World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

[Mr Cleansheets]

They'll just create a special visa for players and managers. The yanks won't risk a fuck up like that.

As for the areas you're talking about where verbals escalate to gunfights, honestly you can work out those areas pretty easily.

Travelling to the US was one of the nicest places I visited, and 99% of the people were extremely nice. Wouldn't want to live there though, but will definately be going back.

Not so sure. I read a report today of people being refused entry to the US if they had words critical of Trump stored on their phones.

Clamping down on freedom of speech is how it starts - and they are so ideologically batshit these days that I doubt something so unAmerican as football will deter the evil ones in charge.

I was dead keen to go a year ago, but not any more.

 

[Monoethnic Social Club]

Not so sure. I read a report today of people being refused entry to the US if they had words critical of Trump stored on their phones.

Clamping down on freedom of speech is how it starts - and they are so ideologically batshit these days that I doubt something so unAmerican as football will deter the evil ones in charge.

I was dead keen to go a year ago, but not any more.

I agree with huddo, most of the people seem nice, almost too nice sometimes, buts its the border seccos you would have to worry about.

Dont let them see the off topic thread on here, they may lock you up....

 

[Mr Cleansheets]

I agree with huddo, most of the people seem nice, almost too nice sometimes, buts its the border seccos you would have to worry about.

Dont let them see the extra time thread on here, they may lock you up....

I wasn't talking about the people - Americans tend to be uniformly nice and polite, until you ask about guns or their medical system.

 

[DandyCasey]

I can't remember what game it was but one of Arnie's last I remember we were struggling down our left and then mcgree or bos came on and those two just started cutting them to pieces. We got to get them on the park together in this formation.

Yep I remember their intelligent link up play seemed to on a different page to everyone else although it didn't always come off.

 

[huddo]

Not so sure. I read a report today of people being refused entry to the US if they had words critical of Trump stored on their phones.

Clamping down on freedom of speech is how it starts - and they are so ideologically batshit these days that I doubt something so unAmerican as football will deter the evil ones in charge.

I was dead keen to go a year ago, but not any more.

The WC will be a welcome distraction from the shit he is doing over there, trump knows this, he will ensure there aren't any issues with players if only so as to not to bring criticism on to his government.

 

[Mr Cleansheets]

The WC will be a welcome distraction from the shit he is doing over there, trump knows this, he will ensure there aren't any issues with players if only so as to not to bring criticism on to his government.

Just like Hitler at the 36 Olympics...

 

[NicCarBel]

Here’s what the pots would look like using current rankings, and the current seeding system that was previously used:

View attachment 1571
So using the rankings as an example, the “strongest” possible group would be Argentina, Germany, Korea, Tunisia.

Lopsided (2 strongest, 2 weakest) would be Argentina, Germany, Ivory Coast, New Zealand. Probably could make an argument of Mexico, Germany, Venezuela, New Zealand.

The “weakest” group would be: Canada, Austria, Venezuela, New Zealand.

And as for us, we would be essentially paired with anyone from all the other pots, (except Japan and Iran for Pot 2, and Qatar, Uzbekistan and Jordan from Pot 4) - so our “Group of Death” would look like Argentina, Germany, Australia, Tunisia, and “Group of Dreams” as Canada, Austria, Australia, New Zealand.

Decided to do the same using my "Projected 32 team World Cup" if it still existed:

Hosts
AFC
CAF
CONCACAF
CONMEBOL
UEFA
IC Playoffs (2 random matches drawn from the following four teams, winners qualify)

Am going to assume the two highest ranked nations win the intercontinentals (Costa Rica and Paraguay)

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Argentina	Portugal	Japan	Australia
France	Netherlands	Iran	Egypt
Spain	Belgium	Denmark	Panama
England	Italy	Switzerland	Algeria
Brazil	Germany	Austria	Ivory Coast
Mexico	Croatia	Korea Republic	Paraguay
USA	Morocco	Ecuador	Tunisia
Canada	Uruguay	Ukraine	Costa Rica

Using the rankings as an example:

Strongest: Argentina, Portugal, Japan, Egypt
Lopsided (2 strong, 2 weak): Argentina, France, Ukraine, Costa Rica
Weakest: Canada, Uruguay, Ukraine, Tunisia
Australia Group of Death: Argentina, Portugal, Denmark, Australia
Australia Group of Dreams: Canada, Uruguay, Ukraine, Australia

Would be a weird draw to have if the 48 team World Cup wasn't happening - European teams littered across Pots 1-3, and would almost guarantee tough draws for the European teams in Pot 1 (France, Spain and England), because the way they tend to do this, is do the draw from Pot 1 onwards, and skip over groups when a team is pulled out and they can't go into a certain group.

