FIFA World Cup 22 | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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FIFA World Cup 22

What we achieved in the world cup was beyond what most people expected. We really punched above our weight in many ways. Under skilled, under coached, lack of resources, team that rarely gets to play with each other or even our players against each other. But despite what we lacked, if you ignore the shambles that was the first game, we brought our best and then some. Beat Denmark, a country with a rich soccer history. Best Tunisia, who would there or there abouts our level. Took it to Argentina, one of the favorites to win the World Cup.

To use a Footy equivalence, we're the VFL Team playing against AFL teams. There's no excuses for how we performed, just respect for how we went about it the world over.
Sorry Baloo , I can’t buy into that argument.

Like I said we are not new to this game , we have millions of participants , we have many players playing in the best leagues in the world , every other country is the same in not playing together each week , yes it’s a step forward , however I can’t buy this as some incredible achievement, no matter which way it’s spun 16th 15th whatever in the world is an achievement, if the Socceroos except this as success we will continue to be minnows imho .

I’ll leave this thread to those who know what they are talking about
 
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we have many players playing in the best leagues
Naw, we don’t. I don’t think we’ve had an Aussie play in the EPL this year. It’s our most unskilled, star free side we‘ve ever sent to the World Cup this century. We over achieved. Tremendous effort. Hopefully a few of the lads have put themselves in the shop front window for January transfers into bigger leagues.
 
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Sorry Baloo , I can’t buy into that argument.

Like I said we are not new to this game , we have millions of participants , we have many players playing in the best leagues in the world , every other country is the same in not playing together each week , yes it’s a step forward , however I can’t buy this as some incredible achievement, no matter which way it’s spun 16th 15th whatever in the world is an achievement, if the Socceroos except this as success we will continue to be minnows imho .

I’ll leave this thread to those who know what they are talking about
Having 1 guy play in Serie A Italy, 1 in Spain and about 4 in the Scottish League does not mean we are brimming with talented players playing in the World's major leagues.

Our group rivals the Danes squad have 21 out of 26 players playing in England, Italy, French, Spanish and German League. Then there's a couple in the Turkish and Belgium leagues'.

Tunisia has 4 which is about what was said about our level of competition. .

Just because you have played a game for long doesn't mean you should automatically be better at it than other nations. Your points show why the game isn't that important here - we haven't got the same heart for it, the same love for it than many other nation's around the world. If the nation doesn't care for it, it won't grow.

We've played tennis longer than most other nation's, heck where did all our 'expected Grand Slam wins' I grew up on go to the last 30-35 years? :unsure: We used to own tennis with the Americans, why are we so crap at it now? How'd Russia, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Spanish, Swiss and Serbia get so far past us? Lot of 'S' named countries there, maybe we should call ourselves "Strayia" ;)

Don't get me started on golf either, used to be a pretty good and big country at it, lulled for a few years until Cam came along :cool:

Basketball - It's been played here since 1897, what's the go with why we can't beat America? No excuses right? Ohhh yeah I forgot, we beat them in 2019 and 2021....... In two exhibition games, whoopee do!! Australia beat Argentina 4-1 in an exhibition game too back in the day!!

27-2 versus the U.S. is a shocking record for a 'basketball' playing nation.
 
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Sorry Baloo , I can’t buy into that argument.

Like I said we are not new to this game , we have millions of participants , we have many players playing in the best leagues in the world , every other country is the same in not playing together each week , yes it’s a step forward , however I can’t buy this as some incredible achievement, no matter which way it’s spun 16th 15th whatever in the world is an achievement, if the Socceroos except this as success we will continue to be minnows imho .

I’ll leave this thread to those who know what they are talking about

Two different thoughts I think.

1. Expect more / don’t be satisfied with out in round of 16. I heard the Aussie postgame commentators say the same. We want to be the favourites at this stage and be a chance to win the whole thing. Bit of the Benny gale 3 flags by 2020 or why bother. 100% agree.

