OT: Socceroos

[Stiffy_18]

Ok who from the crows faithful is getting up tommorrow morning to watch the socceroos??????

What are the chances of socceroos actually getting at least a draw in this one??????

 

[DaveW]

I'll be up to watch it.

I think a draw would be best case scenario.

A one goal loss break even perhaps.

I feel confident. (Why not? ) Thank goodness for the recent change of coach.

 

[MJ101]

[deleted]

Terrible sport? I am a die hard footy man but i still enjoy it.
I think that this is as good as any time for us to make it
John Safran, has afterall lifted the curse!!!

 

[Stiffy_18]

I'll be up to watch it.

I think a draw would be best case scenario.

A one goal loss break even perhaps.

I feel confident. (Why not? ) Thank goodness for the recent change of coach.

I think the draw is the best possible results. Winning over there is close to impossible.

However, as you said, the change of coach has been positive and Gus is one of the best coaches going around. He will have the boys ready. He is good but I am not sure even he can the boys to win the first leg.

A draw would be a great result for the aussies who can back ip up at home, where they have a much better chance of winning.

A one goal loss wouldn't be the end fo the world. Hopefully we won't see the repeat of 3-0 loss from 4 year ago

 

[Adam BK]

Oh Stiffy I will be definately be up, I hope this is our time. Watching Australia play in arguably the biggest sporting event in the world behind the olympics would be nothing short of amazing.

 

[West Coast Fan 123]

Terrible sport? I am a die hard footy man but i still enjoy it.
I think that this is as good as any time for us to make it
John Safran, has afterall lifted the curse!!!

I saw Johnny Warren talking about all this stuff that went wrong to Safron, but I didn't catch the whole program. What was this curse all about?

 

[Adam BK]

Terrible sport? I am a die hard footy man but i still enjoy it.
I think that this is as good as any time for us to make it
John Safran, has afterall lifted the curse!!!

I knew it wouldnt take long for some smart ass to come in and take a dig.

 

[DaveW]

If it's 3-0, I think you can write off any hope of qualifying for Germany.

But don't forget that the 3-0 result was a product of it being a 2nd leg. At 2-0 down, we were behind on aggregate but only one goal away from a World Cup berth. We went all out attack but instead of scoring a goal we conceded one. Under normal circumstances it probably would have remained a 2-0 scoreline.

 

[snakebite01]

Yep spot on Dave.

Everyone seems to look on the match 4 years ago as a whitewash, but it was anything but. The 2-0 scoreline would have resulted in a normal game. Had Kewell's volley, Viduka's 2 yard nod or Moore's (or was it Murphy's?) header gone in we would have been off to SK/Japan. We certainly had our chances.

I'll be watching tomorrow morning, hoping we can get away with a score draw (I'm predicting 1-1). I think we'll finish them off in Sydney. There is an air of fate about this year, that we finally get through this wretched qualifying path just as we kiss it goodbye.

 

[RoosterLad]

Completely different scenario to 4 years ago as mentioned above. If we get a 'score draw' we are in with a big chance. A win is almost impossible but imagine that??

The coach is much more tactically aware than Farina, he has been there done that with The Netherlands and South Korea so he knows what needs to be done.

We really do need an away goal, even though a 0-0 draw would be good but highly unlikely. A lot of the blokes who will be playing tomorrow morning were there 4 years ago so they know what to expect and hopefully won't be intimidated again. I've been waiting for this game for a long long time.

 

[- PC -]

OT: Over here in Perth it is a 4am start and after a few drinks at a party and a latish night 4am may just defeat me. Also having a 5.30 am start today means my sleep is more important..but certainly if my gfs snoring wakes me up I may stumble out and watch it.

Go Aussies ...I may not fully support Futball but I do support my country in its endeavours to be recognised for something more than Football meat pies kangaroos and Holden cars

 

[showdownhero]

The Green and Gold Army are having their offical function at The Stag is anyone gonna go?

 

[Adam BK]

Could you imagine if we made the World Cup and had to face England....oh we could make up for the Ashes and Rugby World Cup.

 

[maccas_no1]

The longer the Socceroo's hold them goaless the better but unfortunately it will be a 5-0 whitewash.

 

[crowsarethebest]

We can do it! With Hiddink we are way more tactically prepared. We have to try to at least draw or win this game because some big names come back for them in Sydney.

 

[Toots Hibbert]

I'll be watching. Would be more confident if Hiddink had coached them for longer. Will the new style of play hold up under severe pressure is the key to the tie IMHO. Come on Aussie.

 

[Adam BK]

The longer the Socceroo's hold them goaless the better but unfortunately it will be a 5-0 whitewash.

We managed to lose by 3 goals last time, now we have a class manager and yes I doubt many of us will be suprised if they kick a few but I was hoping we havent gone that backwards.

 

[tribey]

Fingers crossed bigtime.

This is the most talented Australian squad ever assembled - major problem this time around is that the vast majority of our best players are under injury clouds or woefully out of form. Bresciano, Kewell, Cahill, Schwarzer, Viduka are the key men and all are far from peak form for one reason or another - Craig Moore, our best defender, will be watching from his lounge room in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

That said, if we are to crash and burn once again our NSL-calibre defence will be the root cause, just as it was in 1993 vs Argentina, 1997 vs Iran and 2001 vs Uruguay.

