Socceroos (Graham Arnold and) The Socceroos Thread

[TubbsFarquhar]

14 November - Jordan (A)

Jordan . Guaranteed loss there.

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

South Korea and North Korea in the same group .

 

[giggler99]

Apart from Jordan the rest of the group should be a piece of cake even for Arnold.

 

[giggler99]

South Korea and North Korea in the same group .

Iran Iraq too! tasty.

 

[giggler99]

So according to Wikipedia our draw is
10 September - Kuwait (A)
10 October - Nepal (H)
15 October - Taipei (A)
14 November - Jordan (A)
26 March - Kuwait (H)
31 March - Nepal (A)
4 June - Taipei (H)
9 June - Jordan (H)

The Copa America is due to start on June 12!

I’m sure there could be a case of rescheduling Before the offical fixtures are released.

 

[ioppolo]

That is some seriously rigged grouping. Both Iran/Iraq AND North Korea/South Korea in the same groups?

Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia all in the same group?

Japan literally has a group of minnows.

Qatar has one of the easiest groups.

Meanwhile we get two trips to the middle east and a trip to the Himalayas.

 

[nobbyiscool]

That is some seriously rigged grouping. Both Iran/Iraq AND North Korea/South Korea in the same groups?

The notion that you'd rig a draw and put these countries in the same group is among the most moronic things I've ever read on BF, and there's plenty of inglorious competition.

 

[ioppolo]

The notion that you'd rig a draw and put these countries in the same group is among the most moronic things I've ever read on BF, and there's plenty of inglorious competition.

The countries involved don't have to be in on it. The AFC would do anything for some extra cash.

 

[nobbyiscool]

The countries involved don't have to be in on it. The AFC would do anything for some extra cash.

In the case of the Korean derby, both games will almost definitely have to be played on neutral territory. I'm not sure how an empty stadium in Japan or Vietnam equates to extra cash.

 

[Macpotata]

Sensational Doco.

Memories, spine tingling, fu**en pearler!!!!



watch that if you haven't seen it.

 

[ioppolo]

AFC qualifying is now underway and out first match is next Tuesday night 11.30pm WA time, so early Wednesday for everyone else. Kuwait, our opponents, beat Nepal 7-0.

 

[giggler99]

Leckie bags brace as Socceroos cruise past Kuwait | The World Game

Australia missed out on hosting the tournament, which was controversially awarded to Qatar, but they are determined to extend their proud qualifying record, having reached each of the last four tournaments.
The Socceroos were jolted by their 1-0 quarter-final defeat to the United Arab Emirates in the Asian Cup in January, and an inexperienced line-up then lost by the same score in a friendly against Korea Republic in June.
Head coach Graham Arnold came in after last year's World Cup in Russia, where Australia tumbled out in the group stage, and now is the time the former Sydney FC boss must deliver.
This was perhaps not the match to judge him by, with Australia giving a perfunctory performance against limited opponents who resorted in the second half to dishing out some rough treatment.
Australia snatched a seventh-minute lead with a scrappy goal, Jackson Irvine's undercooked left-footed volley striking teammate Adam Taggart first and then bouncing into the net off Leckie.
They were facing a side that beat Nepal 7-0 in their opening second-round Group B qualifier last week - begging the question of how many Australia might score when they come to face the Himalayan side next month.
Kuwait worked hard but carried little threat, and Irvine and Taggart both spurned chances before the second goal arrived for Australia on the half-hour mark.
Aaron Mooy's corner from the right found Irvine beyond the far post, and he nodded down towards the six-yard box for Leckie to smash home from close range for his second goal.
Irvine whistled a shot just wide from 15 yards when he perhaps should have done better, before Mooy grabbed the third goal for the Socceroos in the 38th minute, rifling a 22-yard shot into the top corner as the home side failed to clear their lines.
The second half was rather a non-event, Hussain Al Moussawi and Yousef Naser threatening consolation goals for Kuwait but unable to find a way past Mat Ryan.
What does it mean? Australia get the job done
If anything, Australia emerge with credit for never looking in danger. Previous Socceroos teams have made a bad habit of losing an away qualifier to supposedly vastly inferior opposition. That was never on the cards.
Generation game
As their cricketing countrymen would agree, success can be cyclical. The men in baggy green endured a rocky patch or two before hitting their current Ashes high, and the Socceroos are undoubtedly a work in progress, their followers waiting for this generation to prove they have what it takes to be high achievers.
Their squad looks perhaps as strong as ever, with a large number playing at a high level in Europe, but as a team they have yet to fully click.
Mooy the merrier
Mooy has seen precious little Premier League action since moving from Huddersfield Town to Brighton and Hove Albion, but he was the linchpin of the Australia side in this game and his exquisite strike was just reward.
He might not have the flair of a Harry Kewell or the instinctive nose for goal of Tim Cahill, despite his screamer on this occasion, but Mooy can be pivotal over this campaign.
What's next?
Australia welcome Nepal to Canberra on October 10 and can surely fill their boots with goals. Kuwait go to Jordan on the same day.