2. How well this team did given its skill level. It did really well - so should be proud of how this team performed.
 
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Naw, we don’t. I don’t think we’ve had an Aussie play in the EPL this year. It’s our most unskilled, star free side we‘ve ever sent to the World Cup this century. We over achieved. Tremendous effort. Hopefully a few of the lads have put themselves in the shop front window for January transfers into bigger leagues.
Sorry Scoop but how long are we “ building “ for ? Are we always going to be happy with making the knockout stage , seriously we’ve been trying to qualify and win a World Cup for over half a century , I won’t disagree if you do say it was an unskilled side , we’ll we’ve had a life time to lift the standards to be a top 10 side in the world and have super skilled players , absolutely no reason why not , bottom line is we are what we are and if the general soccer fans believe that was a great achievement so be it . However is there many sports in the world we haven’t produced world champs not “ great effort lads” over the years ? No we have had legends of so many world sports . I know so many will disagree with me .

As you were :))
 
Having 1 guy play in Serie A Italy, 1 in Spain and about 4 in the Scottish League does not mean we are brimming with talented players playing in the World's major leagues.

Our group rivals the Danes squad have 21 out of 26 players playing in England, Italy, French, Spanish and German League. Then there's a couple in the Turkish and Belgium leagues'.

Tunisia has 4 which is about what was said about our level of competition. .

Just because you have played a game for long doesn't mean you should automatically be better at it than other nations. Your points show why the game isn't that important here - we haven't got the same heart for it, the same love for it than many other nation's around the world. If the nation doesn't care for it, it won't grow.

We've played tennis longer than most other nation's, heck where did all our 'expected Grand Slam wins' I grew up on go to the last 30-35 years? :unsure: We used to own tennis with the Americans, why are we so crap at it now? How'd Russia, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Spanish, Swiss and Serbia get so far past us? Lot of 'S' named countries there, maybe we should call ourselves "Strayia" ;)

Don't get me started on golf either, used to be a pretty good and big country at it, lulled for a few years until Cam came along :cool:

Basketball - It's been played here since 1897, what's the go with why we can't beat America? No excuses right? Ohhh yeah I forgot, we beat them in 2019 and 2021....... In two exhibition games, whoopee do!! Australia beat Argentina 4-1 in an exhibition game too back in the day!!

27-2 versus the U.S. is a shocking record for a 'basketball' playing nation.
To me Ricecakes these valid “ excuses” mean our development is not good enough , don’t tell me our kids who play soccer don’t have the skill set to be trained to be elite world class players , again this is not a sport/ team we’ve been building for a decade or so , this is a sport we’ve been trying to get to the top at for decades , and if we call this a successful tournament which I’m sure it I’d in some way we’ll we have sfa chance of ever actually winning the cup we would have had thousands of meetings about , millions of dollars put into , if Australia wants to win the World Cup, which I trust is there absolute priority then things must change because we aren’t even getting close to achieving this . No I wouldn’t have a clue how to do that , but don’t anybody tell me we don’t have the talent in our kids that can be developed to be a cracking team , we’ve done it in all other sports . I’m on repeat now
 
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Two different thoughts I think.

1. Expect more / don’t be satisfied with out in round of 16. I heard the Aussie postgame commentators say the same. We want to be the favourites at this stage and be a chance to win the whole thing. Bit of the Benny gale 3 flags by 2020 or why bother. 100% agree.

2. How well this team did given its skill level. It did really well - so should be proud of how this team performed.
Absolutely RE , I just can’t get that you can make it to the best 32 on the world and be satisfied with winning 2 out of 4 games
 
To me Ricecakes these valid “ excuses” mean our development is not good enough , don’t tell me our kids who play soccer don’t have the skill set to be trained to be elite world class players , again this is not a sport/ team we’ve been building for a decade or so , this is a sport we’ve been trying to get to the top at for decades , and if we call this a successful tournament which I’m sure it I’d in some way we’ll we have sfa chance of ever actually winning the cup we would have had thousands of meetings about , millions of dollars put into , if Australia wants to win the World Cup, which I trust is there absolute priority then things must change because we aren’t even getting close to achieving this . No I wouldn’t have a clue how to do that , but don’t anybody tell me we don’t have the talent in our kids that can be developed to be a cracking team , we’ve done it in all other sports . I’m on repeat now
So we're the only one's developing players to be the best they can be? Everyone else is just sitting around letting us go past them? Everyone else around the world hasn't stopped either, they're putting in everything they can to get better too, and with much more money and love for the game. One team wins the World Cup, everyone else losses. So only 8 nations can be classed at being any good at it, the other 200+ are habitual football losers.

