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World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

Just like under Ange, we had a few moments where we had both centre backs at the height of the 5 yard box with Gauci on the ball. Gauci would play it long for the opponent to win the ball and then the offside line is so deep that we have to scramble. Our issues are so avoidable and it's ridiculous we keep insisting on placing this way.
 
NicCarBel said:
Would still be 3rd and 4th up for grabs though
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All 4 would still hotly contest that. I actually keep forgetting which means dead rubbers aren't going to happen as all teams should be in with a chance of 4th until the final round. If Uzbekistan can avoid defeat in Qatar, they're in dreamland as draws will suffice to cruise along.
 
JS96 said:
Our group really is the toughest. This last minute pot slip for Saudi, Indonesia going all big on recruiting and China being some weird banana skin. To think another group has Kuwait and Palestine plus Jordan and Oman is wild. The latter two are generally better than Bahrain but Bahrain are on the up in their own way.
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Not really, we are just too poor and will be struggling against UAE, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Jordan etc. We are far below Iran, SK and Japan at this moment.

Saudi Arabia are currently in poor form and less dangerous than Jordan who made the final in the Asian cup and top of the group beating the Saudis in the previous round.

China has been awful and outplayed by Thailand in the previous round. It wouldn't get much easier than China in this round.

Indonesia was in easy group in the last round (Iraq, Vietnam and the Phillipines)and in the past 12 games never beat anyone outside of ASEAN.
 
grazorblade said:
Bahrain v china is going nicely...hope it stays 1 all
Though a china win is probably better than a bahrain win
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I think I'd rather a China win but we don't need them hyped up. The result tonight for Saudi was like for ourselves in Japan. It gives a skewed view on what is possible.

I have it with all my teams but watching opponents, we seem so slow in attack and it's true. We had occasional bursts but it's just the same predicable possession play. Popovic like Arnold insist on having the ball but we do nothing with it. We need to be instructed to break and go with it. The skill is there as seen every weekend. To show how bad we were, Velupillay's brief time rates higher than most other players.
 
mkxx said:
Not really, we are just too poor and will be struggling against UAE, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Jordan etc. We are far below Iran, SK and Japan at this moment.

Saudi Arabia are currently in poor form and less dangerous than Jordan who made the final in the Asian cup and top of the group beating the Saudis in the previous round.

China has been awful and outplayed by Thailand in the previous round. It wouldn't get much easier than China in this round.

Indonesia was in easy group in the last round and in the past 12 games never beat anyone outside of ASEAN.
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Australia was on the cusp of victory against South Korea at the Asia cup and should have had 3 goals that night. Indonesia didn't have most of the European based players and are now a totally different side skillwise and culturally. They would belong in pot 4 and not 6 now at least.

Australia are still getting used to Popovic but the players are being held back by poor formation and tactics plus we're still not playing our best players.
 
Just thinking how well Metcalfe would fit in the area Miller was tonight. He can also drift around. If Popovic is going to insist then I'd say Metcalfe with his skill and stamina and he'll create good passing triangles with each direction.
 
Bahrain score late but VAR says offside and rightly so. Heart sank at that goal. Bahrain winning probably isn't a good thing.
 
Jesus fucking christ China go down the other end to score on 89.
 
Make it 91min! The secondary flick on was an accidental heel which set the square ball up perfectly. Bahrain have been stunned.
 
Bahrain will be desperate against us

Red card to their cb too. Hopefully a window opens up
 
China hold on to win. DOGSO red for Bahrain's most capped defender at the end. Sickening taunt for Australia as a win tonight would've seen a 3 point jump on both ME teams and a win Tuesday would make things look really good.
 
JS96 said:
China hold on to win. DOGSO red for Bahrain's most capped defender at the end. Sickening taunt for Australia as a win tonight would've seen a 3 point jump on both ME teams and a win Tuesday would make things look really good.
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Destiny still in our hands to be fair
 
JS96 said:
Australia was on the cusp of victory against South Korea at the Asia cup and should have had 3 goals that night. Indonesia didn't have most of the European based players and are now a totally different side skillwise and culturally. They would belong in pot 4 and not 6 now at least.

Australia are still getting used to Popovic but the players are being held back by poor formation and tactics plus we're still not playing our best players.
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We got solid defence yes but offensively we are very poor. What im saying is we will be struggling to beat or score against any teams in any group. Without Goodwin none of our players got that final product quality. While SK, Iran, Uzbekistan, Japan like a good team they always find the way to win (just like the socceroos in 2010 world cup qualification)

Indonesia already employed European players since the last qualification and still lost both games to Iraq. Yes they're stronger but with the standard of the socceroos we should be beating them.
 
Is there a shooting equivalent to handling speed? Takes a lot of our players too long to get a shot away

Only exception i can think of is jmac, kuol and irankunda. Jmac struggles to find space at this level and the other 2 need development
 
A mental night in Asia. Uzbekistan fought back from 2:0 down in Qatar only for Qatar to win it with a bit of woodwork help. Game went to 103 min due to shenanigans in added tune.

Oman with an important win against Palestine. Iraq Jordan goalless. UAE made light work of Kyrgyzstan 3:0.
 
I didn't realise Velupillay was on as long as he was. He went on some good runs. There were comments Caceres did really well. I watched and I see it's just people with the club biases posting online. Caceres was pretty much invisible. Borrello had to take the shot himself there.
 
JS96 said:
I didn't realise Velupillay was on as long as he was. He went on some good runs. There were comments Caceres did really well. I watched and I see it's just people with the club biases posting online. Caceres was pretty much invisible. Borrello had to take the shot himself there.
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Weird watching the game again. Saudi werent nearly as dominant as i remember in the first half hour. Stopped at half an hour for now tho
 
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