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World Cup Qualifiers


Shahanga
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46 minutes ago, NewConvert said:

I don't think he should survive but I am not sure who you would need to get to build up the socceroos. Part of me thinks that the next coach should concentrate on a solid A-League base with polish & top ups from those that play overseas.

Unfortunately up front we don't have a reliable striker. JMac is doing OK at this level but once he gets the socceroos jersey he is MIA.

The U23s making the Olympics and winning a game showed me the tide has turned. At long last things have stopped getting worse. (These players are basically from the U23 generation that didn’t score a goal in qualification).

A second division (like Arnold used to promote) would help, though realistically through the last two years we’ve done well to keep the A League.

Personally id keep Arnold. Not because I  think he’s the only choice, but because I consider him a good experienced coach and random chopping and changing frustrates me. He knows where the bodies are buried now and can plot a course.

in regards to JMac he wouldn’t touch the ball in games like we’ve just seen, as he’d get zero service, so I personally agree with not playing him. He needs a better midfield and wingers I’m afraid (or worse opposition).

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  • 2 months later...
On 31/3/2022 at 3:36 PM, Tommykins said:

I don't have a particular problem with Arnold as coach but his style of play is entirely at odds with the strengths of the team at the moment - this is the underlying problem, the entire lack of tactical flexibility has made a tricky situation into a bit of a disastrous one. 

It's not just his style of play, his whole philosophy and motivation and team building is built around:

backs to the wall

dig deep

nobody expects us to win

we are underdogs.

This worked well at CCM because it was true, it strained credibility somewhat when he kept calling the Smurfs 'underdogs', and, paradoxically, it might work well (because it's true) in our WC group, but it became a self-fulfilling prophecy during qualification, and it's isnt the philosophy we want for our national team.

He's done some good things, like unifying style of play and coaching continuity between U23 and Socceroos, but his time has come and gone now that we've qualified.

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22 hours ago, jw1739 said:

How many current and former Heart/City players did we have in the squad this morning?

Atkinson, Behich, Leckie, Maclaren, Mooy, Goodwin, Redmayne, Genreau, Tilio, McGree.

Must be a record of some sort.

Is the A-League being suspended for the World Cup? Otherwise with Leckie, JMac and Tilio being in the side our forward line is looking rather thin. Add Nabbout as a call up...

And of course we would prefer not to have any injuries.

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@NewConvert Somewhere there's a recent APL statement on next season to say that there will be no mid-week matches, that matches will be scheduled for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only, that international breaks will be observed, etc. etc.

It doesn't mention the World Cup Finals specifically, but I've just seen a snippet from an article (in toto behind a paywall) that says we are "expected to break for 3 weeks" at that time.

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3 hours ago, NewConvert said:

Is the A-League being suspended for the World Cup? Otherwise with Leckie, JMac and Tilio being in the side our forward line is looking rather thin. Add Nabbout as a call up...

And of course we would prefer not to have any injuries.

...and we'll probably lose Curtis Good as a national squad player

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  • 3 months later...

Interesting comment from Arzani, that being sent out on loan does not mean that the club will assist in development:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/they-don-t-really-care-fallen-socceroos-star-s-words-of-warning-for-epl-bound-teen-20220924-p5bknx.html

Of course we were always wondering whether he had the engine for 90 minutes and he does admit to making poor decisions which also come into play.

 

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  • 5 months later...

Given that Australia will have friendlies against Ecuador and Arnold's desire to have the same team that he took to Qatar as a thank you (which is very odd in my opinion), he has some issues due to injuries. For me the issue is attacking: Leckie, Goodwin are going to be 36 come the next world cup, Duke will be about 40, Nabbout & Jmac will be 35/34, so there is a big gap. Jason Cummings will be 32 so he could possibly be in contention. For me, I would call up Irakunda to be the striker and start giving him game time with Tilio & Kuol up front. The three of them to play 10 minutes together against Ecuador for each game.

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The squad for the Ecuador matches reads like a "who's who" of Heart/City. Included are:

Atkinson, Behich, Bos, Gauci, Goodwin, McGree, Metcalfe, Mooy, O'Neill, Redmayne and Tilio.

Congratulations to them all, especially our three current players.

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9 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

The squad for the Ecuador matches reads like a "who's who" of Heart/City. Included are:

Atkinson, Behich, Bos, Gauci, Goodwin, McGree, Metcalfe, Mooy, O'Neill, Redmayne and Tilio.

Congratulations to them all, especially our three current players.

Very impressive indeed! Especially given 5 of them are very recent when you include Atkinson and Metcalfe. 

Crazy to think it could have been even more if Leckie and Jmac weren't injured... 

I don't think many if any other A League teams have produced this many Socceroos? 

Edited by MHFC-FAN
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  • 2 weeks later...

Socceroos vs Ecuador was an entertaining game in the end. Although I must confess that I did not see much build up, passing play or holding play from the Socceroos. I was saying that Behich is done but all of a sudden he crosses the ball in for Kuol's goal. Still I would have liked to see Bos replace Behich for at least 5 minutes.

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Good result.

Had some issues to deal with yesterday and couldn't watch, but we certainly looked good in the highlights. So often in the past we've looked like a team that shouldn't really be there, but not from what I've seen of last night. All three goals are good to watch. If Arnold keeps us going like this with the young players coming through the future looks exciting.

20,000 attendance a bit disappointing. I wish we played more often at AAMI.

I was surprised to read that there was no VAR.

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7 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Good result.

Had some issues to deal with yesterday and couldn't watch, but we certainly looked good in the highlights. So often in the past we've looked like a team that shouldn't really be there, but not from what I've seen of last night. All three goals are good to watch. If Arnold keeps us going like this with the young players coming through the future looks exciting.

20,000 attendance a bit disappointing. I wish we played more often at AAMI.

I was surprised to read that there was no VAR.

I oath the VAR so I am happy for it to be permanently scrapped from all competitions.

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Very physical second encounter with a referee that is unlikely to feature in the World Cup. It was good for the Tilio, Bos, Kuol to realise that other leagues are very physical and that they also have fast players. Their pace was nullified by players with equal speed.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 07/04/2023 at 7:53 AM, NewConvert said:

The AFC has released the AFC Asian Cup dates being between January and February next year. If City members get called up, is the A-League being suspended?

@NewConvertThis is a very good question.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_International_Match_Calendar . This specifies the international windows but there's no mention of domestic competitions being suspended for the Confederation cup competitions. It does, however, specify the release rules for players selected for the national teams, and say that internationals take precedence over other matches. I infer from that that the domestic competitions are not required to be suspended, and therefore I suspect that we can expect our league to continue though the Asian AFC Cup period. 

It won't be just City and A-League clubs who lose players.  

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  • 2 months later...
4 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Can't seem to find a thread on friendlies...I must say that our match today vs. Argentina in Beijing (of all places) went completely under my radar. Who's in our squad?

A lot of young players. Only three or four from teh Qatar venture.

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4 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Anyone watch the whole match? 

Yes. We didn't get off the bus until about the 10-minute mark when Messi scored. After that, it was quite even until the 60-minute mark. The big difference between the teams was that the Argentinians had a better first touch, and were faster over the first 5m; this gave them more time on the ball to pick the right pass, therefore, better pass completion in midfield. Socceroos were well organised but were punished for their mistakes, and the Argentinians weren't. Maclaren just doesn't fit into Arnold's style of play, especially against this level of opponent. Bob was playing his second game for the Socceroos; Scolari switched diMaria to the other flank away from him. He needs to improve his final ball though. O'Neill had a good game, Leckie had a poor night by his standards.

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