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World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

jas88 said:
The amount of first time passes to no one is insane... he just donkey kicks it and wherever it goes who knows... even backwards sometimes...maybe he thinks he has less time? So many times a simple shimmy or foot on the ball would of sufficed. So he could then actually lookup and pick a pass.
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A player of his years and experience thinking he has no time means he lacks the natural sixth sense.
Mate if he shimmys or faints on the move he'll fall over himself.
 
We just disagree in our assessment of the match. It could have gone either way but I think we were the better of the sides overall.
Compared to how we played against Bahrain it seems fair to say we have been building over the past three matches.
One thing we do agree, we don't really have any stand out performers/talent at the moment. Away games will still be tough, Japan are a long way past us.
 
patjennings said:
Best that can be said is that Popovic could have been in real trouble if the offside wasn't called out the Saudis and the Bahrainis. We live to fight another day - but stop stuffing round when you have better players not selected or sitting on the bench.
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correct pj, hence why I mentioned one of posts next game he'll drop 3/4/5/6 players, start all over again, why not have picked the core who has the most talent and minor tweaks games ahead.
 
On a positive note, I’m quite pleasantly surprised how Vellupilay has progressed over the last couple seasons, he runs with the ball quite well. I expect to see him in Europe in the next two seasons.
 
LFC said:
correct pj, hence why I mentioned one of posts next game he'll drop 3/4/5/6 players, start all over again, why not have picked the core who has the most talent and minor tweaks games ahead.
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I'm a bit confused at the midfield trials of Caceres and Brattan in make or break games. Caceres is skilled and can warrant selection but he didn't do anything in the time he was on. Meanwhile someone like Balard is more than ready and this should pressure Irvine. Irvine needs to be benched. This is another issue, the leadership group is either benched or not in form.
 
Duke without a goal in 12 games. I wish we'd played Yengi and named all the other strikers as they'd likely be tying to outdo each other to cement a spot. With the way the selection goes, the others must be disheartened. They've got to be ready when needed but it's just not happening.
 
LFC said:
I had to avoid saying my peace since watching last nights game in utter misery and frustration and my post from days back confirms my feelings and again the outlook where my/our Roos are and have been for years now !
I'm going to go back and say kudos to GA even though he cops/copped so much flak he got that far in Qatar with average cattle and no wonder after all those years he got run down mentally - it confirms our plight right now.
It no matter who Poppa should have picked by your opinions the same would have happenned till its PROVEN not just once but 2/3/4 times ahead.
You only had to watch that play the whole 1st half and ask yourself is this a NT game I'm watching ! Lucky MSC was supporting his daughter at ballet :)

I'm so angry/gutted its not funny and with some of you carrying on about such and such is better etcetc ahead, seriously the last 4 games or so have been abysmal viewing ! some your talking about played those games.
I'm sorry for Duke he has served well and then I'll read, oh he'll play better with Yengi off him, christ throw Suarez next to him :) - well how about playing well regardless as a lone striker anyway, time is up lets see Yengi.
Hrustic was woeful.
Miller ? seriously even Grant would do better ffs.
Irvine has the feet of an elephant, his time is done ! stay with St Pauli thanks for your service.
Souttar even looked a mess.
Gauci, FFS he reprieved himself with some good saves but how a GK of his level and where he plays for Club doesn't realise to put the boot through it instead of looking - hey no one is available to play from the back just fuckin killed me and was embarrassing !
The chances that we created, Hrustic ! FFS Borello that was the winning moment full stop shut the bloody gate ! but no - HTF a so called forward who's meant to be selfish worse pass's it to a player who already had 2 near on 3 defenders on him :(
A utter joke !
At home we have less possession !
They made 132 more pass's than us, maybe not in great zones but more ball nonetheless.
We had some minor inspiring moments, Velupillay, wish Caceras got more ball but we were chasing the game, one time he was wondering where/who he could pass to.
No one gets more than a 5 out of 10 and thats shocking for a home game.

Back to the drawing board but I don't think Poppa has it (ffs he throws on Behich).....maybe I'm over reactive but thats what I watched, rubbish.
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Do u want the good news or the bad news?

You need a critical mass of players getting game time at a good level at a young age multiple years in a row to produce a good national team. Some players peak early, others are walking injuries, some play for other nts, some exceed all expectations. If you do that 8 years in a row, by the time they hit their prime you have a good team. Our 2006 wc had players born 1975 to 1982 except goal keepers.

