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World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

A few of the big naes there but a lot of experienced and known players dropped from Saudi squad post Gulf Cup. Raw keepers while Al-Makli and Al-Faraj dropped. Defenders with 180 combined caps injured or dropped. I believe Marwan Al-Salafi is the wonderkid striker now in Belgium. Al-Dawasari and Burikan are in too.

China meanwhile have an incredibly inexperienced midfield at international level but Australia have many single digit capped players too. From their U20 cohort they've added two attackers. Many listed as dropped were in Jan and March training camps this year.
 
huddo said:
I have a weird feeling. I'm not confident in the team, but expecting the win. Anything but the win will be extremely disappointing, but noting Popa's games style and selections I expect an ugly performance, with little structured play in the final 3rd.
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Ugly enough that it may not warrant watching.
 
If these indos win the internet will be insufferable - how’s all the cunts on social
 
tsf said:
If these indos win the internet will be insufferable - how’s all the cunts on social
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Every AFC opponent except Korea Japan give us a swarm of traffic. From Syria 'we demand an investigation' to Jordan 'we're coming for Kangaroos', they're everywhere.

Good Youtube streams from the Vietnamese though.
 
@JS96 thanks for the intel on Saudi and China. It seems that we are not the only ones with a bit of a crisis situation. I didn't realise we are so short on experienced players. Makes our run on 11 pretty well baked in with the squad selected. Lets win this, ugly is ok if necessary.
 
huddo said:
So since then, what has he done to show he is at the national level?
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Teague is a good player and the selection is not without merit. I would have gone with other players myself but that doesn't make Teague a poor player. I think what sets him a part from some of our other midfielders in the deep lying role is his technique and passing. I'd put him in the group with Luongo, Nieuwenhof and Triantis as DM's who can also progress the ball forward.
 
tsf said:
Besides be probably the best Aussie dm in the local comp in the last year or two?
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Are you serious?

Ballard/Nisbet and CCM wiped the floor with victory last year. This year Gallegos and Verstraete at Auckland are doing the same. Over the last 2 years Thurgate, Holman, Rufer have all been better. And that's without digging in to stats.

Here's an interesting basic stat. In the last 2 seasons of Aleague games, Teague has participated in 48 Aleague matches, in all those matches he had 14 clean sheets. Last year Balard's 29 match's came through for 13 clean sheets, this despite Jackson not parking the bus like Popa.

Your smoking crack if you think Teague holds a candle to Balard.
 
Quicky said:
Teague is a good player and the selection is not without merit. I would have gone with other players myself but that doesn't make Teague a poor player. I think what sets him a part from some of our other midfielders in the deep lying role is his technique and passing. I'd put him in the group with Luongo, Nieuwenhof and Triantis as DM's who can also progress the ball forward.
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DM midfielders who can distribute, whm? Who played as a DM for several seasons elevating a woodenspoon team to Grand final winners before moving into a more advance role because they can distribute and then won a JWM because of that said distribution?

But let's go for Teague....
 
I'm just catching up on threads/posts having been away....wish I kept away haha with the understanding meltdowns I'm seeing re the coming game.
Who would have thought 20+yrs ago we'd be shaking in our boots and lacking confidence playing Indo come '25 !
I can't disagree mind you, really don't know what to expect but it sure will be riverting viewing very very soon.
 
You seem to speak about Balard / Nisbet as if they are Grella / Bres in their prime, running a midfield in Serie for half a decade. They play for Breda and Ross County. If they are clearly better, they would be playing for bigger clubs in bigger leagues. I hope they continue to develop to that point, but they aren't there yet.
 
Cunningstunt said:
You seem to speak about Balard / Nisbet as if they are Grella / Bres in their prime, running a midfield in Serie for half a decade. They play for Breda and Ross County. If they are clearly better, they would be playing for bigger clubs in bigger leagues. I hope they continue to develop to that point, but they aren't there yet.
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People out here arguing about teague vs balard I think triantis is our second best midfielder to Irvine
 
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Cunningstunt said:
You seem to speak about Balard / Nisbet as if they are Grella / Bres in their prime, running a midfield in Serie for half a decade. They play for Breda and Ross County. If they are clearly better, they would be playing for bigger clubs in bigger leagues. I hope they continue to develop to that point, but they aren't there yet.
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Like Melbourne Victory,, a huge clubs in a massive league.

If there's an Australian DM currently playing in the top 5 leagues in europe I'll back him in, but at the moment we only have one in the 6th best league, better off going with a mediocre DM from the Aleague.
 
Irvine is a CM,, box to box. But you're right both are better than Teague in the DM role.
 
huddo said:
Are you serious?

Ballard/Nisbet and CCM wiped the floor with victory last year. This year Gallegos and Verstraete at Auckland are doing the same. Over the last 2 years Thurgate, Holman, Rufer have all been better. And that's without digging in to stats.

Here's an interesting basic stat. In the last 2 seasons of Aleague games, Teague has participated in 48 Aleague matches, in all those matches he had 14 clean sheets. Last year Balard's 29 match's came through for 13 clean sheets, this despite Jackson not parking the bus like Popa.

Your smoking crack if you think Teague holds a candle to Balard.
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Well, nisbet hasn’t done much for a year. But we should pick him because apparently he wiped the floor with a sub standard team a year ago?

MV would’ve conceded a lot more etc if it wasn’t for Teague.

Also, why your looking up stats - you can also check to see if in those games Teague was wearing the gloves because the way you are ranting it sounds like you think he’s the one conceding goals.

I like nisbet, but he’s gone backward and Teague has gone forwards.
 
grazorblade said:
Hoof ball is harsh, but it is true that we were on the physical end of the spectrum. Countries that were on the physical end of the spectrum certainly declined over the last 20 years. Even Ireland was a big team in the early 2000s.

Having said that, it's implausible that removing ais, academies and a nyl has no negative effects and we have never had all 3 (we had a nyl and ais for the start of the a league and now have academies). So our decline was worse. Looks like the decline is reversing a bit mind u, but don't think we get back to where we were until we make sure all teams have an academy and a nyl
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While not disagreeing with you, that removing the AIS, the NYL & academies did have affects on our ability to produce another GG.
However, football has changed & countries that were more on the Physical end of the spectrum (like we were in the early 2000s) has struggled, including England.
While the likes of Trimmers & Marovski were great in the NSL, likewise Archie Thompson at the start of the A-League, they were not superstars like Kewell & Dukes,.
Look at a player like Jackson Irvine, these are the players we used to produce, his CV is very good, captain of a Bunesliga side, one of the top 5 leagues in the world, but we know for all his industrious play, his skills, first touch is rather poor.
 
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