Mega Thread 2022/23 Off-Season Sports Thread

[anchor man]

The process that led to the original decision to cut the Force from Super Rugby instead of the Rebels was about as corrupt as it gets.

.
Well said. I am no rugby fan, not even close, but that decision and the Western Reds were two of the most corrupt things to happen in Australian sport.
And yes I know the difference between the two codes.
It is a wonder that anyone would want to follow either code.

 

[Square Peg]

Saudi vs Argentina was a lot of fun. I haven't watched the France game yet but am expecting not so much fun.

 

[tonygeeks]

Saudi vs Argentina was a lot of fun. I haven't watched the France game yet but am expecting not so much fun.

I watched about 15mins

I feel I’ve done my duty as an Aussie

Seriously though WTF are they even there ? It looked like a WAFL team playing in the AFL

 

[gaskin]

Saudi vs Argentina was a lot of fun. I haven't watched the France game yet but am expecting not so much fun.

First half wasn't bad. France dominated but we had some moments on the counter. Duke had a shot from range that just missed and someone else had a header hit the post. 2nd half was just pure men v boys. We had no answer for Mbappe and Dembele. In the end, France probably should have had 7 or 8.

 

[Square Peg]

I watched about 15mins

I feel I’ve done my duty as an Aussie

Seriously though WTF are they even there ? It looked like a WAFL team playing in the AFL

I am still in a state of disbelief we made it through two playoffs to get here after failing to get direct qualification, but I'd still rather be here than not

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Can't question the effort from the team in all honesty. France are a different beast and benefit from a strong football culture, colonial allegiances and a huge gulf in class of players available

 

[Lach72]

Parking the bus against such a quality team?

 

[gaskin]

Parking the bus against such a quality team?

It is the only way to limit the damage and maybe get a point out of it if we get extremely lucky. Try attacking them and we get done 12-0. People have been pointing to the way the Saudi's played and beat Argentina while leaving out the fact that France are 10x the team that Argentina is. The hype surrounding Argentina going into this WC has been nothing short of mind-boggling to me. Not to mention that you take a 35 year old Messi out of Argentina's line-up and they are your average run of the mill side.

 

[The Round House Drunk]

Firstly, it was great to score from open play (a very nice goal, at that).

Given the massive gap in class/depth between the two squads, the result shouldn’t be too surprising.

The second goal was unnecessary and a killer. It’s not junior football where you coach the kids to play out from the back every time, to aid their development in the long run. That goal kick should have been long to Duke with a runner looking for the second ball to get us up the pitch.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

I watched about 15mins

I feel I’ve done my duty as an Aussie

Seriously though WTF are they even there ? It looked like a WAFL team playing in the AFL

They looked like West Coast playing AFL

 

[Square Peg]

Brilliant from Japan. They've got
an enviable number of technically flawless players, great team to watch.

 

[gaskin]

Brilliant from Japan. They've got
an enviable number of technically flawless players, great team to watch.

The result of having a great youth setup and development pathways.

 

[Square Peg]

The result of having a great youth setup and development pathways.

Yes, and the JLeague has come on in leaps and bounds, a generation ago it was basically exhibition quality, full of washed up Brazilians that couldn't make it at home. It's a great watch nowadays.
They're on a different trajectory to us I am afraid.

 

[Hazelsnuts]

The most provocative and powerful statement is being made at the World Cup by Iran.
The players have taken a stand against human rights and female oppression in their archaic and fundamentalist homeland.
The players and supporters refrained from singing the national anthem in the first match at the WC but the regime enforced the players to unwillingly mouth the anthem before the game against Wales.
Tears in the crowd by supporters and sadness on the faces of the players showed that the people of this beautiful nation fear their national rulers and know that what a ridiculous and outdated ideology they live under.
Hopefully the actions and emotions shown by those at the WC can ignite a rising against the fundamentalist regime in Iran….

Human rights are bigger than sport, I admire those making a stand as the repercussions would be huge, if only we could help…. Just send our best thoughts to Iran.

