World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

[dr. bellows]

Their first squad didn't penetrate either in the away game. They've got issues with killer blows. This is something they'll need to work on. They've got to get greedy. Watching the replay we shielded our area well. One Japanese player commented our size shrinks their space and view.

I think Japan can go deep at the 26WC. I suspect they'll play counter attacking football in the latter stages against the top teams. They're generally deadly playing that way. GK and CB has been a traditional weakness though

 

[Lupi]

That's true so it's speculation on both our parts which is why I can question your assertion that the NSL would produce better players.

I'm not saying the NSL would produce better players (although it did), I'm saying the A-league is hampering development

 

[Muz]

I'm not saying the NSL would produce better players (although it did), I'm saying the A-league is hampering development

Well that's fair.

If you mean by not having a full pyramid and pathways.

 

[JS96]

I'm not saying the NSL would produce better players (although it did), I'm saying the A-league is hampering development

You're only saying this for the sake of an argument. If we all said the NSL was better then you'd go on some other track. Go away.

 

[ashtongate]

No.

I’m evaluating improved skill sets - that in national FFA / FA Conferences the likes of Rob Baan, Han Berger, Ali Edwards, were stating we needed to produce players with skill sets very rare in Aus players at the time.

Youlley, Bozinovski, Valadon, Okon Jr, Circati, Farrell , Bos bros, Matthews, Brett Hollman, Segecic, Pearman, Quintal, Deli, et al, all display those skill sets missing, or rare, in previous gens. They are only going to get better too.

We just need less of them going to Scotland.

I would have love to have played in Scotland.

 

[JS96]

Iraq had an early red and lost to South Korea. A lot of situations clear now.

Qatar UAE Iraq Indonesia Saudi (likely) and a toss up between Oman and Palestine for the next round.

 

[Monoethnic Social Club]

Late to the party but all I can say is "Fuck Yeah".... Ill leave the teeth gnashing and crticism for another day.. All that counts is the 99% certain qualification.

What we do when we get there is another story all together...

 

[JS96]

What a joke of a VAR penalty for the first Jordan dive. They're going to look like mugs at the WC. Uzbekistan much less so.

 

[JS96]

 

[JS96]

Fucking anti football media latching on for a day now. Nothing pre game and rarely any football coverage but now it's all happy just for today.

 

[Barca4life]

Like against Costa Rica last time. It's a typical Japan thing. If they get bogged down they do get confused.

The players who got chances to impress last night will be annoyed they weren't more greedy. While some impressed, the bloke down the left with numerous wayward crosses and shots won't be selected.

They got some interesting players, I think Kubo’s chance he should have scored but overall the Japanese coach will see who he can trust the most on the world stage.

I think most of them did well but the forwards fell short, I’m sure they will get more chances to impress but games like these the coaches will learn a lot from.

 

[Lupi]

You're only saying this for the sake of an argument. If we all said the NSL was better then you'd go on some other track. Go away.

Why would I argue with someone like you?

 

[JM47]

So if things do go well in Saudi on Wednesday morning, we should have 10 potential games before the World Cup. Will hopefully be able to pick up some friendlies against different opposition. Not just Bahrain, Oman rinse and repeat:

September 1-9
October 6-14
November 10-18
March 23-31
June 1-9

@JS96 this is where you do your marvelous work and scope out which potential opposition is available...

 

[verrelli]

Just because I like posting the outrageous scenarios: Saudi Arabia can still get past us with a 4 goal victory, but this would mean a 9-5 scoreline as the minimum

Wouldn't we still finish ahead on goals scored (AUS 19-15 versus Saudi 15-11)? Equal on points and GD.

 

[JS96]

So if things do go well in Saudi on Wednesday morning, we should have 10 potential games before the World Cup. Will hopefully be able to pick up some friendlies against different opposition. Not just Bahrain, Oman rinse and repeat:

September 1-9
October 6-14
November 10-18
March 23-31
June 1-9

@JS96 this is where you do your marvelous work and scope out which potential opposition is available...

Browsed the UEFA wiki weeks back and a lot like Wales and Norway have sorted friendlies in their free game day already. If I remember correctly one window has Latvia and another Estonia. I'd say one of those away would be good and then also a neutral European game against someone else available.

Got no idea but maybe USA in England somewhere or something.

 

[JS96]

Still way too convenient for Popovic if someone grills him. He'll talk about getting a result and his system building. Personally I'd like to see congratulations given but then a really straight question of 'how are you going to address the diabolical display on the ball?'

 

[JS96]

It's so ingrained. The back passing and resetting. If unnecessary it's so frustrating. We didn't have too many options forward but I felt we had such an obvious way. Unfortunately many teams do this in training so it's an automatic thing.

The same with the short goal kicks which are very dangerous. I was glad to see more long ones and the Boyle downward header came from a nudge from a long goal kick. We need to do that as we're decent in bouncy transition areas.

Big issue is we can currently only think one pass ahead. We need to get educated where we know someone is always going to be on the left flank or our striker will turn and go the moment a bit of ball is free in midfield. God, these are pros, we mastered such thinking as juniors. These guys are really dumb in a smarts sense.

 

[Muz]

The same with the short goal kicks which are very dangerous.

Hence my aggravation with Ryan.

 

[JS96]

Ha felt like Hill had an undertone of 'God this has been exhausting' when we scored. Glad he got one more big moment. One more game against Saudi for him. Contractually probably impossible but it'd be great to invite him for national team games.

 

[Muz]

The same with the short goal kicks which are very dangerous. I was glad to see more long ones and the Boyle downward header came from a nudge from a long goal kick. We need to do that as we're decent in bouncy transition areas.

Big issue is we can currently only think one pass ahead. We need to get educated where we know someone is always going to be on the left flank or our striker will turn and go the moment a bit of ball is free in midfield. God, these are pros, we mastered such thinking as juniors. These guys are really dumb in a smarts sense.

Nail on head.

What I noticed last night was a severe lack of 3rd man runs. Japan had 2 or 3 options every time, we had 1 IF we were lucky. Ball would get played into one of our players feet and he'd have literally no one to pass it to.



Also on long balls, they're fine to 'nod on' if there's someone nearby. Boyle and then Duke were isolated pretty much all night. I don't know exactly but surely Boyle didn't touch the ball more than 5 times last night in the first half.