We're shyte today, not 50 years ago at tennis and we've always been meh at basketball on the world stage!! ;)
 
Ok , my absolute last comment on the Socceroos , so at the next World Cup in another 4 years will we still be be happy with making the 16 again ? That’s my side of the argument how can we be happy with that
 
So we're the only one's developing players to be the best they can be? Everyone else is just sitting around letting us go past them? Everyone else around the world hasn't stopped either, they're putting in everything they can to get better too, and with much more money and love for the game. One team wins the World Cup, everyone else losses. So only 8 nations can be classed at being any good at it, the other 200+ are habitual football losers.

We're shyte today, not 50 years ago at tennis and we've always been meh at basketball on the world stage!! ;)
Silly argument, every team sport in the world , gos up and down as they produce champions and lose champions, that’s why no team wins the World Cup or the equivalent every time it’s competed for . Again why are we so content after been a football loving nation for so long .

Now the US has taken football seriously, I bet they go further at the next World Cup
 
Silly argument, every team sport in the world , gos up and down as they produce champions and lose champions, that’s why no team wins the World Cup or the equivalent every time it’s competed for . Again why are we so content after been a football loving nation for so long .

Now the US has taken football seriously, I bet they go further at the next World Cup
It's not a silly argument it's a realistic one, we are not as good at it than you think we are. No matter how hard we try, everyone else is moving forward as well.

Pfffft, we're a football loving nation. For a couple of month's in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 we are, then resume normal broadcasting. I believe the number one football code in the nation this morning tried to take the spotlight from the game, so very much doubt we're united and all behind the national team.

But I agree with other areas' of the game need to improve in. AFL is Vic, WA and SA with NT dominant. NSW and QLD still the rugby states.

The world game has had a chance yes for the last 30+ years to unite the whole country like the other codes can't. I always thought they should have tried to put a team in Tassie, probably not in New Zealand. I thought Tasmania even though small it would be good to say we're more national than you are, we have teams in more state's. It's looking like they missed the boat on that one :cautious:
 
Silly argument, every team sport in the world , gos up and down as they produce champions and lose champions, that’s why no team wins the World Cup or the equivalent every time it’s competed for . Again why are we so content after been a football loving nation for so long .

Now the US has taken football seriously, I bet they go further at the next World Cup
I reckon the only countries that made the last 16 where soccer isn't the no. 1 sport are us and the USA. And I think the only countries that made the last 16 with smaller populations than us are Senegal and Switzerland.
There is a lot that can be improved in the development pathways in Australian soccer, but until we get a much higher % of our boys playing soccer it will always be a tall order to get much further than we did this year.
 
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Sorry Baloo , I can’t buy into that argument.

Like I said we are not new to this game , we have millions of participants , we have many players playing in the best leagues in the world , every other country is the same in not playing together each week , yes it’s a step forward , however I can’t buy this as some incredible achievement, no matter which way it’s spun 16th 15th whatever in the world is an achievement, if the Socceroos except this as success we will continue to be minnows imho .

I’ll leave this thread to those who know what they are talking about

As someone that is admittedly uneducated in Soccer, how can you not buy the argument? You asked a question, I tried to explain it to you, and now with no knowledge, so decide my answer is wrong?

1. we have many players playing in the best leagues in the world << No, we don't.
2. every other country is the same in not playing together each week << correct, but who mentioned every week?
3. if the Socceroos except this as success we will continue to be minnows imho << there's nothing humble about your opinion on this topic.
4. I’ll leave this thread to those who know what they are talking about << Nope, you didn't.

Either you're trying to stir up *smile*, or you're a sworn soccer hater, or, *smile*, I dunno whet else it could be.
 
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As someone that is admittedly uneducated in Soccer, how can you not buy the argument? You asked a question, I tried to explain it to you, and now with no knowledge, so decide my answer is wrong?

1. we have many players playing in the best leagues in the world << No, we don't.
2. every other country is the same in not playing together each week << correct, but who mentioned every week?
3. if the Socceroos except this as success we will continue to be minnows imho << there's nothing humble about your opinion on this topic.
4. I’ll leave this thread to those who know what they are talking about << Nope, you didn't.

