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World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

GoAussies said:
An article yesterday mentioned that Australia will be based in the ME for a camp at Euro season end prior to flying to Perth.

Being 3 points and GD ahead the Socceroos are in a strong position and while the games are the hardest faced in the Group anything other than direct qualification form this point would be have to be considered a massive stuff up.
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I'm glad theres some thought about our preparation.
 
GoAussies said:
An article yesterday mentioned that Australia will be based in the ME for a camp at Euro season end prior to flying to Perth.

Being 3 points and GD ahead the Socceroos are in a strong position and while the games are the hardest faced in the Group anything other than direct qualification form this point would be have to be considered a massive stuff up.
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that's great. I'm curious how long the camp will be
 
WhatAmIWatching said:
Therein lies the conundrum. Club football means a full preseason, getting to know the coach's strategy and gelling with your team mates.
It also means that you know how other teams play and their players.
National teams don't have a preseason per se, NT coach may have a totally different philosophy and if you have a lot of overseas players then you don't know your teammates, let alone you opponents.
ManU is the closest club to the conundrum. As they have changed coaches each bringing in a few players to fit with that coaches' philosophy. Today they have a hodgepodge of players that just don't gel.

I am still giving Popa the benefit of the doubt as he has had no friendlies where he could have tried different players. BUT like any other coach, he has his own philosophy, and some players, no matter how good, just don't fit into that philosophy.
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That's right. While I don't expect players to emulate their best club form all the time, someone like McGree has been highly disappointing. Got to say injuries to players like Bos hasn't helped in phasing out Behich.
 
Quicky said:
This is what we're up against v Japan

View attachment 1811
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Yeah we drew against them in their backyard with a condensed warm up. They certainly had an off day. We hardly used to the ball.

There was a moment Just after our goal where we really got stuck in and nudged the ball forward and I thought we were going to score a second. We'll have more ball in Perth.
 
Got to say the schedule for pot 2 isn't the best, especially for Australia's case. Home game to start every window which means flying across more time zones. Also the only pot with H/A every time while some ME teams have H/H and their away game is across a ditch.

ME has great facilities for a camp and we'll be to Australia in good time also.

It's in our hands but hopefully Indonesia are nudged back right away and the Bahrain Saudi game is crucial.
 
Mr Cleansheets said:
Even if we do qualify directly, it's still been a massive stuff up.

We should've been picking our best players and building the combinations.
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The mistake was re-signing Arnie. He put us in such a precarious qualification place the rest has been a fight for survival. There hasn't been a lot of room for that proactive planning at least not without huge risk. I agree though, it's been really frustrating not seeing more development in the squad and XI.
 
Quicky said:
The mistake was re-signing Arnie. He put us in such a precarious qualification place the rest has been a fight for survival. There hasn't been a lot of room for that proactive planning at least not without huge risk. I agree though, it's been really frustrating not seeing more development in the squad and XI.
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The mistake is only apparent with the benefit of hindsight.
 
Quicky said:
It was pretty obvious at the Asian Cup we were in trouble with Arnie. No hindsight needed to make the decision then. Ideally it would have been after the World Cup. That would have required hindsight, or a lot of courage.
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I reckon we have our coaching appointment cycle wrong. Contracts should expire after the Asian Cup if AFC continues with its current timetable. It's the only tournament we have a chance of winning, the qualifiers are linked with each other and the Asian Cup is within a year of the World Cup. The only performance clause should be the option to terminate the contract if we don't qualify for the WC itself.
 
Alex M said:
I reckon we have our coaching appointment cycle wrong. Contracts should expire after the Asian Cup if AFC continues with its current timetable. It's the only tournament we have a chance of winning, the qualifiers are linked with each other and the Asian Cup is within a year of the World Cup. The only performance clause should be the option to terminate the contract if we don't qualify for the WC itself.
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There's a cycle? I mean this time we changed kits mid qualifying.

Pim came in post Asian Cup. Holger pre. Just thing about it we've had appointments at every random stage.
 
It was obvious for me that Arnie went for too long, given the accolades he got from Equip after the World Cup he should have left and gotten a higher gig overseas in club football.

Instead he stayed for too long, we didn’t get the rejuvenation of the squad we needed plus the football we played all in that time was atrocious to watch especially at the Asian cup.

It appeared to me and still might, the FA didn’t have a longer term plan in place in terms of development of the national team not only bringing through in some of the promising young talent but no indication of improving the style of play especially where we still have clear deficiencies with the ball especially in qualification which we can’t forget about.

Instead they relied on vibes from the World Cup and they expected it to continue without any evolution that would be needed.

I still have question marks about Popa, but so far so good with the results and we have seen some improvements in terms of the style of play but I feel tougher tests lie ahead especially at the World Cup plus he needs to continue to rejuvenate the squad.
 
I'm thinking because Arnie did so well at the WC he wanted a good finish at the Asian cup off the back of it. But we should of used it blood some of the next gen. Probably would of been better to take Velupillay, Beach and Mo Toure instead of Fornaroli, Thomas and Jones.
 
seriously no matter GA stayed on longer than needed whoever stepped in earlier we'd be in the similar position stressing to qualify.
Whats new we've been through it many times now getting through by the skin of our teeth no matter which players you all dream for selection.
 
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