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The road to the WC Finals - now 2022


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22 minutes ago, Jovan said:

It's a massive conundrum. I'm leaning with you but also feel some pride in our national coach sticking by his beliefs. 

Agree with this, although i guess id preface it by saying that i reckon even Brazil would go park the bus if it meant qualifying for a WC. It's still a results based game at the end of the day and whilst i absolutely believe in short term pain for long term gain, this game is one where practicality should be prioritized over beliefs.

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1 minute ago, mattyh001 said:

That's the problem I have / see; a win for Japan against us puts them 4 points clear and thereby Japan will qualify them with a game in hand - the same game they are due to play Saudi in the middle east. The Saudi's are more than good enough to get a win and draw overall from their last two games (particularly since the Saudi v Japan game will have little value from the Japanese point of view should Japan have qualified after beating us)

I expect that we will beat Thailand, the problem is more we need the Saudi's to lose. And given they are sitting second in the group, it's more about results - not who's in who's class, who's better

I understand where you are coming from absolutely and its all very plausible, but i guess i dont see Japan being already qualified being a major factor in the final game; in fact it could help if a swag of 2nd tier players are given a chance to prove themselves before a WC. Certainly look at Iraq, they've been cooked since matchday 4 but have manged to get a draw from both Australia and Japan despite no immediate incentive.

On the flip side KSA havent qualified since 2006 so the weight of expectation will be right on them and potentially they could fold like a deck of cards.

UAE have the incentive of still being a mathematical chance of 3rd if they can roll the Saudis, no matter how unlikely that they'll overturn the GD and its in the UAE, so i guess even if its not the most likely, both UAE and Japan have a good chance of obtaining results.

 

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21 minutes ago, bt50 said:

Agree with this, although i guess id preface it by saying that i reckon even Brazil would go park the bus if it meant qualifying for a WC. It's still a results based game at the end of the day and whilst i absolutely believe in short term pain for long term gain, this game is one where practicality should be prioritized over beliefs.

That's what I'm feeling. It's definitely all about the results and I can't see Ange jeopardizing qualifying. But continuing with 3 at the back scares the shit out me and after last season with us its hard to see it work with average type players (comparing to world class). Also it's easy to overlook we are still undefeated in this world cup cycle so basically I've got no idea what to think. 

Perplexed. 

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27 minutes ago, bt50 said:

I understand where you are coming from absolutely and its all very plausible, but i guess i dont see Japan being already qualified being a major factor in the final game; in fact it could help if a swag of 2nd tier players are given a chance to prove themselves before a WC. Certainly look at Iraq, they've been cooked since matchday 4 but have manged to get a draw from both Australia and Japan despite no immediate incentive.

On the flip side KSA havent qualified since 2006 so the weight of expectation will be right on them and potentially they could fold like a deck of cards.

UAE have the incentive of still being a mathematical chance of 3rd if they can roll the Saudis, no matter how unlikely that they'll overturn the GD and its in the UAE, so i guess even if its not the most likely, both UAE and Japan have a good chance of obtaining results.

 

Certainly not impossible to still get through if we do lose, I guess I've got a bit of a "glass half empty" type of view.

With any luck we can get a result in Japan, and have qualification spot in our hands 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Socceroos look set to play their last home qualifying game (against Thailand) at AAMI Park on September 5th.

It's Tuesday night sadly, but are others interested in going? Could do home support (would give volume via chants for a few current and former Heart / City boys in the teams)

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29 minutes ago, mattyh001 said:

The Socceroos look set to play their last home qualifying game (against Thailand) at AAMI Park on September 5th.

It's Tuesday night sadly, but are others interested in going? Could do home support (would give volume via chants for a few current and former Heart / City boys in the teams)

If we get the game I'm definitely in. I can't remember the last time Australia had an important game in Melbourne  (other than Asian Cup).

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41 minutes ago, mattyh001 said:

The Socceroos look set to play their last home qualifying game (against Thailand) at AAMI Park on September 5th.

It's Tuesday night sadly, but are others interested in going? Could do home support (would give volume via chants for a few current and former Heart / City boys in the teams)

I would definitely make the trek down.

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2 hours ago, Jovan said:

If we get the game I'm definitely in. I can't remember the last time Australia had an important game in Melbourne  (other than Asian Cup).

Usually done at etihad, they played one of the last qualifying games for the 2014 world cup and Bresciano scored the winner I think?...

This would be the second time they play a competitive game at AAMI Park I believe?

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Might need a bit of help with this, but as I see it the stocks of our better players seem in the rise? Mooy and Ryan to the Premier Lesgue and Leckie to a better Bunddsliga club.

Would like to see Rogic move from Celtic (a good club in s terrible league) though.

Of the  other "regulars":

Juric - Switzerland 

Smith - Premier League (not playing)

Sainsbury - China

Irvine, Luingo & Jedinak - Championship

Behich - Turkey

Cahill - Aus

Kruse, Milligan & Troisi - not contracted

Wright - English 3rd division 

DeGenek - Japan

Even the much vaunted golden generation had players outside the top leagues (like Popovic and Vidmar) starting, though back then maybe we had 7 or 8 players from the top European leagues?

Overall I think the establishment of the A League is starting to have a positive affect 

 

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Wright plays in the Championship fwiw 

Sainsbury and Rogic need to move to better leagues, Smith needs to find game time.

Aside from that and the free agents, the club situations aren't bad, though I think most could do better. Probably only Leckie that you can say is at a club he couldn't do better than. Maybe Behich as well. 

