World Cup 2018 FIFA World Cup-Group C Thread (Australia, France, Peru, Denmark)

[Lebbo73]

Reddit say no more!

There were a couple of instances of French diving, but I’ve seen far worse. Got unlucky with the VAR decision but that’s cos it’s, rightly or wrongly, still very much a work in progress.

Watching a football match without bias is difficult. Most fans are guilty of it

Why are they using it then in the sports number 1 showcase event?

 

[arden station]

Should have the handball been a red card for umtiti?

Yep - he sensed danger behind and stuck up his hand. On TV it might not have looked as dangerous but he's not watching from that perspective - panicked acts can be deliberate acts. Red card for sure.

 

[Sippa]

I reckon If not for that handball it was heading straight for jedinaks head anyway

 

[Sippa]

Even looking st the Peru penalty it looks like they are going to review even the minor ankle taps and award penalties which is ridiculous it needs to be the obvious shockers

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

I don't think there's any reason to be particularly gutted or particularly proud.

I reckon if that match was replayed 10 times with the same set of chances for both teams France would win 9/10 games. They put Ryan under huge pressure, particularly early on, and it was only excellent keeping and generally very good last ditch defending which kept us alive for so long. You can get pissy about the goals we conceded but honestly there 4 or 5 times France were in a excellent scoring position only to be denied. They thoroughly deserved to win and it would have been astonishingly lucky draw if we'd pulled it off.

At the other end we had nothing. Seriously, except for the near own goal and a very stupid and unnecessary handball, we created no meaningful chances, and had no structure or fluency in attack. We were thoroughly outmatched.

I suppose you can say well done to the team for staying solid for most of the game and generally defending very well under the pressure France exerted but that's not a winning formula. I'm also so ******* tired of seeing gritty defensive Australian soccer teams who play hard but couldn't score in a brothel.

I thought it was a credible, hard working performance which underlined that australia is still a long way off the genuinely good teams and light years away from ever winning the cup.

 

[Axl the great]

Australia must get 3 points vs Denmark, as if they draw the Danes and French can draw in the final game for both to qualify

I thought that too initially but if Denmark finishes second Argentina more than likely awaits. I would think both France and Denmark would be desperate to avoid this scenario.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

I thought that too initially but if Denmark finishes second Argentina more than likely awaits. I would think both France and Denmark would be desperate to avoid this scenario.

Croatia will likely top group D from what I've seen. Honestly, they would concern me more than the Argies would.

 

[craigos]

Denmark winning is better for us anyway. Peru has France next, they lose, they're out. We beat Denmark, then the Danes have to force a result against France. Peru would be demoralized and done by game 3.

If Peru-Denmark had drew, then Peru would sit back and try and get a draw against France. Then the last games would've been hectic. Now they're forced to attack against France, opening themselves up.

I thought this as well, we know exactly what we have to do and if we beat Denmark then we'll know the result we need to go through. That being said I can see Peru or Denmark taking a point off France.

I really don't get the negativity some fans have about the national team and the players at all. We have a population of 22 million, historically the game isn't very old or established here. The national league is only 12 years old, the leagues of countries we are playing against are far longer. The fact that we make it is bloody good if you look at it statistically. Every player last night had played in the A League, that's a pretty cool thing. Iceland just drew against Argentina, we nearly drew against France. New Zealand didn't concede a goal in the last World Cup and there are hundreds of other stories of nations punching above their weight.

I get people who are saying we'll never ever win it are just being "realistic" but the fact is if you can get out of the group stages then you just never know. Look at 2006, wouldn't be that big of a stretch to say we could have made it to the semi-final and from there you just don't know. That was a brilliant team and to think that we'll never have another like it is really glass half empty type stuff.

Got to have a dream and ambitions unless what's the point of going to the World Cup at all?

 

[charcoalchicken]

I don't understand how they watched the replay via var system and still managed to bottle the pen. decision was clear risdon got his foot to the ball before griezmann went down

 

[SM]

I thought this as well, we know exactly what we have to do and if we beat Denmark then we'll know the result we need to go through. That being said I can see Peru or Denmark taking a point off France.

I really don't get the negativity some fans have about the national team and the players at all. We have a population of 22 million, historically the game isn't very old or established here. The national league is only 12 years old, the leagues of countries we are playing against are far longer. The fact that we make it is bloody good if you look at it statistically. Every player last night had played in the A League, that's a pretty cool thing. Iceland just drew against Argentina, we nearly drew against France. New Zealand didn't concede a goal in the last World Cup and there are hundreds of other stories of nations punching above their weight.

I get people who are saying we'll never ever win it are just being "realistic" but the fact is if you can get out of the group stages then you just never know. Look at 2006, wouldn't be that big of a stretch to say we could have made it to the semi-final and from there you just don't know. That was a brilliant team and to think that we'll never have another like it is really glass half empty type stuff.

Got to have a dream and ambitions unless what's the point of going to the World Cup at all?

Great post.

 

[happy_eagle]

After a confidence inspiring "honourable loss" (hate that term) game against the Dutch last world cup, we came up against Spain who dominated us completely.
We need to make sure we show up with the same intensity against Denmark on Thursday. I think I will have to IQ the Eagles game on Thursday and just focus on the Socceroos.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

After a confidence inspiring "honourable loss" (hate that term) game against the Dutch last world cup, we came up against Spain who dominated us completely.
We need to make sure we show up with the same intensity against Denmark on Thursday. I think I will have to IQ the Eagles game on Thursday and just focus on the Socceroos.

