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World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

patjennings said:
I would back this team that didn't make the squad or didn't play tonight (not picked or injury) to give Popa's team a good go.

-----------------Gauci
-----Triantis---Circati--Farrell--
Leckie---Nisbet---Balard---Goodwin
------Irankunda---Botic---Kuol
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Love that team with the exceptions that it's over for Leckie and hasn't quite started for Kuol.
 
Australia, has two very hard qualifiers to go, Japan will be tough, very tough, and we will be lucky to get a draw. Saudi Arabia away is going to be even tougher with the heat. Just looking at the table, the Saudis have only scored 4 goals in 8 games, and have conceded 6, so they struggle to score inspite of playing some good football, but they defend reasonably well.

I pray Australia can finish in second spot, and gain automatic qualification, I don't want to go through the nightmare of having to go through play offs.
 
Only really watched most of first half and bits of second half

Thought Teague looked very composed and in that half and did more than a lot of DMs on the ball we’ve tried.

Miller is like classic polo jet you put in the mixer for the last ten when chasing a goal. Not sure what he offers 90% of the time on the ball. Really struggles to keep it

Mat Ryan showing what playing regular does for players. Did well in his comeback games

Irvine has silenced a few doubters and unfair criticism.
 
Iran have officially qualified by the way.

Now with the Indonesia v Bahrain result official, I believe ultimately it boils down to this (while GD is mathematically still in the equation, it’s highly unlikely we’ll be caught up with that):
  • Winning against Japan guarantees qualification.
  • Drawing against Japan and a win/draw against Saudi Arabia guarantees qualification.
  • Drawing against Japan, then losing to Saudi Arabia means Australia qualifies UNLESS Indonesia wins both of their games AND/OR Saudi Arabia defeat Bahrain
  • Losing against Japan means Australia must at least draw against Saudi Arabia - the scenario of us losing to both Japan and Saudi Arabia and still qualifying is possible, if Saudi Arabia have lost to Bahrain, and Indonesia does not win both matches against China and Japan.
 
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Some nice stats for Teague - more than justified his selection. Showed of he keeps it up he can be the future of the midfield

The way he doesn’t panic and turns to go forward offers so much. Half our midfielders have struggled with keeping possession or not going forwards
 
There are 2 guarantees in life.

NicCarBel will pull the wings and legs off every competition fly, and someone will tell us how many times he has done it and in what order :)
 
RIMB said:
There are 2 guarantees in life.

NicCarBel will pull the wings and legs off every competition fly, and someone will tell us how many times he has done it and in what order :)
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I might as well be that someone - if you check the edit history, will tell you it’s been at least twice ;)
 
tsf said:
Some nice stats for Teague - more than justified his selection. Showed of he keeps it up he can be the future of the midfield

The way he doesn’t panic and turns to go forward offers so much. Half our midfielders have struggled with keeping possession or not going forwards
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Yes I thought Teague was very composed.
 
Robbos said:
Yes I thought Teague was very composed.
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My favourite thing about him is he doesn’t panic and just pass backwards. He thinks of a way out.

There was a point last night where he was almost at left back and he had 3 players boxing him in. He worked it so we broke and if nish didn’t over hot his pass we were in the box in a great spot.
 
CharlieYankosFanClub said:
The game against Japan really is a promotors dream. Win and we qualify. Who doesnt want to be there for that?
Lets hope we get a full house and a lot of support.
And that we get the job done!
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indeed. Me and my mates just texting now to organise flights and tickets
 
tsf said:
Only really watched most of first half and bits of second half

Thought Teague looked very composed and in that half and did more than a lot of DMs on the ball we’ve tried.

Miller is like classic polo jet you put in the mixer for the last ten when chasing a goal. Not sure what he offers 90% of the time on the ball. Really struggles to keep it

Mat Ryan showing what playing regular does for players. Did well in his comeback games

Irvine has silenced a few doubters and unfair criticism.
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agree on 3/4's of your comments but on Irvine.
Goals are fantastic papering over the past for most/any player/s and prior to the Indo game he's not been in the kind of form of the last 2 games whatsoever.
He was MIA alot in the past for such a important piece of the team the previous quali phase.
A player of his Bundas stature sure should stand out against Indo imo and that he did, same last night.
Desreves all the constructive criticism when you don't perform what your capable of, I actually found he was MIA many times in the 2nd half and he was not alone being we couldn't retain ball let alone win it back many times.
 
LFC said:
agree on 3/4's of your comments but on Irvine.
Goals are fantastic papering over the past for most/any player/s and prior to the Indo game he's not been in the kind of form of the last 2 games whatsoever.
He was MIA alot in the past for such a important piece of the team the previous quali phase.
A player of his Bundas stature sure should stand out against Indo imo and that he did, same last night.
Desreves all the constructive criticism when you don't perform what your capable of, I actually found he was MIA many times in the 2nd half and he was not alone being we couldn't retain ball let alone win it back many times.
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People unfortunately believe because a player is playing in a bigger league they will inevitably be the star of the show. It depends on what they bring and how they fit in the team.
 
Pasquali said:
People unfortunately believe because a player is playing in a bigger league they will inevitably be the star of the show. It depends on what they bring and how they fit in the team.
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don't expect to be the star just do your job game in game out, consistancy.
Glad he stepped up last 2 games, notice we need it and look what became whereas not previous quali stage.
Just logic.
 
tsf said:
Some nice stats for Teague - more than justified his selection. Showed of he keeps it up he can be the future of the midfield

The way he doesn’t panic and turns to go forward offers so much. Half our midfielders have struggled with keeping possession or not going forwards
Click to expand...

Let's not start looking at where he'll land in the EPL, this game was only vs China.

On a side note, most of their attacking shots came right through the middle, Teague was leaving holes a truck could drive through. I'd add Irvine to that but the blokes finally being utilised correctly as a box to box.
 
huddo said:
Let's not start looking at where he'll land in the EPL, this game was only vs China.

On a side note, most of their attacking shots came right through the middle, Teague was leaving holes a truck could drive through. I'd add Irvine to that but the blokes finally being utilised correctly as a box to box.
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Quite an unhinged response there. You got it wrong, he was good, move on.
 
Genuine question - on what basis do people believe that system/style that Popavic is wanting the team to play is complicated and difficult for the players to learn? Is there any evidence for this or has it just been repeated so many times by punters that it has become “fact”?

I can’t see anything in the way the Socceroos play that should be beyond any professional player understanding it? I mean, Miller seems to be far from the sharpest tool in the shed and often makes fundamental mistakes, but he seems to be locked-in in the team at the moment. If he can understand and implement the style of play, why (apparently) can’t Ballard, Triantis, Irankunda?
 
Keeper66 said:
Genuine question - on what basis do people believe that system/style that Popavic is wanting the team to play is complicated and difficult for the players to learn? Is there any evidence for this or has it just been repeated so many times by punters that it has become “fact”?

I can’t see anything in the way the Socceroos play that should be beyond any professional player understanding it? I mean, Miller seems to be far from the sharpest tool in the shed and often makes fundamental mistakes, but he seems to be locked-in in the team at the moment. If he can understand and implement the style of play, why (apparently) can’t Ballard, Triantis, Irankunda?
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I agree, after all they are called professionals for a reason. Seems more a poppa insecurity thing than a genuine problem.
 
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