Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

Sign Up Now!

World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

NoMates said:
Socceroos still no match for the NRL and AFL TV viewing figures.

SEVEN’S AFL: THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Seven 1,600,000
THURSDAY NIGHT NRL LIVE Nine 1,323,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN 10 1,190,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN PRE GAME 10 727,000
PEPPA PIG ABC KIDS PM 71,000
Click to expand...
I mean 1.6m for an AFL game? I just don't believe that. I swear I've seen numbers over the years at maybe 600k.
 
JS96 said:
I mean 1.6m for an AFL game? I just don't believe that. I swear I've seen numbers over the years at maybe 600k.
Click to expand...
People are just not tuning into the Socceroo matches like they did 10 years ago. AFL will always be king i think we are lucky the netball hasn't started yet.
 
NoMates said:
Socceroos still no match for the NRL and AFL TV viewing figures.

SEVEN’S AFL: THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Seven 1,600,000
THURSDAY NIGHT NRL LIVE Nine 1,323,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN 10 1,190,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN PRE GAME 10 727,000
PEPPA PIG ABC KIDS PM 71,000
Click to expand...
All this means is there are more idiots than connoisseurs in the world.
 
NoMates said:
Socceroos still no match for the NRL and AFL TV viewing figures.

SEVEN’S AFL: THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Seven 1,600,000
THURSDAY NIGHT NRL LIVE Nine 1,323,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN 10 1,190,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN PRE GAME 10 727,000
PEPPA PIG ABC KIDS PM 71,000
Click to expand...

Didn't the game kick off at 9pm on the east coast?
 
NoMates said:
Socceroos still no match for the NRL and AFL TV viewing figures.

SEVEN’S AFL: THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Seven 1,600,000
THURSDAY NIGHT NRL LIVE Nine 1,323,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN 10 1,190,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN PRE GAME 10 727,000
PEPPA PIG ABC KIDS PM 71,000
Click to expand...
Not bad considering the muted media coverage beforehand.
And exactly 1.6 mil for AFL? Are they rounding to the nearest 100k or is this a BS number?
 
NoMates said:
Socceroos still no match for the NRL and AFL TV viewing figures.

SEVEN’S AFL: THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Seven 1,600,000
THURSDAY NIGHT NRL LIVE Nine 1,323,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN 10 1,190,000
FOOTBALL: SOCCEROOS V JAPAN PRE GAME 10 727,000
PEPPA PIG ABC KIDS PM 71,000
Click to expand...
Surprised Peppa Pig didn't rate more highly. Top show that one. Apparently Mr Bull is a massive West Ham supporter. Never misses a game. Thanks for sharing.
 
Regarding which pot we end up in for the draw, Norway beating Italy this morning is good news for us because if Italy fails to qualify directly from the group, they will have to qualify via the UEFA play-offs which automatically puts them in Pot 4. From the FIFA website and the 2026 World Cup wiki page: "Pot 1 will contain co-hosts Mexico, Canada and the United States (who were automatically assigned to positions A1, B1, and D1, respectively), and the best nine teams. Pot 2 will have the next best twelve teams, followed by the next twelve teams in Pot 3. Pot 4 will consist of the six lowest-ranked teams, along with the placeholders for the two inter-confederation play-off winners and four UEFA play-off winners." (the 2022 tournament did this too for the final play-off winners)

From the teams above and around us in the current rankings: one of Ukraine/France and Switzerland/Sweden will not be able to qualify directly since they're in groups together. Denmark and Austria are also not guaranteed direct qualification (although they are probably strong favourites) so a slip up from either of them in missing direct qualification will move us up another spot in the seeding. In CONMEBOL qualifying, the 7th place team will go into Pot 4 if they win their inter-confederation play-offs, which at the moment is Venezuela (below us in the rankings) who could feasibly overtake the faltering Colombia and Uruguay (both above us in the rankings) to qualify directly. In CAF qualifying, Senegal is currently behind DR Congo because of some poor draws and if they fail to overtake them then they will have to go through the inter-confederation playoffs which places them in Pot 4, meaning yet another spot in Pot 2 is open for us to squeeze into. So basically, even if our current ranking stays about the same between now and December, we have an opportunity to comfortably be seeded in Pot 2 if results in other qualifiers go our way.

TLDR: We want at least three of the following scenarios to occur: France to qualify above Ukraine (very likely), Switzerland to miss auto qualification, Norway to qualify ahead of Italy (looking promising), Greece/Scotland to qualify ahead of Denmark, Bosnia/Romania to qualify ahead of Austria, Venezuela to leapfrog one of Uruguay/Colombia, and DR Congo to auto qualify ahead of Senegal. There are at least seven teams who are currently ahead of us in the rankings who will be sent down to Pot 4 if they miss auto qualification and have to qualify via the play-offs or potentially miss the tournament altogether, giving us a comfortable spot in Pot 2 as long as we don't massively fumble against the Saudis next week.
 
JS96 said:
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?'
Click to expand...
I've just returned from my trip west for the game and haven't posted about it here. I was happy with the result but thought our plans were misguided. We set up with 5 at the back from kickoff, with no effort to use our wing backs in a forward position. We set up our midfield with a tight 2-2 formation with a box very close to the centre of the field and with the wing backs hanging back it meant Japan always had space out wide as we had no players there. Seemed like the aim was a 0-0 result. We made some changes in the second half but they were to switch to 5-4-1 from the 5-2-2-1 we had in the first half. Duke did better than Barillo up front but only because he ran more and at least put a little pressure on the defensive line. The way we played neither was going to get goal scoring opportunities. We jagged a goal (a pretty good one to be fair) at the end to get a result we didn't deserve. Overall I thought we lacked ambition. I can understand 5 at the back if the opposition is outplaying you and your forced to play that way, but that wasn't the case. We just conceded it to Japan's B team from the start and never tried anything different. At least I completed my goal of attending all round 3 home games.
 
JS96 said:
Wouldn't mind seeing Tilio get a start. He's good for counters. You'd expect Saudi to leave a lot of space given they should attack. Hope we can get an early lead as that means Saudi will either give up or overstretch even more.
Click to expand...
I doubt Popovic will start with Tillio in a game where he knows we qualify comfortably if we don't concede a goal. He may give him a run with 15 to go if it's 0-0 but even then he will probably just take off his striker and add another defensive midfielder and play 5-5-0
 
Swiss as organised as their watches 4:2 against Mexico in Salt Lake City and then face USA who lost 2:1 with a very experimental line up against Turkey. NZ hold on to best Ivory Coast 1:0 in Toronto.
 
Saudi FA offering match tickets for free. It may be packed but I doubt they'll hope much. If they take the lead early it'll get them a bit more animated.
 
Got a feeling this could be Iran 1997 all over again!. No doubt the Ref has been paid off and VAR.
 
JS96 said:
Swiss as organised as their watches 4:2 against Mexico in Salt Lake City and then face USA who lost 2:1 with a very experimental line up against Turkey. NZ hold on to best Ivory Coast 1:0 in Toronto.
Click to expand...

CONCACAF has gone down the shitter
 
You need the USA in the world cup commercially. I've not see any numbers but I would be pretty sure it would be the biggest windfall for Fifa. Hence the spots
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top