 

[grazorblade]

 

[Hillbilly55]

Great moment, thanks for sharing.

 

[Decentric]

Just watching Tilio for Melb City in the AL, I'm surprised he didn't get some game time for the Socceroos against Indo and China.

Overall, I thought Boyle was only just holding his own. I know Arzani had some game time in both games, but unless Tilio is lazy defensively ( haven't really evaluated him), on the ball he is at least similar quality to Boyle.

Both Boyle and Villupillay tired against China in the second half and provided little defensive impetus from the attacking line. I would have thought it was a good opportunity to give Tilio a run?

 

[Quicky]

Just watching Tilio for Melb City in the AL, I'm surprised he didn't get some game time for the Socceroos against Indo and China.

Overall, I thought Boyle was only just holding his own. I know Arzani had some game time in both games, but unless Tilio is lazy defensively ( haven't really evaluated him), on the ball he is at least similar quality to Boyle.

Both Boyle and Villupillay tired against China in the second half and provided little defensive impetus from the attacking line. I would have thought it was a good opportunity to give Tilio a run?

I think Tilio would have similar issues getting out bodied to Boyle. Boyle is one of the few forwards we have that is a regular scorer at club level. I think his selection was justified. I don't think Tilio is the answer there.

I'd like to see Irankunda but he needs to start scoring to press his claim. There's also a question whether he fits the system. Can he invert? Can he press? I think Irankunda can invert and pressing is a matter of coaching.

Velupillay is a good fit for the role and I had similar queries as I did for Irankunda.

 

[dr. bellows]

I think Tilio would have similar issues getting out bodied to Boyle. Boyle is one of the few forwards we have that is a regular scorer at club level. I think his selection was justified. I don't think Tilio is the answer there.

I'd like to see Irankunda but he needs to start scoring to press his claim. There's also a question whether he fits the system. Can he invert? Can he press? I think Irankunda can invert and pressing is a matter of coaching.

Velupillay is a good fit for the role and I had similar queries as I did for Irankunda.

I think Tilio and Boyle play different positions. Tilio a winger and Boyle these days a striker is his best, ideally in a front 2. Hibs recent form is largely down to Gray putting players in their best position, imo. Boyle and Miller have particularly benefited from this, with both moving a bit more centrally from previous wide positions. My query with Tilio is his fitness and subsequent defensive work rate. Is he a luxury player? He's spent quite a bit of time in the treatment room, afaik. If fully fit I would probably always select him for the Socceroos, even if not as a starter, because he has the individual skill to be a game changer. I rate him.

 

[WhatAmIWatching]

I think Tilio and Boyle play different positions. Tilio a winger and Boyle these days a striker is his best, ideally in a front 2. Hibs recent form is largely down to Gray putting players in their best position, imo. Boyle and Miller have particularly benefited from this, with both moving a bit more centrally from previous wide positions. My query with Tilio is his fitness and subsequent defensive work rate. Is he a luxury player? He's spent quite a bit of time in the treatment room, afaik. If fully fit I would probably always select him for the Socceroos, even if not as a starter, because he has the individual skill to be a game changer. I rate him.

Tilio is not lazy nor a luxury player. Prior to his move to Celtic, he covered a lot of ground and has a big engine. Due to injury over the last 24 months, his fitness is not yet up to scratch. Tilio himself said that he need to work on his match fitness to be considered a selection prospect and a few days later gets selected.

 

[Decentric]

I think Tilio would have similar issues getting out bodied to Boyle. Boyle is one of the few forwards we have that is a regular scorer at club level. I think his selection was justified. I don't think Tilio is the answer there.

I'd like to see Irankunda but he needs to start scoring to press his claim. There's also a question whether he fits the system. Can he invert? Can he press? I think Irankunda can invert and pressing is a matter of coaching.

Velupillay is a good fit for the role and I had similar queries as I did for Irankunda.

Good post, Quicky.

For mine it is more of an issue of Tilio getting a run as a sub, than replacing Boyle as a starter. I haven't seen a lot of Tilio recently, but it stands out his quality on the ball in the AL.

His other attributes take longer to assess. Tilio might be outmuscled like Boyle, but Boyle and Hrustic are hard to be worse than for body on body contact 1v1 ball winning duels.

