World Cup 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup (Round of 16) - On SBS

[Pakenhamsaint]

All Melbourne clubs playing away the week it returns from the world cup.... dumb fixturing in an otherwise solid season.

Victory don't even have a home game until the new year

 

[Cruyff14]

Pretty self explanatory. It's a soccer board, I'm talking soccer.
People don't like it when someone from outside the little club has an opinion about the sport.

I don't understand how it's self explanatory? If the board sucks why do you bother hanging around?

 

[OniAu]

It is, but Olympic Medals are held in higher regard. Even the US usually send a B team to the WC.

Yeah true . Not Lebron etc etc. But still they sent some all stars. Mitchell , Tatum. Plus all players were in the NBA , not like they do in the qualifying process like even Boomers do.

They finished 7th last time lol

 

[OniAu]

Is that a thing? never heard of it

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

Yeah will be worth a watch. Giddey, Green , Daniels. Landale all have NBA experience. Add that to Mills, possibly Ingles. Then a few other handy Aussies , should be good viewing!

Simmons will be a no show.

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Is too much to hope for a boost for Melbourne City crowds and memberships, especially the heroic goal of Matt Leckie against the Danes ?

You can say many things about my A League club, but surely it's a good thing we have been mainly trying to build our club and culture with mostly home grown talent, with only a couple of decent foreign imports who don't qualify for true superstar or marquee status ?

By contrast, look at Nani for Melbourne Victory, whom aside from a glimpse or two of brilliance, has been pretty disappointing for the Vuck ...

One thing that is heartening about our Socceroos campaign is proof that The A League is becoming a world class tier football league.

Can't wait for it to start up again.

 

[JT_the_Man]

It is, but Olympic Medals are held in higher regard. Even the US usually send a B team to the WC.

The plus side of that is it opens up the field. Every other country is still generally just about at full strength.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Remember all the discussions about it at the time, for all the non football people it was “he dived”
For those of us who knew the game, it was “WTF was Neil thinking?”

Lucas never thought. Vastly overrated player.

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Yeah true . Not Lebron etc etc. But still they sent some all stars. Mitchell , Tatum. Plus all players were in the NBA , not like they do in the qualifying process like even Boomers do.

They finished 7th last time lol

The rise of International Basketball IMO arguably started after the USA Dream at the 1992 Olympics, the greatest team of talent that has ever been or will be assembled in any sporting team), which captured the entire world's imagination, especially in Europe and South America.

They are potty about Hoops in traditional football mad nations like Argentina, Spain etc

There has never been a richer, more talented pool of non American/USA Pro Basketballers than there has been now ghe e next most likely projected once in a Generation NBA/Global basketball talent is France's Victor Wembanyama

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Another reason why football will always face problems in Australia:



On the day when tens of thousands of people were watching a football match live at 5am in the middle of cities, which has never happened for any other sport, the front page in Australia’s sporting capital was - round one AFL fixtures in 4 months time. Plus a bit of cricket and basketball on the side. Obviously planned and timed by the AFL and Herald Sun to steal the Socceroos thunder.

No mention of the World Cup. There are some in the media and other sporting fraternity who would be popping champagne on the Socceroos loss, so they can bury them in public consciousness for another 12 years hopefully.

All about the money and self interest. Foxtel has no rights to the round ball game except for what you see on BeIN sports. But they have a big stake in the AFL.

Even when Foxtel had the rights to the A-League, it was a much smaller investment than the News Corp investment in AFL. It's disappointing but not surprising.

Matildas play one game in Melbourne next year at the Women's World Cup and there are no games in Melbourne after the quarter finals. An absolute joke, especially as the Victory and City have been among the more successful women's football clubs in the W-League and A-League Women's competitions.

No doubt that there was lobbying behind the scenes to the Victorian Government from the AFL and associated interests seeking to minimise the involvement of Melbourne hosting games.

 

[krakouers]

Lucas never thought. Vastly overrated player.

Nah he wasn’t bad for Blackburn… he just was at a level most people thought he was… Championship/Lower Prem level full back

 

[Punchy Bassett]

Is too much to hope for a boost for Melbourne City crowds and memberships, especially the heroic goal of Matt Leckie against the Danes ?

You can say many things about my A League club, but surely it's a good thing we have been mainly trying to build our club and culture with mostly home grown talent, with only a couple of decent foreign imports who don't qualify for true superstar or marquee status ?

By contrast, look at Nani for Melbourne Victory, whom aside from a glimpse or two of brilliance, has been pretty disappointing for the Vuck ...

One thing that is heartening about our Socceroos campaign is proof that The A League is becoming a world class tier football league.

Can't wait for it to start up again.

