured them into making a lot of those mistakes during that first half. Hrustic was a breath of fresh air and Irvine is quickly becoming one of our most important players.

I think our biggest cause for concern is on the wings - Mabil looked toothless and a little lost out there while Boyle is a bit average for mine. I guess there's a lot of flexibility in the squad and players like Leckie and Duke can play anywhere across the front 3, but we could and probably should have won by a few more this morning, and you've got to put it down to fluffed chances.

Great result though and it should probably see us through now. If we're lucky, we'll have already qualified by the time we face Jordan.

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11 hours ago, Nate said:

Add Mooy or Rogic to that starting XI and we're an instantly better side.

I thought it was a really good performance considering it's been a year and a half since our last match and it was 39 degrees or something lmao. Kuwait were shit but I think we definitely pressured them into making a lot of those mistakes during that first half. Hrustic was a breath of fresh air and Irvine is quickly becoming one of our most important players.

I think our biggest cause for concern is on the wings - Mabil looked toothless and a little lost out there while Boyle is a bit average for mine. I guess there's a lot of flexibility in the squad and players like Leckie and Duke can play anywhere across the front 3, but we could and probably should have won by a few more this morning, and you've got to put it down to fluffed chances.

Great result though and it should probably see us through now. If we're lucky, we'll have already qualified by the time we face Jordan.

Agree with most of that.

We are basically through now. Taiwan and Nepal are NPL standard so we just need to be professional and pick up the points.

It most certainly wasn’t Mobil’s night but I’m thinking most of that was lack of familiarity with team mates. I guess we’ll see. 
Not sure I agree with you in regards to Tomi Rogic. I think it’s more likely Hrustric has taken his spot. Possibly Hrustric could play on the wing - he certainly drifted wide a lot, which probably didn’t help Mabil incidentally.

I thought Dougall looked fantastic when he came on.

The big problem remains our striking stocks. The coach felt he was better off with a winger up front in that match, which says it all really.

Fingers crossed Maclaren keeps improving.

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A side like Australia needs a luxury player though imo. Yeah he's lazy AF and can't play a full 90, but football is a game of moments and his ability to shoot outside of the box and dribble through opponents are skills very few of our players possess. 

Hrustic was really good but its way too early to assess how good he's going to be. Good to have more depth at least, regardless.

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1 hour ago, Nate said:

A side like Australia needs a luxury player though imo. Yeah he's lazy AF and can't play a full 90, but football is a game of moments and his ability to shoot outside of the box and dribble through opponents are skills very few of our players possess. 

Hrustic was really good but its way too early to assess how good he's going to be. Good to have more depth at least, regardless.

I think a luxury player perhaps helps against the asian teams that park it up against us, but as soon as we play anyone remotely decent hes pretty well a liability.

I think rogic is rated way higher than kruse generally, hence why I dont think kruse is in the conversation.

Agree re Hrustic, early days but both he and Karacic made a bright start.

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1 hour ago, Shahanga said:

Watching us and then listening to him, I’m more and more convinced that Arnold #2 is our best coach since Huddink. 
I’m sure he’ll get the most out of the available players.

Im a huge arnie fan, and especially so in a national team context.

Hes got a plan but hes also pragmatic, and players he coaches buy in and play for him.

Perfect mix.

I love ange too, but anges refusal for pragmatism, especially on a national stage where hes working with players intermittently, was a mark against him.

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4 hours ago, bt50 said:

I think a luxury player perhaps helps against the asian teams that park it up against us, but as soon as we play anyone remotely decent hes pretty well a liability.

I think rogic is rated way higher than kruse generally, hence why I dont think kruse is in the conversation.

Agree re Hrustic, early days but both he and Karacic made a bright start.

I rate Kruse higher than Rogic. Although, I will concede, that there is no way I will watch every socceroos game to determine which is teh lower ranked player.

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