In the past 12 years onwards if only we could have found one or two top quality defenders worthy of playing alongside the likes of Slater, Bosnich, A. Vidmar, Zelic, Okon, Kewell, Viduka, Cahill, Schwarzer, Bresciano, Grella and co., we wouldn't be talking about the unlikely possibility of breaking a 32-year drought beginning with tomorrow morning, but the beginning of our fourth straight world cup appearance.

To offer an analogy for those of you not terribly au fait with the Socceroos, for the past decade or so - certainly since 1997/8 - we've been like a promising young AFL side trying desperately to break into the eight with the potential to do plenty of damage come September, but we're being held back by a WAFL/SANFL-calibre backline (goalkeeper excluded).

We have given the world top quality midfielders, strikers and goalkeepers, but we can't produce a defender to save ourselves - literally.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

I'm one of the few here old enough to not only remember but have seen (on TV that is) Australia's only World Cup appearances in 1974. L3-0 v W Germany (host), L2-0 v East Germany, D0-0 v Chile IIRC. Thanks for the soft group!

Here's hoping again that it works out, maybe Hiddink's total football style will cover the key defender query and his overall nous will get us a close enough result. Even a 2-1 loss wouldn't be too bad - 1-0 win at home would see us thru on away goals. I'll be up to watch it ... again.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Fingers crossed bigtime.

This is the most talented Australian squad ever assembled - major problem this time around is that the vast majority of our best players are under injury clouds or woefully out of form. Bresciano, Kewell, Cahill, Schwarzer, Viduka are the key men and all are far from peak form for one reason or another - Craig Moore, our best defender, will be watching from his lounge room in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

That said, if we are to crash and burn once again our NSL-calibre defence will be the root cause, just as it was in 1993 vs Argentina, 1997 vs Iran and 2001 vs Uruguay.

In the past 12 years onwards if only we could have found one or two top quality defenders worthy of playing alongside the likes of Slater, Bosnich, A. Vidmar, Zelic, Okon, Kewell, Viduka, Cahill, Schwarzer, Bresciano, Grella and co., we wouldn't be talking about the unlikely possibility of breaking a 32-year drought beginning with tomorrow morning, but the beginning of our fourth straight world cup appearance.

To offer an analogy for those of you not terribly au fait with the Socceroos, for the past decade or so - certainly since 1997/8 - we've been like a promising young AFL side trying desperately to break into the eight with the potential to do plenty of damage come September, but we're being held back by a WAFL/SANFL-calibre backline (goalkeeper excluded).

We have given the world top quality midfielders, strikers and goalkeepers, but we can't produce a defender to save ourselves - literally.

Thats actually a pretty good analysis DT.

Keepers, Midfielders and strikers have not been a problem in the last decade. There always appears to be a decent crop of players in those positions to cause enough damage. However, the defenders have been stiffs for as long as I know. Tobin and Ivanovic have been the most capped defenders in the last 10 years or so but crickey they were average by world standards. Slow as turtles too.

The road to Victory is paved by a great defence.

 

[outback jack]

Thats actually a pretty good analysis DT.

Keepers, Midfielders and strikers have not been a problem in the last decade. There always appears to be a decent crop of players in those positions to cause enough damage. However, the defenders have been stiffs for as long as I know. Tobin and Ivanovic have been the most capped defenders in the last 10 years or so but crickey they were average by world standards. Slow as turtles too.

The road to Victory is paved by a great defence.

yep good point, i think it comes from a weak national comp, overseas clubs are more likely to give a attacking talent an opportunity and a contract instead of a defender. The pace at the back is a huge weakness and really after the last world cup we should of got 7-8 guys at around the 18-22 yr old mark who were quick, talented and tall and lined them up as central defenders regardless of whether they had a contact in europe or not. Its difficult i suppose cause we were having games once a yr at one stage there. Atm the system is too difficult to get good talent through too, it requires alot of things to go right for you.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Ladies and gentleman its time

 

[DaveW]

We had the better of the play just not the better of the scoreboard. I'm sick of this script, can we get a new one?

In fairness, that was probably only true for the first half of the half. The last 20 or so minutes they looked much more dangerous going forward. And you just knew danger lurked at that 35 minute free kick...

Uruguay 1-0 at half time.

There's been a few heart-in-mouth moments in defence.

But it's been a very attacking game by my reckoning. An away goal's still a real possibility. But I'd be content - though not delighted - with a scoreless second half.

 

[Stiffy_18]

VERY VERY unlucky to be down at half time. Looked the better side for most of the game but bloody hell that defence is leaking a lot. So slow down back and whenever Uruguay go forward they look dangerous. Getting nothing from the flanks either. Some of the rubbish served up from the flanks in terms of crosses was laughable.

This games just reminds me why I hate watching some of the South American nations play. The are experts at diving. Dario Silva and Recoba are leading the way in this department

 

[cro_Magnum]

Australia were well on top until Furlan went off, then Uruguay had 11 men rather than 10.
A good goal but it was a very dubious free kick, they were both pushing each other.

Where's Bresciano? We need him badly.