You want a home grown talent local club it's Adelaide United

 

[bok_party]

I thought I’d have another look again, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen it, I get where they are coming from:
View attachment 1567209
After he beats Brescy though he does head towards the line and Neil had to cover towards him
View attachment 1567210
I get Neil may have not know the man may have not been covered but we had CB to cover them, he should still be tracking Grossi to the line

Even if you don’t know what’s behind you, you stay in your feet. As a centre back myself, if someone has the ball from that position, you place yourself on the 6 yard line to cut crosses/shots out whilst stepping out to them. If he shoots from there, your keeper should be covering near post to cut that out.

Always easy to say in hindsight and the players were obviously fatigued but he made a bad decision - no doubts in my mind.

 

[SM]

You want a home grown talent local club it's Adelaide United

I reckon half the talent he thinks City nurtured really started at United.

 

[krakouers]

Even if you don’t know what’s behind you, you stay in your feet. As a centre back myself, if someone has the ball from that position, you place yourself on the 6 yard line to cut crosses/shots out whilst stepping out to them. If he shoots from there, your keeper should be covering near post to cut that out.

Always easy to say in hindsight and the players were obviously fatigued but he made a bad decision - no doubts in my mind.

As a former full back
A) Thank you for your service
B) exactly

 

[Elmer_Judd]

You want a home grown talent local club it's Adelaide United

Matt Leckie is Melbourne born mate.

Also Craig Goodwin started his Professional aka A League career at Melbourne Heart.

Regardless I do approve of clubs like yours, mine and esp Central Coast Mariners who tend to try Foster and develop local (or at least Aussie) talent more than try go for sexy, big foreign marquee stars.

I would argue the only truly successful Star international Marquee player who lived up to his reputation in the A League was Alessandro Del Piero.

I get frustrated when I read comments from the likes of Vince Rugari (an intelligent and decent football and sports pundit for the most part) suggests A League clubs should break the bank for aging global Euro League stars who are looking to top up their super by finishing their careers in America or China (on big pay days)

The product is good enough as it is now, better marketing and TV/Streaming coverage (especially on Free to Air) will go a long way to boost crowds (well in my opinion)

I have been going to A League gamea every since Melbourne Heart started up, and the league is as good/elite a competition talent that's its ever been.

 

[Topkent]

I don't understand how it's self explanatory? If the board sucks why do you bother hanging around?

It sucks because of stupid petty questions like this.

 

[RPCB]

Remember all the discussions about it at the time, for all the non football people it was “he dived”
For those of us who knew the game, it was “WTF was Neil thinking?”

It was a bad decision by Neil. We shouldn’t forget Viduka just getting into it with Gattuso and not closing down the defender with the ball. Had he done that, the ball is never passed to Totti, who then plays the ball to Grosso. Two bad decisions cost us in the end.

 

[Sausages]

If you want to capitalise on this WC, do what Qatar did.....

.....pay campaigners to show up

The A- League is and always will be nothing more than a feeder league. Our best have no choice but to head overseas and hence people always feel that they are watching "the next best". And its hard to argue when you watch EPL etc.

I think our best bet is to look at our close neighbours, get rep football for the A-League based players more regularly - think Trans-Tasman annually, Vietnam, Thailand for starters. Japan and South Korea are of course no-brainers.

People don't care about football as much as they care about the national team. The Socceroos are forever left at the altar in the nation's psyche in the months following a major tournament, only to emerge like a scripted villain in pre-ordained fashion.

I think most people accept where we are at in terms of football and I can't ever see it dramatically changing. Consider, if the Socceroos were playing a WC qualifier at the same time as your footy team was playing the last round with a finals spot up for grabs....what would you watch? Most of us would watch the better game, to be fair...and that's probably more likely to be the footy game, rather than the football game.

We'll always have a footprint of varying size. But, if we want to make some inroads....look at more Socceroos matches with nearby countries. If they aren't a typically strong opponent, use the best of the domestic players. For NZ, see if we can schedule something that perhaps brings in overseas players. Perhaps an annual one-off match against the USA in Hawaii, again for both nation's domestic players.

The Socceroos have a solid brand and good pulling power - that's the barrow to push.

 

[giggler99]

A competition that happens once every 4 years. Wow better invest trillions

You know there's a thing called the Asian Cup too? Wow imagine investing in a global sport, what a rubbish idea, it'll never catch on.

Not to forget the World Cup qualifiers are just as important as the finals itself.

 

[SM]

If you want to capitalise on this WC, do what Qatar did.....

.....pay campaigners to show up

The A- League is and always will be nothing more than a feeder league. Our best have no choice but to head overseas and hence people always feel that they are watching "the next best". And its hard to argue when you watch EPL etc.