For what it’s worth I don’t really like soccer, but this has really hit me….

Power to the Iranian people…..

 

[Dockeroo]

Interesting discussion here. I’m a big football fan as well as AFL. A few points to add

• people having a go at the Socceroos for not doing better against France need to get a grip. There is monstrous gulf in class, it’s hard to contextualise for a non fan. Not a single player in the Socceroos team would make the French squad of 26. They could probably pick another 26 players in France and you still would not take anyone from the australia squad.
• I saw Peter Fitzsimmons complaining the team didn’t show any “have a go ya mug” type Aussie spirit. What a fool. Unlike many other sports the game is far too technical to allow a gap in class to be bridged by extra effort and passion and physicality. The cold hard facts are that the French would play though them and just pick them off with superior skills and it would have been a 7 or 8 goal humiliation.
• Square Peg wondered how Australia made it to the World Cup. It’s because of a grossly imbalanced qualification system. In saying that beating Peru was a decent achievement for the Socceroos. But the fact is that the vast majority of the worlds best sides are in Europe. Just 13 or 14 teams from Europe make the 32 in the World Cup. Qualification is cut throat and intense and every tournament good teams miss out. Italy, the European champions failed to qualify for example!! By contrast you have to be pretty damn atrocious not to qualify from Asia.

I would say a good 22 of the worlds best 32 teams are from Europe and you can add Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and the USA (who have improved significantly I must say). Africa generally has a couple of good sides too each year but it fluctuates and they are not at the level of the top end European sides and Brazil.
Allowing 20 teams from Europe make the World Cup Finals tournament would be politically unsatisfactory for FIFA but would lead to a better quality tournament in my opinion. It will never happen though.
- improving australian football longer term is hard. The best players in the world all play in Europe so the aim for the A league should be to get as many Australian players over there as possible. Japanese football has shown what is possible to some extent. Competition with AFL and NRL mean football will never really access the best sporting talent in Australia and maybe that’s just the way it is. You can’t be good at everything.

 

[Dale147]

That other JL

 

[Square Peg]

Interesting discussion here. I’m a big football fan as well as AFL. A few points to add

• people having a go at the Socceroos for not doing better against France need to get a grip. There is monstrous gulf in class, it’s hard to contextualise for a non fan. Not a single player in the Socceroos team would make the French squad of 26. They could probably pick another 26 players in France and you still would not take anyone from the australia squad.
• I saw Peter Fitzsimmons complaining the team didn’t show any “have a go ya mug” type Aussie spirit. What a fool. Unlike many other sports the game is far too technical to allow a gap in class to be bridged by extra effort and passion and physicality. The cold hard facts are that the French would play though them and just pick them off with superior skills and it would have been a 7 or 8 goal humiliation.
• Square Peg wondered how Australia made it to the World Cup. It’s because of a grossly imbalanced qualification system. In saying that beating Peru was a decent achievement for the Socceroos. But the fact is that the vast majority of the worlds best sides are in Europe. Just 13 or 14 teams from Europe make the 32 in the World Cup. Qualification is cut throat and intense and every tournament good teams miss out. Italy, the European champions failed to qualify for example!! By contrast you have to be pretty damn atrocious not to qualify from Asia.

I would say a good 22 of the worlds best 32 teams are from Europe and you can add Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and the USA (who have improved significantly I must say). Africa generally has a couple of good sides too each year but it fluctuates and they are not at the level of the top end European sides and Brazil.
Allowing 20 teams from Europe make the World Cup Finals tournament would be politically unsatisfactory for FIFA but would lead to a better quality tournament in my opinion. It will never happen though.
- improving australian football longer term is hard. The best players in the world all play in Europe so the aim for the A league should be to get as many Australian players over there as possible. Japanese football has shown what is possible to some extent. Competition with AFL and NRL mean football will never really access the best sporting talent in Australia and maybe that’s just the way it is. You can’t be good at everything.