So the good news - 2003 and 2004 look on track to hit that critical mass for the first time in the a league era. If the stars align, 2002 could hit that level too (i doubt it)

The bad news, even if this is the new normal, the eigth birth year is 2010 which hits their prime by 2034

20 years of half hearted nyl or no nyl at all, a third as many pathways as the nsl era, no underage teams for the first 10 years and the wind down of the ais....some insane decisions :(

More bad news is that like the gg we could be an unbalanced team. The gg had a lot of trouble creating chances with deck balls into the box. The new players are remedial in shooting. They seem to be slow to get into good position to shoot, require good body position to be effective and many have too big a backlift
 
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For my part I am not talking about other players being selected and getting a result necessarily. As you say LFC, the game is done and anything else is "If", "But" and the like.

What I can say without any fear of doubt, is that if Popa had gone in with an attacking, in form front three and an in form AM, the game would have played out very differently.

That is the positive I see in our play since Popa - if we use our better players we will simply play better and, to me, much more attractive football.

The results may come (I would hope so) or not - but our style of play matters to me and under Popa we are playing a better form of football.

We may play and win
We may play and lose
We may play and draw
But by hell we will play.
 
RIMB said:
For my part I am not talking about other players being selected and getting a result necessarily. As you say LFC, the game is done and anything else is "If", "But" and the like.

What I can say without any fear of doubt, is that if Popa had gone in with an attacking, in form front three and an in form AM, the game would have played out very differently.

That is the positive I see in our play since Popa - if we use our better players we will simply play better and, to me, much more attractive football.

The results may come (I would hope so) or not - but our style of play matters to me and under Popa we are playing a better form of football.

We may play and win
We may play and lose
We may play and draw
But by hell we will play.
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I agree we need to play our better attackers. I'm not sure we're playing a better form of football. It's defensively resilient, but so was GA's team. There is the same issues with chance creation and finishing. If we get our better players in I hope that corrects itself but Poppa needs to pick those guys first.
 
I keep forgetting Luongo is technically available. A bit of a fitness question this window despite a late Ipswich cameo at Spurs. It's just anyone else is miles ahead of Irvine on a technical ability. We've finally got Behich out of the team and now the next areas of Irvine and RWB need to be enhanced. Striker should take over naturally by starting Yengi in Bahrain and then bringing in others in March.
 
We desperately need pace in the squad. Irankunda has to come back in. Just praying Garang Kuol can get his move in January maybe he can be a option in March.

When Borello came on and starting making runs in behind it changed the game.
 
What a chance for Indonesia. Brea through alone on goal but it's blocked. Deflection just sits up in the water on the pitch. You'd prefer these conditions for the Saudis. Very heavy under foot.
 
3 very good chances for Indonesia so far. They're doing better than against us.

They make attack look good because they do the simple things. The sooner we play our best attackers and shoot instead of trying to walk it into the goal we'll be better off.
 
The Indonesians are looking very competitive. As above, they have created the better chances to 22 minutes.
 
Cunningstunt said:
Some extra context to what I wrote above. Shots in the match. I think it is fair to say we created the better opportunities.
View attachment 250

One thing Harper was talking about in the commentary was how KSA were winning the one on ones. This does seem to have been a pretty fair observation.
View attachment 251

Stats from fotmob
www.fotmob.com

Australia vs Saudi Arabia - live score, predicted lineups and H2H stats

Australia vs Saudi Arabia on Thu, Nov 14, 2024, 09:10 UTC. Check live results, H2H, match stats, lineups, player ratings, insights, team forms, shotmap, and highlights.
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Maybe I'm just taking a glass half empty mentality but when I look at these stats, all I see is that we had 2 shots on target over the course of 100 minutes, in a crucial qualifier at home. Same old story. We so rarely force the opposition keeper to make a save. That's what it comes down to. Aside from the China match and a very fortuitous own goal against Japan, we have failed to score a single goal in this phase of the campaign. That is damming.
 
verrelli said:
Maybe I'm just taking a glass half empty mentality but when I look at these stats, all I see is that we had 2 shots on target over the course of 100 minutes, in a crucial qualifier at home. Same old story. We so rarely force the opposition keeper to make a save. That's what it comes down to. Aside from the China match and a very fortuitous own goal against Japan, we have failed to score a single goal in this phase of the campaign. That is damming.
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4 games out of 5 having no goal scorers is a real worry

Toure and iredale might help a little in the next window.
 
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