Leckie bags brace as Socceroos cruise past Kuwait | The World Game

Mathew Leckie scored twice as Australia coasted to a 3-0 victory over Kuwait, launching their mission to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

theworldgame.sbs.com.au

 

[giggler99]

Click for Highlights

Kuwait vs Australia Highlights

MATCH INFO - Kuwait vs Australia Highlights Watch Kuwait vs Australia Highlights Start date: 10. Sep 2019, 16:30 Location: Kuwait City Venue: Jaber

highlightsfootball.com

 

[darko]

That was a game where previously we would've played a boring 0-0 draw.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Yeah I thought it was pretty good considering the conditions. Bossed them in the first half then slowed up but that was fair enough given the heat. Mooy very good, Taggart missed some chances but at least put himself about. We should hammer Nepal and Taipei based on the first two match days.

 

[giggler99]

Lack of structure hurting Australian players, says Socceroos boss Arnold | The World Game

The squad which beat Uruguay to reach the 2006 World Cup finals boasted 16 players competing in the top leagues of Europe.
That total included established Premier League players Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Mark Schwarzer, Brett Emerton and Lucas Neill as well as Spanish-based John Aloisi and Italian-based Mark Bresciano.
In contrast Arnold's squad which faced Nepal and Taiwan in World Cup qualifiers last month had just two Premier League players - Brighton pair Mat Ryan and Aaron Mooy - as well as Bundesliga-based Mathew Leckie and Brendan Borrello.
Most of Arnold's players are plying their trade in lower-ranked European leagues such as the Scottish Premiership, England's lower-tiers or in Asia.
Arnold says it's no coincidence Australian players have struggled to make their mark in Europe's top leagues since the Crawford Report led to the overhaul of the game's administration and the foundation of the A-League in 2005.
"I've put those types of details to the board and to a lot of people because in the 35 years I've been involved in the game at national team level, from 1983 to 2003 we had the structure right but no money," Arnold said.
"From 2005 to today we've had the money but not the right structure."
Australia's players' union released a study into the 'Golden Generation' last month.
The study found common factors such as playing backyard soccer at a young age, early exposure to senior football and connection to a particular club were common factors in the development of the pool of talent born between 1972 and 1984.
The report follows 2017's Player Pathway study which had among its findings a lack of professional minutes for young players being a big part of their stunted development.
Arnold has made a point of emphasising to players they will face the axe from his Socceroos setup if they are not regularly starting at their clubs.
His son-in-law Trent Sainsbury has recently completed a move to Israel's Maccabi Haifa after being frozen out at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.
Australia's brightest talent - playmaker Daniel Arzani - has also been warned by Arnold he may need to seek a new club if he can't break into Celtic's first team before January following his return from a serious knee injury.
"As long as the boys are playing minutes, and playing a lot of minutes in club land, that's the most important thing for me," Arnold said.

Lack of structure hurting Australian players, says Socceroos boss Arnold | The World Game

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold believes a lack of structure, not finances, has resulted in Australia's top talent failing to hit the heights of the 'Golden Generation'.

theworldgame.sbs.com.au

Can't say I disagree with Arnold, where did it all go wrong? I also think the move into Asia hasn't help either, sure we get more competitive matches qualifying for the World Cup and I wouldn't have it any other way but at the some time it's made it easier for players to just take the big pay cheque in say thee middle east or China than to go to Europe and do the hard yards like the golden generation, but no doubt our stocks sure is limited. Thoughts?

 

[gaskin]

Where it all started to go wrong was losing the Center of Excellence or whatever it was called. Instead of giving extra training with some of the best coaches we have to the best young players in the country, the development has been left up to the clubs.

 

[Holden Hillbilly]

In what well could be a defining moment for Australian football — the brightest prospect in the A-League wants to be a Socceroo. Adelaide United young gun Al Hassan Toure, who won the Mark Viduka medal as the best player in the FFA Cup final, was qualified to turn out for Liberia or Guinea but has instead opted to represent Australia.