I am well aware of the distorted qualifying system. The biggest joke isn't Asia getting 4.5, it's North and Central America getting 3.5, basically to make sure the US is in every world cup so they maximise TV rights.
The fact remains we were lucky to get through UAE and Peru after missing direct qualification.

 

[Joao]

Interesting discussion here. I’m a big football fan as well as AFL. A few points to add

• people having a go at the Socceroos for not doing better against France need to get a grip. There is monstrous gulf in class, it’s hard to contextualise for a non fan. Not a single player in the Socceroos team would make the French squad of 26. They could probably pick another 26 players in France and you still would not take anyone from the australia squad.
• I saw Peter Fitzsimmons complaining the team didn’t show any “have a go ya mug” type Aussie spirit. What a fool. Unlike many other sports the game is far too technical to allow a gap in class to be bridged by extra effort and passion and physicality. The cold hard facts are that the French would play though them and just pick them off with superior skills and it would have been a 7 or 8 goal humiliation.
• Square Peg wondered how Australia made it to the World Cup. It’s because of a grossly imbalanced qualification system. In saying that beating Peru was a decent achievement for the Socceroos. But the fact is that the vast majority of the worlds best sides are in Europe. Just 13 or 14 teams from Europe make the 32 in the World Cup. Qualification is cut throat and intense and every tournament good teams miss out. Italy, the European champions failed to qualify for example!! By contrast you have to be pretty damn atrocious not to qualify from Asia.

I would say a good 22 of the worlds best 32 teams are from Europe and you can add Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and the USA (who have improved significantly I must say). Africa generally has a couple of good sides too each year but it fluctuates and they are not at the level of the top end European sides and Brazil.
Allowing 20 teams from Europe make the World Cup Finals tournament would be politically unsatisfactory for FIFA but would lead to a better quality tournament in my opinion. It will never happen though.
- improving australian football longer term is hard. The best players in the world all play in Europe so the aim for the A league should be to get as many Australian players over there as possible. Japanese football has shown what is possible to some extent. Competition with AFL and NRL mean football will never really access the best sporting talent in Australia and maybe that’s just the way it is. You can’t be good at everything.

Just to emphasis this, I suspect France has at least 50 players better than our best current player. As would Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany etc...

Our best all time players are probably squad depth in most of those nations cup teams if they made the squad at all. Cahill I reckon gets a gig in most squads just because he offers something different and was a good big game player, but even someone like Kewell would be up against it getting a game.

We are trash at Soccer with the exception of our 2006 team which was decent.

 

[masai tu]

Interesting discussion here. I’m a big football fan as well as AFL. A few points to add

• people having a go at the Socceroos for not doing better against France need to get a grip. There is monstrous gulf in class, it’s hard to contextualise for a non fan. Not a single player in the Socceroos team would make the French squad of 26. They could probably pick another 26 players in France and you still would not take anyone from the australia squad.
• I saw Peter Fitzsimmons complaining the team didn’t show any “have a go ya mug” type Aussie spirit. What a fool. Unlike many other sports the game is far too technical to allow a gap in class to be bridged by extra effort and passion and physicality. The cold hard facts are that the French would play though them and just pick them off with superior skills and it would have been a 7 or 8 goal humiliation.
• Square Peg wondered how Australia made it to the World Cup. It’s because of a grossly imbalanced qualification system. In saying that beating Peru was a decent achievement for the Socceroos. But the fact is that the vast majority of the worlds best sides are in Europe. Just 13 or 14 teams from Europe make the 32 in the World Cup. Qualification is cut throat and intense and every tournament good teams miss out. Italy, the European champions failed to qualify for example!! By contrast you have to be pretty damn atrocious not to qualify from Asia.