Your avatar is beyond disturbing.

 

[gordo2016]

Anybody who thinks we can win a world cup or come close in even 20 years is clueless. The youth development/training etc is horrible, the FFA have no idea either and when your federation is clueless, you're not going to succeed. We do not have the technical ability to compete with the elite footballing nations, or the tactical discipline.

The game needs a complete overhaul in our country and until that happens we won't be making a relevant mark on the world stage. Australia should focus on getting a coach similar to van Marwijk in and build on that. You could see we were organised last night and had a clear shape and we tried to stick to it (when our players weren't poorly positioned or dragged out of position). You can just see under Arnold all of Bert's work will be undone.

There has been a few examples in team sports where a side has achieved what people thought was impossible. And it will continue to happen. You can say people are clueless to think Australia can win a World Cup, but one day some country will win it when no one has given them a chance. You can guarantee it.

 

[whattagun07]

After a confidence inspiring "honourable loss" (hate that term) game against the Dutch last world cup, we came up against Spain who dominated us completely.
We need to make sure we show up with the same intensity against Denmark on Thursday. I think I will have to IQ the Eagles game on Thursday and just focus on the Socceroos.

We were already out of the running by the time we played Spain so it’s a different scenario. This was more like the aus v Chile opener where we leaked 2 early goals, then dominated for the majority of the game before getting caught out on the counter to go 3-1 down late. The France game didn’t follow this trajectory, but we should leave with confidence regardless.
We then came out against a world class Dutch outfit and pushed them, including holding a 2-1 lead at one stage. I expect a big showing from us in the next match.

 

[lewdogs]

It will be interesting to see how we tackle the Denmark game. I thought they were pretty unimpressive but look dangerous if given too much space, especially Erikson. Peru were the better side but probably went too much all-out attack and also looked shattered once they missed the penalty. The result is actually quite good for us as it means if we beat the Danes we will be in a strong position to qualify, and they should actually be easier to beat than Peru.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

We were already out of the running by the time we played Spain so it’s a different scenario. This was more like the aus v Chile opener where we leaked 2 early goals, then dominated for the majority of the game before getting caught out on the counter to go 3-1 down late. The France game didn’t follow this trajectory, but we should leave with confidence regardless.
We then came out against a world class Dutch outfit and pushed them, including holding a 2-1 lead at one stage. I expect a big showing from us in the next match.

We didn't dominate long or indeed any stretches of the game against France.

As I said it was generally a pretty strong minded defensive effort against France but we rarely looked like scoring, struggled
to mount competent attacks and got our only goal from a catastrophic defensive error. If Umtiti didn't have a moment of absolute idiocy or Ryan didn't play above and beyond in that first half, this would have been a pretty bad loss.

I don't think we will see another effort like the game against the Dutch this World Cup because we simply don't have a striker fit to lace the boots of Cahill in his prime.

To be honest our best hope of advancing out of the group stage is 180 more minutes of grim disciplined defence and just hope for a few lucky moments on the rebound.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

If we can constrict Eriksen, it'll go a long way for us in getting a result. Peru were unlucky not to get a point but they made the mistake of giving him too much space for him to provide the assist. Denmark didn't offer much going forward outside of that.

 

[ep2018]

After a confidence inspiring "honourable loss" (hate that term) game against the Dutch last world cup, we came up against Spain who dominated us completely.
We need to make sure we show up with the same intensity against Denmark on Thursday. I think I will have to IQ the Eagles game on Thursday and just focus on the Socceroos.

The Spain game was a dead rubber, might be the reason why we came out sloppy.

 

[Loonerty]

We had 48% possession... We certainly had periods where we were on top.

 

[JRyan23]

I reckon Peru will beat France which helps the Aussies especially if we can beat Denmark which is very possible


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[Cruyff14]

There has been a few examples in team sports where a side has achieved what people thought was impossible. And it will continue to happen. You can say people are clueless to think Australia can win a World Cup, but one day some country will win it when no one has given them a chance. You can guarantee it.

With all due respect, the World Cup has been running for 88 years, and no winner has been a dud team.

 

[glenferry23]

Having just watched the Denmark/Peru mini match on fetch, it’s staggering Peru lost. How they didn’t score at least once is absolutely bizarre.

And that’s not even taking into account the penalty which was horrendous.

 

[TommyD13]

Good on Foz for telling it how it is. Absolutely agreed with everything and summed up how I was feeling 100%.


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[jarrod_island_doggies]

A yellow minimum. But certainly not red.

An oversight not to give him a yellow. A minor thing perhaps, but there’s a different mentality when defending on a yellow card. Especially with about half an hour to go.

Maximum orange then?

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

We had 48% possession... We certainly had periods where we were on top.

Nah, that's just a reflection of how frequently the ball ended up on our last line and in our goalies hands.

12 French shots to 4, (5 on target to 1)
5 corners to 1
484 passes to 390
And 45 Australian clearances (i.e. kicks out of danger areas) to 23

These numbers provide a far more accurate depiction of how this game was played and who was in control.

Well done to Ryan and the full backs for not totally cracking under the pressure, but don't let the scoreline fool you, the French dominated this game, didn't get reward for effort, and coughed up a cheap penalty at the other end.

I'm not trying to be a negative nelly but on a lot of days those kind of numbers result in a 3-0 trouncing. It's nice that they didn't but the press getting around the socceroos after that result is a bit cringey. If they play at a similar standard against Peru and Denmark they will probably lose.