 

[ioppolo]

If those were your options you'd also choose Australia if you could.

 

[Holden Hillbilly]

The countries involved don't have to be in on it. The AFC would do anything for some extra cash.

North and South Korea played in an empty stadium in the North for a 0-0 draw. No money or glory.

 

[giggler99]

International realities outweigh domestic issues for Arnold's Socceroos | The World Game

By John Duerden

This is, in itself, not a big deal but when you lead a national team like Australia then there are going to be, from time to time, certain issues when it comes to international players and their domestic playing time, or lack of it.
What happens when a country’s international players are not being selected by club coaches?
If they are crucial players for the national team then the usual answer is ‘not that much’.
It may not be the official answer, of course. The received wisdom is that players need mach fitness, sharpness and all the rest of it and while this may be true, it usually doesn't matter.
It is easy for national team managers to say - and it has been said many times in Asia - that all players must be playing regularly for their clubs if they want to represent their country.
It sounds good and it makes sense but when it comes down to it, most tacticians leave their stars alone.
Socceroos bosses have more to deal with than most. With FIFA World Cups, AFC Asian Cups and Olympics etc taking place in June/July/August, any A-League player is not going to have played competitive football for some time. Same with some qualification games.
And then some of the best A-League players leave. Sending talent to the best club competitions in the world is a positive.
An Australia side crammed with stars active in some of the biggest leagues in the world came within a Fabio Grosso dive and then a Francesco Totti penalty of a place in the last eight of the 2006 World Cup and that was a team full of players active in the biggest leagues in the world.
In a perfect world, Australia’s players will be starting at the top levels of world football under grateful club coaches who give them just enough rest against the smaller teams in their leagues to not be completely exhausted when they report for international duty.
Ahead of the crunch 2022 World Cup qualifier in Jordan next Thursday, it could have been the perfect warm-up to have Rogic starring for Celtic in a historic win against Lazio in Rome. Instead, he was left out.
But then it doesn’t really matter. In most cases, if a player is important enough to his country then he will be picked, regardless of what is happening at club level.
When Aaron Mooy sat out the start of the Premier League season, there was no clamour to have the midfielder sit out the start of World Cup qualification too.
Tim Cahill went to the 2018 World Cup despite playing something like a game and a half of league football in the previous 12 months.
In Asia, Son Heung-min is always going to be picked by Korea Republic regardless of what is happening at Spurs.
Park Ji-sung was always selected by the Taeguk Warriors even if he was not by the Red Devils despite coaches such as Dick Advocaat and Pim Verbeek stressing publicly the need for regular club action.
Park went to the 2006 World Cup despite not being fit. So did Wayne Rooney of England, following in the crocked footsteps of David Beckham four years earlier.
Neither was fit and it showed. Mauricio Pochettino did something similar with Harry Kane in the UEFA Champions League final in June.
Unusual is the coach that leaves out stars for vital games but then Vahid Halilhodzic is unusual. During the Bosnian’s time in charge of Japan, he dropped the likes of Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki.
None of them were in their prime and there were other dynamics at play but it would have been interesting to see what the fiery Halilhodzic would have done at the 2018 World Cup.
We’ll never know as his relations with the senior players is a big reason why he lost his job just weeks before the Samurai Blue headed off to Russia.
Graham Arnold is a little more pragmatic.

International realities outweigh domestic issues for Arnold's Socceroos | The World Game

Tom Rogic didn’t play midweek as Celtic picked up a famous win at the Rome home of Lazio. Australia coach Graham Arnold does not know why.

theworldgame.sbs.com.au

 

[craigos]

If people think the clubs give a rats about having players in decent fitness and form for international matches they are complete ******s. The World Game is a steaming pile of sh*t these days.

 

[darko]

If people think the clubs give a rats about having players in decent fitness and form for international matches they are complete ******s. The World Game is a steaming pile of sh*t these days.

Lot of the blame is on the players. I mean how often do you see a promising player going to the bigger club only to sit on the bench. Maybe cast your ego aside and go somewhere where you will play regularly.

 

[craigos]

Lot of the blame is on the players. I mean how often do you see a promising player going to the bigger club only to sit on the bench. Maybe cast your ego aside and go somewhere where you will play regularly.

Daniel Arzani should have sat down with Aaron Mooy who I'm sure would have advised him to stay in the A League another year.

 

[Punchy Bassett]

I'm still no fan of Arnold but he's going alright at the moment