I think our best bet is to look at our close neighbours, get rep football for the A-League based players more regularly - think Trans-Tasman annually, Vietnam, Thailand for starters. Japan and South Korea are of course no-brainers.

People don't care about football as much as they care about the national team. The Socceroos are forever left at the altar in the nation's psyche in the months following a major tournament, only to emerge like a scripted villain in pre-ordained fashion.

I think most people accept where we are at in terms of football and I can't ever see it dramatically changing. Consider, if the Socceroos were playing a WC qualifier at the same time as your footy team was playing the last round with a finals spot up for grabs....what would you watch? Most of us would watch the better game, to be fair...and that's probably more likely to be the footy game, rather than the football game.

We'll always have a footprint of varying size. But, if we want to make some inroads....look at more Socceroos matches with nearby countries. If they aren't a typically strong opponent, use the best of the domestic players. For NZ, see if we can schedule something that perhaps brings in overseas players. Perhaps an annual one-off match against the USA in Hawaii, again for both nation's domestic players.

The Socceroos have a solid brand and good pulling power - that's the barrow to push.

If only the 'best' league is worth watching, then why does the Championship get such strong attendances?

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Not to forget the World Cup qualifiers are just as important as the finals itself.

The problem with World Cup qualifiers right now in Australia (and internationals generally) is I think Sydney gets way too many of them

Not speaking only as a so called Jilted Melbournian either, other capital cities in Australia with a large football football community, like Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth have suffered because of the FFA's imo arrogant and delusional money makinf decision to host most Socceroos games here in Australia in Sydney over the last 5-10 years.

They need to start spreading our Socceroos more evenly around the country imo.

 

[FourthTimeAround]

Whilst Grosso embellishes the contact, Neill gave him the opportunity by diving in. If he stands on his feet, there’s far less chance of them scoring there.

If you watch the earlier games that tournament, Neill dived in a fair bit inside the penalty area successfully.
Very clearly the Italians saw that and waited for it.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Netherlands, then likely Brazil, then one of France/England/Spain/Portugal to win it. I don’t like their chances but if they do win it they’ll have earned it.

Netherlands don't win anything

 

[Zidane98]

If you want to capitalise on this WC, do what Qatar did.....

.....pay campaigners to show up

The A- League is and always will be nothing more than a feeder league. Our best have no choice but to head overseas and hence people always feel that they are watching "the next best". And its hard to argue when you watch EPL etc.

I think our best bet is to look at our close neighbours, get rep football for the A-League based players more regularly - think Trans-Tasman annually, Vietnam, Thailand for starters. Japan and South Korea are of course no-brainers.

People don't care about football as much as they care about the national team. The Socceroos are forever left at the altar in the nation's psyche in the months following a major tournament, only to emerge like a scripted villain in pre-ordained fashion.

I think most people accept where we are at in terms of football and I can't ever see it dramatically changing. Consider, if the Socceroos were playing a WC qualifier at the same time as your footy team was playing the last round with a finals spot up for grabs....what would you watch? Most of us would watch the better game, to be fair...and that's probably more likely to be the footy game, rather than the football game.

We'll always have a footprint of varying size. But, if we want to make some inroads....look at more Socceroos matches with nearby countries. If they aren't a typically strong opponent, use the best of the domestic players. For NZ, see if we can schedule something that perhaps brings in overseas players. Perhaps an annual one-off match against the USA in Hawaii, again for both nation's domestic players.

The Socceroos have a solid brand and good pulling power - that's the barrow to push.

Nothing wrong with the absolute top tier talents heading overseas after establishing themselves (G Kuol).


We just gotta ensure no players are playing in Asia with the exception of J / K leagues and that we attract all Soccerooos returning home towards the end of their career.

Add in a few high quality marquees plus a few more quality visa players (think Fred MVFC 2006/07) and we have a quality league that anyone who has a genuine interest in the sport will likely attend.


As for choice of watching on TV -had this scenario in Korea - Japan 2002.

Believe that the Brazil - Germany final on prime time Sunday evening out rated even the AFL Grand Final that year with over 3 million viewers. We are very much a soccer nation.

 

[lewdogs]

Soccer is hard to follow unless you're really invested. That's why the World Cup is so popular, there is so much riding on each game and even if the game is low quality it's still tense.

I've tried to get into the A league a few times but I've just found it really hard to get properly invested in a team. And if you don't have that it's not a great league to watch, and that's taking nothing away from the fact that it's obviously a half decent league judging by our performance at the World Cup.

I'm not sure the A league has to be much bigger than it is now though. As others have cited look at the NBL. This World Cup may actually prove that the A league is moving in the right direction. As a league it has improved a lot and continues to improve in my opinion.