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World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

Decentric said:
Respectfully disagree.

Hearts and Scotland is a backwards step for Arzani. It is a physical second ball league, albeit Boyle has a reasonable skill set from playing there.

I’d like Arzani play in a more technical league if playing in UEFA.
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So would I but it is a league that is faster than ours (we play in summer) so a tricky player like him will improve out of sight if he can adjust. It's also an opportunity for him to experience an OTT football mad culture - I wouldn't be surprised to see him become a bit of a star over there. He's at the age where he's entering the best years of his career and it is definitely a better shop window for him than the AL.

But as you say - a second ball league coud pass him by if he can't get himself involved.
 
ashtongate said:
He has already been hacked down in Scotland- it was at Celtic years ago that he acquired his bad knee injury.
So he would know what he is in for; it's his choice to go there.
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That wasn't a hack, he just slipped.

And that is my greatest fear for Arzani - the soft pitches of Scotland are nothing like the hard pitches he grew up on. It's why so many Aussies get soft tissue injuries over there.
 
Decentric said:
It came about as Keeper 'pedantically' and correctly ridiculed my misuse of grammar!

'Here, here', as opposed to 'hear, hear,' I used incorrectly.

I, and plenty of others, sometimes get confused by some homophones - here/hear, minute/minute, great/grate, to/too/two, their/there, write/right, sea/see, know/no, knew/new, knight/night, etc.

I wasn't 'showing off'. I was embarrassed!
,
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As a teacher you should be.
 
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Mr Cleansheets said:
It never was in my book. Getting out of the group is the minimum expectation. I'd love to see us at least make the quarters but Rd of 16 is realistic.

If he picks our best team...
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If Popa picks our best team then getting knockout football and making it past the round of 32 is a given, and we've shown in the qualifiers and in previous World Cups that we're capable of taking the powerhouses like Argentina, France and Japan all the way and even beating them, or losing by very fine margins. If we dare to dream we might end up going all the way and winning the World Cup.
 
Mr Cleansheets said:
So would I but it is a league that is faster than ours (we play in summer) so a tricky player like him will improve out of sight if he can adjust. It's also an opportunity for him to experience an OTT football mad culture - I wouldn't be surprised to see him become a bit of a star over there. He's at the age where he's entering the best years of his career and it is definitely a better shop window for him than the AL.

But as you say - a second ball league coud pass him by if he can't get himself involved.
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Hope you are right, Mr C.
 
rebelliousfeminist974 said:
If Popa picks our best team then getting knockout football and making it past the round of 32 is a given, and we've shown in the qualifiers and in previous World Cups that we're capable of taking the powerhouses like Argentina, France and Japan all the way and even beating them, or losing by very fine margins. If we dare to dream we might end up going all the way and winning the World Cup.
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I'd be happy just to get out of the group.

I think Grazor has data that suggests that the Socceroos have few players playing in Big Five UEFA leagues, and the other 30 odd big clubs in more modest UEFA leagues, than most of the other World Cup teams when it was 32 teams in the comp.
 
Two very good goals scored by Aus.

The pinpoint ball from Burgess to Duke, who showed Viduka like skill and vision under pressure to lay off to a well-timed Metcalfe run and finish was exquisite attacking interplay.

Boyle's free kick and Duke's headed finish was also classy.

Socceroos couldn't hit the side of a barn in the first two games against Bahrain and Indo, the first game against Saudi, and the second against Bah.

In the last 4 games the Socceroos have become clinical around goal. A number of players have scored too.
 
Mr Cleansheets said:
So would I but it is a league that is faster than ours (we play in summer) so a tricky player like him will improve out of sight if he can adjust. It's also an opportunity for him to experience an OTT football mad culture - I wouldn't be surprised to see him become a bit of a star over there. He's at the age where he's entering the best years of his career and it is definitely a better shop window for him than the AL.

