World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

[JS96]

Did anyone watch the Saudi v China match? How did China play considering they were a man down by half time they only had the one goal go in against them. Should we be worried?

I found it interesting how well they did with 10 men Saudi away but this is framed as such because Saudi themselves were really shabby. Saudi had massive chances but the flair of the last 2 campaigns isn't there. Yet....

 

[JS96]

@mods Lupi needs another 30 days in the slammer. It's bloody annoying.

 

[grazorblade]

Did anyone watch the Saudi v China match? How did China play considering they were a man down by half time they only had the one goal go in against them. Should we be worried?

saudi has kept up their habit of creating a lot of great chances but not converting. They managed to convert a virtual tap in though

 

[Lupi]

Well noting the recognition he's getting and the fact Hibs have not lost a league match since July, id say even if you don't agree with it, the argument is pretty compelling.

you calling this a fact?

 

[huddo]

you calling this a fact?

Sorry, i was looking at transfermrkt, they have dates set in the yank style, it was 12/7/24, thought that sounded weird, thanks for pointing it out.

Still that's over 4 months.

 

[grazorblade]

poppa highlighting defensive mistakes as his main concern today. He also wanted us to be even more positive when facing a high press to "bipass their press" which we obviously did quite a bit compared to what we are used to (for 10 years we have tried to work through a press)

 

[huddo]

poppa highlighting defensive mistakes as his main concern today. He also wanted us to be even more positive when facing a high press to "bipass their press" which we obviously did quite a bit compared to what we are used to (for 10 years we have tried to work through a press)

So the most defensive coach Australia has ever had is concerned about ....... Defence.

 

[Pasquali]

People will say Indonesia is the best performance by Popa. However, we did extremely well to get a point away to Japan, and should have won the Bahrain game really if you compare xg. He’s an upgrade from Arnie IMO

 

[grazorblade]

People will say Indonesia is the best performance by Popa. However, we did extremely well to get a point away to Japan, and should have won the Bahrain game really if you compare xg. He’s an upgrade from Arnie IMO

Only time I thought he was outcoached was his game against saudi where they baited us to build up through geria and pressed him. Still got away with a point

 

[Quicky]

so I asked Grok how many registered association football players in Australia?


...which is a growth of ~200k since 2005

how many registered association football players in Croatia?



Croatia have abundantly more quality footballers than Australia does, national team performances aside which are in another stratosphere. Remembering this is a nation the Socceroos qualified ahead of in 2006 WC from the same group.

but AFL and mainstream media is the problem right...

Croatia probably hit above their weight more than any other nation. Something to aim for.

 

[huddo]

Croatia probably hit above their weight more than any other nation. Something to aim for.

Id put them on par with Uruguay.

 

[Kitwally]

I don't think this will be sustainable for Indonesia. They changed coach and went for a massive stylistic switch. Half the dressing room, the half who understand how to implement the style of play, speaking Dutch. Can this be done if half the squad can't communicate effectively? I worry it will be bad for their development long term.

First time trying to implement a new, more advanced system of play. Probably unsurprisingly they got cut open a number of times. There is a reason most ofAsia play us on the counter in Aus.

They probably did us a favour playing the style we are most adept at killing. We struggle with high quality possession teams, Japan, top euros, because we can't get any ball. They didn't have the quality to do that. We also struggle to break down the low block. They had good spells in possession, but not quite good enough to break us down regularly. They pressed us high, again weren't quite good enough to stop us playing, and came out enough for us to get in behind.

I always prefer teams trying to play. So credit to them. But even with our best ball playing defenders out, it's a big ask to press us that high, away from home.

All good points except that only one player in the starting eleven for Indonesia was born there. Even Struik was born in Holland.

 

[JS96]

Absolute scenes in Basra. A shame Kuwait didn't win to make that group even tighter. Basra stadium is great for Iraq.

 

[JS96]

Do you think Australia, Japan and South Korea would play in Basra? It's relatively stable there nowadays. Northern Iraq is really calm and Baghdad has western vloggers there all the time. Of course there are armed guards everywhere and bandits but that doesn't seem to dissimilar to some Central American nations.

 

[patjennings]

I'm looking forward to seeing the new Triantis.

Gee, this forum has talked him up. ATM he sounds like the best player in Europe, just Popa doesn't know. LOL! Has he improved as much as the fans think? I've seen limited minutes.

This occurs from time to time.

Many years ago Rhys Williams was a fan favourite, who struggled to get a Socceroo game. When he did, he got about 4 caps.