I would say a good 22 of the worlds best 32 teams are from Europe and you can add Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and the USA (who have improved significantly I must say). Africa generally has a couple of good sides too each year but it fluctuates and they are not at the level of the top end European sides and Brazil.
Allowing 20 teams from Europe make the World Cup Finals tournament would be politically unsatisfactory for FIFA but would lead to a better quality tournament in my opinion. It will never happen though.
- improving australian football longer term is hard. The best players in the world all play in Europe so the aim for the A league should be to get as many Australian players over there as possible. Japanese football has shown what is possible to some extent. Competition with AFL and NRL mean football will never really access the best sporting talent in Australia and maybe that’s just the way it is. You can’t be good at everything.

Quick query Dockeroo.

Back in the early 2000’s, we had a large number of the players in the Aussie team, playing in overseas leagues (some top grade). From memory, there was only 2 or 3 coming from the local league.

From my understanding, in the current team, very few play in overseas league’s.

Why has this occurred ?.

 

[gaskin]

Quick query Dockeroo.

Back in the early 2000’s, we had a large number of the players in the Aussie team, playing in overseas leagues (some top grade). From memory, there was only 2 or 3 coming from the local league.

From my understanding, in the current team, very few play in overseas league’s.

Why has this occurred ?.

Essentially the lack of developmental pathways. The removal of the FFA Center of Excellence (national youth academy) is the really big one but also the lack of opportunities for young players to gain experience in the A-League. Teams have been reluctant to play kids over the last decade or so and the teams that do are really only doing it because they are near the bottom of the table and have nothing to lose or because they have a young player that is just that damn good they can't not play them (Garang Kuol at Central Coast for example). If you look at the old NSL, a lot of the great names of the past came through the NSL and gained a lot of experience before moving overseas. These days, young players that show some ability are moving at 18/19 years of age with little experience then coming back a couple of years later with their tails between their legs. They are having their heads turned by the prospect of moving to Europe long before they are ready.

Another reason if we look at junior level is the cost. The cost to play for kids is ridiculously high at quite a lot of clubs (some clubs it is in the thousands of dollars per year) as they use the junior fees to pay for both their senior mens team and maintenance and upgrades to the facilities. The sport has the highest participation rate of any sport in this country by a large margin yet gets a miniscule amount of federal funding compared to the other sports. These clubs have to come up with money somehow and the only real avenue they have is charging higher fees. We have a ridiculous number of immigrants in this country (especially from countries where it is their national sport) and we should be encouraging them to get their kids playing but a lot of them are priced out of it.


Those are 2 big reasons why the talent is lacking but there are so many more I could have listed as well.

 

[Spirit Level]

Australia has a small population and is already dominated by AFL, Cricket and Olympic sports.

Unfortunately unless there is a huge cultural shift towards football we're never going to be a big player on the world stage.

2006 was a fun aberration but definitely won't become the norm

 

[Outshined]

Always makes me laugh when fans (no one here, just casual Aussie soccer fans in general) get angry at the coach/team for not attacking arguably the best side in the world for 90 minutes straight. Arnold isn't exactly an awe-inspiring manager but he's got a pretty rough hand.

We've done pretty well just to get there and make up the numbers given the state of the game in an already small (numbers wise) country. Huge dearth of talent and it's not going to improve given the issues with grassroots football. Union's experiencing similar issues and that's a far more culturally entrenched sport. The best Aussie fans can realistically hope for is that we fluke another golden generation piggybacking off other development pathways.

 

[anchor man]

Always makes me laugh when fans (no one here, just casual Aussie soccer fans in general) get angry at the coach/team for not attacking arguably the best side in the world for 90 minutes straight. Arnold isn't exactly an awe-inspiring manager but he's got a pretty rough hand.

We've done pretty well just to get there and make up the numbers given the state of the game in an already small (numbers wise) country. Huge dearth of talent and it's not going to improve given the issues with grassroots football. Union's experiencing similar issues and that's a far more culturally entrenched sport. The best Aussie fans can realistically hope for is that we fluke another golden generation piggybacking off other development pathways.