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  • 1 month later...

Getting down to the business end of qualifying now. 

30 man squad out today (WTF is that anyway? I presume just some marketing bullshit, they all don't go into camp do they?)

To me the massive in is Spiranovic. We've desperately missed him.

starting line vs Japan will be interesting. Cahill is their nemesis, but is he ready to start? I'm thinking off the bench.

Jedinaks in the squad but he hasn't played since surgery. Does he play? I think Ange wants to (we will need to be rock solid against the classy Japs) but he's surely 50/50 at best. 

Milligan is another one we need but might not be ready. Certainly if Milligan Spiranovic and Sainsbury are fit and firing we have a solid back 3 & of course with a midfield including Mooy, Rogic and Irvine/Jedinak and we are starting cto lol formidable.

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On 30/06/2017 at 3:41 PM, Shahanga said:

Might need a bit of help with this, but as I see it the stocks of our better players seem in the rise? Mooy and Ryan to the Premier Lesgue and Leckie to a better Bunddsliga club.

Would like to see Rogic move from Celtic (a good club in s terrible league) though.

Of the  other "regulars":

Juric - Switzerland 

Smith - Premier League (not playing)

Sainsbury - China

Irvine, Luingo & Jedinak - + wright Championship

Behich - Turkey

Cahill, Troisi, Milligan - Aus

Kruse, - Bundesliga 2

DeGenek - Japan

Even the much vaunted golden generation had players outside the top leagues (like Popovic and Vidmar) starting, though back then maybe we had 7 or 8 players from the top European leagues?

Overall I think the establishment of the A League is starting to have a positive affect 

To compare with the Golden Generation, of the 14 players who took the field vs Japan in Kaiserlautern their leagues were as follows:

 EPL: 7, Italy:2, Spain:1, Netherlands:1, Switzerland:1, Germany 3rd:1 & English 3rd:1.

At the time England Italy and Spain regarded as clearly the top 3 leagues in the world, so our players were all up there.

Clearly we still have a way to go.

 

Edited by Shahanga
Update the uncontracted, corrected wright
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I am very worried about the Japan game. We have played very poorly for most of our past 5-6 qualifiers despite getting some (pretty undeserved) results at home.

I was becoming annoyed at Ange but I think now that we are only as good as our players, who are generally not really at a reasonable international standard. 

What has really worried me is our lack of pace, which has been quite obvious in the past few qualifiers against ordinary opposition. Our players with decent pace (Smith, Leckie) have very poor skills and decision making for this level, but our better ball players (Mooy, Jedinak, Rogic) are not overly quick. The only way we score is via set pieces or opposition blunders because we can't beat anyone 1v1 due to a lack of pace. Which is why Kruse has to play, although his crossing is ordinary at least he gets past people.  

Glad Spiranovic is back, hope he plays because we have have little class at the back, although Sainsbury is pretty good defensively. Our fullbacks are very very ordinary.  Degenek is a hack and choosing between Behich and Smith on the left is Sophie's Choice.

Rogic could be a great player but is the laziest guy I have seen at international level for many years. Would not rely on him digging in and producing when things get tough, he was hopeless against the Japanese at home. Which means if Mooy is marked out of the game we are relying on....  Irvine or.......  Luongo to crack open defences. Hmmm.  

Hoping that the Confed cup has raised our level a bit but I'm not confident. 

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On 23/08/2017 at 6:47 PM, dr lime said:

I am very worried about the Japan game. We have played very poorly for most of our past 5-6 qualifiers despite getting some (pretty undeserved) results at home.

I was becoming annoyed at Ange but I think now that we are only as good as our players, who are generally not really at a reasonable international standard. 

What has really worried me is our lack of pace, which has been quite obvious in the past few qualifiers against ordinary opposition. Our players with decent pace (Smith, Leckie) have very poor skills and decision making for this level, but our better ball players (Mooy, Jedinak, Rogic) are not overly quick. The only way we score is via set pieces or opposition blunders because we can't beat anyone 1v1 due to a lack of pace. Which is why Kruse has to play, although his crossing is ordinary at least he gets past people.  

Glad Spiranovic is back, hope he plays because we have have little class at the back, although Sainsbury is pretty good defensively. Our fullbacks are very very ordinary.  Degenek is a hack and choosing between Behich and Smith on the left is Sophie's Choice.

Rogic could be a great player but is the laziest guy I have seen at international level for many years. Would not rely on him digging in and producing when things get tough, he was hopeless against the Japanese at home. Which means if Mooy is marked out of the game we are relying on....  Irvine or.......  Luongo to crack open defences. Hmmm.  

Hoping that the Confed cup has raised our level a bit but I'm not confident. 

Excellent well thought out post.

Our side is far from perfect, as you correctly indicate. Still, a few key players are in form (Mooy, Rogic, Leckie) and as you note the return of Spiranovic plus Milligan's recent standard give us a solid basis to build the team around.

Japan will also be nervous at the name "T. Cahill" in the squad (presume he'll come off the bench).

Still, for all that it's a tough destination.

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34 minutes ago, GreenSeater said:

Imagine playing Robbie Kruse as the number 9 when you have the best footballer ever born in Australia who happens to play up top on the bench :droy:

Wants his pace over Jurics strength I guess. Cahill was never going to start without a game under his belt.

surprsing choice but Kruse now had the chance to answer his critics 

Ref lost his whistle?

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