But as you say - a second ball league coud pass him by if he can't get himself involved.
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agreed IF he can adjust !
His achilles heal is getting involved in a league as such for the cushy league here he tends to be lazy, his work rate isn't that high unless its moving ahead/forward down the flank.
SPL is all in, you can't sit back you must get involved, people go on about coachs having Plan B's, players need to change their usual to the league they play in.
His skillset is there, he needs up his anti to succeed I wish him well.
I would hope he would see this as huge challenge to prove for himself and onlookers after suffering very early the unfortunate ACL injury.
Would help greatly if he does well for next years Cup.
 
Given the 2010 vibes, cheerful thanks to Grazor, it'll be about damage limitation against the group giant and seeing how we go against the others. Surely we don't do a Japan and beat a group giant then lose to the minnow.
 
grazorblade said:
denmark has the challenge that it is hard to get a visa. The left wing party managed to stop the far right by drastically reducing immigration. So yes I'd love players to go to denmark, but easier said than done

Yazbek went to norway
Mooy was celtic late in his career, he went via the championship and got promoted in his first season with huddersfield
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Ta, Grazor.
 
Decentric said:
Two very good goals scored by Aus.

The pinpoint ball from Burgess to Duke, who showed Viduka like skill and vision under pressure to lay off to a well-timed Metcalfe run and finish was exquisite attacking interplay.

Boyle's free kick and Duke's headed finish was also classy.

Socceroos couldn't hit the side of a barn in the first two games against Bahrain and Indo, the first game against Saudi, and the second against Bah.

In the last 4 games the Socceroos have become clinical around goal. A number of players have scored too.
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I didn't see the Saudi match but apparently Burgess was sloppy with some of his short passes. Nevertheless, I recall watching a video around 18 months ago outlining McKenna's tactics in Ipswich Town's promotion push. It highlighted how McKenna had identified and was effectively utilising Burgess' ability to thread a long pass (in Ipswich's case to their wingers, iirc).
 
JS96 said:
More traffic here than the best goal thread

Best and fairest: Irvine

Best find: Velupillay

Most improved: Miller

Biggest disappointment: O'Neill

Best comeback: Degenek
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Agree with most of this, JS.

Thought provoking categories.

Except O'Neill has been good IMO. After I compile stats for the last two Japanese and Saudi games, I will have had a closer look. He has been a good ball winner and decent distributor prior.
 
dr. bellows said:
I didn't see the Saudi match but apparently Burgess was sloppy with some of his short passes. Nevertheless, I recall watching a video around 18 months ago outlining McKenna's tactics in Ipswich Town's promotion push. It highlighted how McKenna had identified and was effectively utilising Burgess' ability to thread a long pass (in Ipswich's case to their wingers, iirc).
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That is a real shame you missed out because it wasn't on FTA TV, Dr B.

A few years ago a few on here persuaded me to get Paramount, which is cheap. It is excellent for football fans who like Aus national teams and AL.

Grazor pointed out the long passes that Burgess, Souttar and Circati do so well are a modern phenomenon to beat the gegenpress. I noticed this a long time ago (5-10 years) with AC Milan's back three doing it well.
 
Decentric said:
Agree with most of this, JS.

Thought provoking categories.

Except O'Neill has been good IMO. After I compile stats for the last two Japanese and Saudi games, I will have had a closer look. He has been a good ball winner and decent distributor prior.
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I think O'Neill has been alright but I felt he was less dominant than needed. I agree he's screened well. Need to watch him carefully to appreciate.
 
Just read on the Hearts forum that someone reckons Arzani has turned them down and is going to Hungary...

Why on Earth would he do that?

Hope it's bollocks.
 
I suppose another feature of Popa's tenure, has been his squad rotation to keep players fresh for each game.

Possibly with so much attention given to the ball performance and strategy when the other team has the ball, Popa's demands for intense workrate in closing down space and maintaining team defensive shape could be higher than his predecessors.

To date his squad rotation has worked. More coaches tend to have a first choice first eleven, which they don't like to deviate from. Popa has used a lot of players.
 
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