Boyle is constantly out-barged, out-muscled, out - tackled and out - headed by strong ball winning opposition defenders.

Leckie, in comparison, a rugged, physically strong power forward, usually holds his own, or even shades the opposition's best ball defensive winners in 1v1 duels.

If Boyle was in top scoring form, he should have scored the first goal chance in the first few mins, where his line of sight was blocked by defenders.

Originally, I was surprised that all of Geria, Villup and Teague were selected for the Socceroos, but all have vastly exceeded my expectations. I think Arzani has shown resurgent quality attributes against Bangla and Indo too in his cameos.

 

[Decentric]

Tilio is not lazy nor a luxury player. Prior to his move to Celtic, he covered a lot of ground and has a big engine. Due to injury over the last 24 months, his fitness is not yet up to scratch. Tilio himself said that he need to work on his match fitness to be considered a selection prospect and a few days later gets selected.

Having recently watched Celtic, they are a high quality team. They are playing superb quality football!

It is very difficult to break into the Celtic line up. I'm not sure how accurate the ranking system is, but think Ive read they are ranked about the 30th top team in UEFA!

There is no disgrace Tilio not being able to succeed at Celtic. Currently only 2 national team Scots play for Celtic, so most of the top Scots aren't good enough for Celtic either, albeit quite a few Scots play in the English Champ and EPL.

Tilio for mine, deserves some sub mins for the Socceroos ATM. Thanks for elucidating his big engine, WAIW.

That ball Tilio played to Caputo for an assist against SFC , was very high quality!

 

[Alex M]

Just watching Tilio for Melb City in the AL, I'm surprised he didn't get some game time for the Socceroos against Indo and China.

Overall, I thought Boyle was only just holding his own. I know Arzani had some game time in both games, but unless Tilio is lazy defensively ( haven't really evaluated him), on the ball he is at least similar quality to Boyle.

Both Boyle and Villupillay tired against China in the second half and provided little defensive impetus from the attacking line. I would have thought it was a good opportunity to give Tilio a run?

I haven't watched much of Tillio lately but in the past I felt he was half a footballer and often forgot that defence was just as important as attack even for people who play up front. He used to be guilty of switching off for a few seconds after his team lost possession and I thought he needed to correct that to be a long term national team proposition rather than just a sub you stick on with 10-15 minutes to go if you are chasing the game. As I said, I don't know if he has fixed that because I don't watch him play often.

 

[Quicky]

Good post, Quicky.

For mine it is more of an issue of Tilio getting a run as a sub, than replacing Boyle as a starter. I haven't seen a lot of Tilio recently, but it stands out his quality on the ball in the AL.

His other attributes take longer to assess. Tilio might be outmuscled like Boyle, but Boyle and Hrustic are hard to be worse than for body on body contact 1v1 ball winning duels.

Boyle is constantly out-barged, out-muscled, out - tackled and out - headed by strong ball winning opposition defenders.

Leckie, in comparison, a rugged, physically strong power forward, usually holds his own, or even shades the opposition's best ball defensive winners in 1v1 duels.

If Boyle was in top scoring form, he should have scored the first goal chance in the first few mins, where his line of sight was blocked by defenders.

Originally, I was surprised that all of Geria, Villup and Teague were selected for the Socceroos, but all have vastly exceeded my expectations. I think Arzani has shown resurgent quality attributes against Bangla and Indo too in his cameos.

If it's a question of subs Velupillay is the alternate atm. It's hard to argue against him with 3 goals in 5 games.

 

[Frankly Speaking]

The ranting about the Germany game wasn't warranted IMO. Germany were still a bit inconsistent which cost them the title but in the 2010 tournament they also managed to put 4 part England and Argentina which tells me they were very hard to contain on their day.

Pim's problem was his Dutch bluntness. Fair to say that he could and should have been more careful with his comments at times. That said, the Germany game was a disgrace in terms of his approach. No other way to describe it.

 

[patjennings]

Pim's problem was his Dutch bluntness. Fair to say that he could and should have been more careful with his comments at times. That said, the Germany game was a disgrace in terms of his approach. No other way to describe it.

So you are complaining about his frank speaking?

 

[Frankly Speaking]

So you are complaining about his frank speaking?

Yes. Some thoughts are not helpful when verbally expressed. We all consider context when saying what we think. Pim at times did not, and, in terms of his professional position, should have been more aware of context.