Exactly right.
I am no way a soccer fan, but do watch our team when we play. But have tried to watch three games so far, obviously not Aussie games.I even forgot thaey were playing.
But I have found the games BABS. Hopefully the further into the competition, the better the games will get.

 

[Docker82]

Interesting discussion here. I’m a big football fan as well as AFL. A few points to add

• people having a go at the Socceroos for not doing better against France need to get a grip. There is monstrous gulf in class, it’s hard to contextualise for a non fan. Not a single player in the Socceroos team would make the French squad of 26. They could probably pick another 26 players in France and you still would not take anyone from the australia squad.
• I saw Peter Fitzsimmons complaining the team didn’t show any “have a go ya mug” type Aussie spirit. What a fool. Unlike many other sports the game is far too technical to allow a gap in class to be bridged by extra effort and passion and physicality. The cold hard facts are that the French would play though them and just pick them off with superior skills and it would have been a 7 or 8 goal humiliation.
• Square Peg wondered how Australia made it to the World Cup. It’s because of a grossly imbalanced qualification system. In saying that beating Peru was a decent achievement for the Socceroos. But the fact is that the vast majority of the worlds best sides are in Europe. Just 13 or 14 teams from Europe make the 32 in the World Cup. Qualification is cut throat and intense and every tournament good teams miss out. Italy, the European champions failed to qualify for example!! By contrast you have to be pretty damn atrocious not to qualify from Asia.

I would say a good 22 of the worlds best 32 teams are from Europe and you can add Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and the USA (who have improved significantly I must say). Africa generally has a couple of good sides too each year but it fluctuates and they are not at the level of the top end European sides and Brazil.
Allowing 20 teams from Europe make the World Cup Finals tournament would be politically unsatisfactory for FIFA but would lead to a better quality tournament in my opinion. It will never happen though.
- improving australian football longer term is hard. The best players in the world all play in Europe so the aim for the A league should be to get as many Australian players over there as possible. Japanese football has shown what is possible to some extent. Competition with AFL and NRL mean football will never really access the best sporting talent in Australia and maybe that’s just the way it is. You can’t be good at everything.

I’m in a hotel room about to leave to watch us play Tunisia. We start as underdogs against a country most on here probably haven’t heard of. That’s reality regardless of what the Aussie media want to say.

Agree with everything above. Think France could pick more than 52 players (two squads) before you pick an Australian player tbh. Whether the first player player picked gets in the 3rd, 4th, 5th squads or even further back than that I don’t know. Reality is no one in our squad is good enough to play in France’s Ligue 1, which has 20 teams made up of players from right around the world but a lot of French players.

FIFA has expanded the WC to 48 teams next tournament. Little of those spots have gone to Europe unfortunately. They’re going the opposite way instead and diversifying where the teams are from. It’s criminal Italy (champions of Europe) can’t make to this World Cup and little is being done to rectify that sort of thing happening yet teams like Jordan, UAE or even Qatar (as a non host) are in with a decent chance of making it next time.

 

[mattis117]

I’m in a hotel room about to leave to watch us play Tunisia. We start as underdogs against a country most on here probably haven’t heard of. That’s reality regardless of what the Aussie media want to say.

Agree with everything above. Think France could pick more than 52 players (two squads) before you pick an Australian player tbh. Whether the first player player picked gets in the 3rd, 4th, 5th squads or even further back than that I don’t know. Reality is no one in our squad is good enough to play in France’s Ligue 1, which has 20 teams made up of players from right around the world but a lot of French players.

FIFA has expanded the WC to 48 teams next tournament. Little of those spots have gone to Europe unfortunately. They’re going the opposite way instead and diversifying where the teams are from. It’s criminal Italy (champions of Europe) can’t make to this World Cup and little is being done to rectify that sort of thing happening yet teams like Jordan, UAE or even Qatar (as a non host) are in with a decent chance of making it next time.

It's hilarious watching Qatar stink it up, so far off the level and get the free entry pass. Getting what they deserved, the first team eliminated from their own tournament.