World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

[Pasquali]

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.

The penalty save against China in WC2010 qualifying was crucial, and had we lost we may not have qualified. Although he did give away the penalty in the first place

 

[grazorblade]

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.

Italy and uruguay was incredible but indeed he had some howlers. Goal keeping is a tough gig

 

[grazorblade]

The penalty save against China in WC2010 qualifying was crucial, and had we lost we may not have qualified. Although he did give away the penalty in the first place

Crazy how we have always had a moment in each successful qualification campaign that was a sliding doors moment

Meanwhile how one eyed are our commentators. Clear pen haha

 

[Robbos]

context

they parked the bus and got lucky against a couple of underwhelming opponents with the aid of some imports, notably the Scottish lug at centre half

the only thing they got right was play to a tactic that suited their limitations which didn't occur in 2014

Two can play this,
1. 2006 GG had Guus Hiddink (thanks to Frank Lowy), with Frank Farina at the helm, I don't think we even qualify for WC.
2. The 2006 Croatia was nowhere near the powerhouse (Croatian Golden Generation) of the last 2 WCs, with one of the best midfielders ever Luca Modric running the show.

 

[Sharkman84]

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.

I've always been of the belief if it wasn't for Bozza's self inflicted implosion that Schwarzer wouldn't have had the Socceroos career he had.

Bosnich may be a nutjob but on the pitch he was a better goalkeeper than Schwarzer was.

 

[JS96]

At least the full replay is uploaded for free. End of an era. Vpn blocks and PPV. Catch 22 is you can pay to watch outside of your home market but the vpn will be blocked.

 

[JS96]

I've always been of the belief if it wasn't for Bozza's self inflicted implosion that Schwarzer wouldn't have had the Socceroos career he had.

Bosnich may be a nutjob but on the pitch he was a better goalkeeper than Schwarzer was.

Yeah on raw talent Bosnich was bloody amazing. Bosnich for the skill, Schwarzer for the professionalism.

 

[JS96]

Crazy how we have always had a moment in each successful qualification campaign that was a sliding doors moment

Meanwhile how one eyed are our commentators. Clear pen haha

A late penalty is a near certainty. The number of times my heart has sunk. You watch the sequence leading up and normally it's from some wayward ball. We really need to just play it far down to the corners.

 

[JS96]

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.

I agree and it was annoying how Arnold still started Ryan in the preliminary dead rubbers.

It's interesting to note that managers also preferred older keepers like Fed or Jones.

Langerak had rotten luck with injuries when the chances actually presented themselves. The Jordan away loss in 2015 saw Federici start as Ryan was also injured and we had Cisak and Galekovic.

The 2 Greece friendlies he was injured. He got 29min in the 2015 Macedonia friendly but for Federici to start before him. Don't forget the rise of Vukovic either.

 

[JS96]

5 min in and England are playing Arnieball with inverted fullbacks.

 

[Mr Cleansheets]

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

Arnie did extremely well at the last world cup but his time was definitely up.

I rate Popa's point against Japan but otherwise we've been lucky (Saudi disallowed goal; Indo's missed pen) or simply facing crap teams.

If Popa would just pick (and play) the best players I'd be less on his back.

 

[Mr Cleansheets]

I've always been of the belief if it wasn't for Bozza's self inflicted implosion that Schwarzer wouldn't have had the Socceroos career he had.

Bosnich may be a nutjob but on the pitch he was a better goalkeeper than Schwarzer was.

In the first half of their careers perhaps but not the second. In his last few years in the EPL fans estimated Schwarzer was worth about 15 extra points per year, which kept Boro up for quite a while. Many poms will tell you Schwarzer is the not only the best Oz keeper but the best Oz player ever to grace the EPL.

 

[erogenouszone]

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

I disagree, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

 

[erogenouszone]

I thought I saw what looked like a 40 year old Iranian taxi driver wearing that number late in the game???

BAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH

I've always felt that Arzani is extremely over rated.

 

[erogenouszone]

They haven't lost to the Socceroos since 2009. Australian fans were arrogant when Australia was admitted to the AFC and very insulting to the Japanese. They've not forgotten this and never will.

I'm sure it must have been devastating for you Lupi-san.

 

[Mr Cleansheets]

I disagree, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Except Trump

 

[huddo]

Except Trump

Even Trump's entitled to an opinion,, just don't think I should be affected by it.

 

[LFC]

5 min in and England are playing Arnieball with inverted fullbacks.

And it was a boring game to me - impressed with albanias counters and one touch and movement.

 

[Lupi]

Two can play this,
1. 2006 GG had Guus Hiddink (thanks to Frank Lowy), with Frank Farina at the helm, I don't think we even qualify for WC.
2. The 2006 Croatia was nowhere near the powerhouse (Croatian Golden Generation) of the last 2 WCs, with one of the best midfielders ever Luca Modric running the show.

you're missing the point.

 

[MoorePark]

And it was a boring game to me - impressed with albanias counters and one touch and movement.

Fell asleep during the match.

I don’t know why they play those matches at Wembley, surely cities like Newcastle, Manchester, Portsmouth even Leeds would have given the match a bit of crack too it