ATM Robertson is another fan favourite, not to mention Volpato.

Then forums have Socceroo scapegoats. Jade North was one, and Brett Holman was until he started scoring goals.

Behich is another scapegoat for a few. Popa thought only he and Ryan had good all round games last night, apart from the scorers of goals. Ryan is another current scapegoat for a few too.

This is the one I don't understand. Schwarzer had a much better club career than Ryan but at a NT level their stats are very similar. Then you throw in the fact that Scwharzer had the GG in front of him and Ryan had a poor first World Cup since his manager wanted to out tika-taka tika-taka nations and didn't really worry about defence.

Yet Schwarzer is venerated and Ryan bagged.

Maty Ryan	Games	Conceded	CS	Mins	Conceded per game	Mins per goal conceded	CS%
World Cup qualification	42	30	20	3840	0.71	128.00	47.62%
International Friendlies	23	22	10	1892	0.96	86.00	43.48%
AFC Asian Cup	16	10	8	1530	0.63	153.00	50.00%
World Cup	10	20	2	900	2.00	45.00	20.00%
Confederations Cup	3	5	-	270	1.67	54.00	-
East Asian Football Championship	2	1	1	180	0.50	180.00	50.00%
96	88	41	8612	1.08	107.67	35.18%
Mark Schwarzer
World Cup qualification	33	22	17	3014	0.67	137.00	51.52%
International Friendlies	41	44	15	3295	1.07	74.89	36.59%
AFC Asian Cup	10	7	5	990	0.70	141.43	50.00%
World Cup	6	10	-	540	1.67	54.00	-
Confederations Cup	7	10	3	630	1.43	63.00	42.86%
Asian Cup qualification	1	2	-	90	2.00	45.00	-
98	95	40	8559	1.26	85.89	30.16%

 

[huddo]

I love Ryan so this isn't directed at him.

We need to blood players when we get the chance. Putting Goodwin on 3 up does nothing for Goodwin if he's playing in 5 days in China. Put on youth so they can make the fuck ups, and learn. This is the same with the Ryan. Why not throw Izzo in or Gauci on. Give em a run.

 

[grazorblade]

This is the one I don't understand. Schwarzer had a much better club career than Ryan but at a NT level their stats are very similar. Then you throw in the fact that Scwharzer had the GG in front of him and Ryan had a poor first World Cup since his manager wanted to out tika-taka tika-taka nations and didn't really worry about defence.

Yet Schwarzer is venerated and Ryan bagged.

Maty Ryan	Games	Conceded	CS	Mins	Conceded per game	Mins per goal conceded	CS%
World Cup qualification	42	30	20	3840	0.71	128.00	47.62%
International Friendlies	23	22	10	1892	0.96	86.00	43.48%
AFC Asian Cup	16	10	8	1530	0.63	153.00	50.00%
World Cup	10	20	2	900	2.00	45.00	20.00%
Confederations Cup	3	5	-	270	1.67	54.00	-
East Asian Football Championship	2	1	1	180	0.50	180.00	50.00%
96	88	41	8612	1.08	107.67	35.18%
Mark Schwarzer
World Cup qualification	33	22	17	3014	0.67	137.00	51.52%
International Friendlies	41	44	15	3295	1.07	74.89	36.59%
AFC Asian Cup	10	7	5	990	0.70	141.43	50.00%
World Cup	6	10	-	540	1.67	54.00	-
Confederations Cup	7	10	3	630	1.43	63.00	42.86%
Asian Cup qualification	1	2	-	90	2.00	45.00	-
98	95	40	8559	1.26	85.89	30.16%

A small factor is that every player is better for the roos relative to their club career since we move to Asia. But yes ryan is a socceroo great for club and country

 

[HappyGuus]

 

[JS96]

View attachment 1496

Ha thanks. This bloody thing has been a nightmare the past two campaigns giving us a high percentage but to fail.

 

[JS96]

Schwarzer was woeful from 2000 to 2005 until November. Frustratingly beaten many times and the 05 Confed Cup was hard viewing.

06 WC I still think he knew the Japanese player would nudge him and risked it and paid dearly. It was a foul but he needed to commit or leave it. The saves against Italy were excellent. Unfortunate against Brazil and this fuelled Hiddink's idea to bring in Kalac.

Schwarzer just got so much better after that and was vital in 2010 qualifying. Errors in the Germany game and the fumble against Serbia. Certainly had his fair share of errors.