Either you're trying to stir up *smile*, or you're a sworn soccer hater, or, *smile*, I dunno whet else it could be.
Don’t be a flog , you should always know I respectfully always answer somebody who replies to one of my posts wether they agree or disagree , I’m not one who thinks there opinion is the be all and end all

I’ll try and explain this in the way I see it and yes I’m no expert on the world game , I’m an Australian sports lover and yes I know most are not going to agree , however the same thing has been said about the Socceroos for years by experts all over the world. I simply do not except our country to be happy with the result we achieved, to me it’s well of achieving what we wanted to achieve , yes reality probably says right now that’s a good achievement for this squad , however as I keep saying our country has been attempting to win the World Cup for decades and I just don’t know how we can possibly think things are working with what we are achieving, it’s neally like junior sport where we are happy to have just competed . I know basketball is not quite the same as it’s a much lesser field , however our men’s and women’s are both world class teams , Australian sport teams and athletes so often find away to be the best or close to , the Socceroos don’t . We have a great strike rate at getting kids into Soccer , I’ll stand corrected however it was definitely the most participated sport in Australia for kids , we have the internet where soccer from all over the world is on , so why do we not translate this to having our national team full of super talented football players and been one of the best national teams in the world ? So that’s what I’m saying how can we be happy with what they are achieving.

You’re not going to agree with me and that’s fine I have no issue with others having a different opinion to me .

As for calling me a whatever , that’s just *smile* weak for a grown man
 
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Don’t be a flog , you should always know I respectfully always answer somebody who replies to one of my posts wether they agree or disagree , I’m not one who thinks there opinion is the be all and end all

I’ll try and explain this in the way I see it and yes I’m no expert on the world game , I’m an Australian sports lover and yes I know most are not going to agree , however the same thing has been said about the Socceroos for years by experts all over the world. I simply do not except our country to be happy with the result we achieved, to me it’s well of achieving what we wanted to achieve , yes reality probably says right now that’s a good achievement for this squad , however as I keep saying our country has been attempting to win the World Cup for decades and I just don’t know how we can possibly think things are working with what we are achieving, it’s neally like junior sport where we are happy to have just competed . I know basketball is not quite the same as it’s a much lesser field , however our men’s and women’s are both world class teams , Australian sport teams and athletes so often find away to be the best or close to , the Socceroos don’t . We have a great strike rate at getting kids into Soccer , I’ll stand corrected however it was definitely the most participated sport in Australia for kids , we have the internet where soccer from all over the world is on , so why do we not translate this to having our national team full of super talented football players and been one of the best national teams in the world ? So that’s what I’m saying how can we be happy with what they are achieving.

You’re not going to agree with me and that’s fine I have no issue with others having a different opinion to me .

As for calling me a whatever , that’s just *smile* weak for a grown man
Settle down, I didn't call you anything. Here it is again without the censor so it should clear it up
Either you're trying to stir up sh-it, or you're a sworn soccer hater, or, sh-it, I dunno what else it could be.

All the reasons to help you understand have been written in the multiple posts above. Trying to win the World Cup for decades is a non-starter. We first qualified in 74. Then we had a 32 year gap until 2006. We've been lucky enough to qualify for every WC since 2006, but that's not decades of trying to win it. Because of trying to qualify for the World Cup is what we've been trying to do. That's how far behind we are. Whether you like it or not, that's where we are in Aus.

Let's not forget that the best natural ball athletes in this country get seduced to Aussie Rules, League to a certain extent, Rugby Union, now even Basketball. Sure a lot of kids play soccer but they are most probably talking about AFL at training. Soccer suffers in this country because it's not the #1 sport domestically.

The facts are it's far easier making a good living playing AFL or League than it is Soccer in this country, hence more kids turning to Aussie Rules even if they grew up loving Soccer. Our own Ivan, Ivan and Noah are 3 prime examples. Grew up playing soccer, took up Aussie Rules because they could make a living out of it.

We are where we are. Based on where we are this was a very good result. Based on where we want to be, and your expectations of where we should be, we've still got a long way to go, but we all know that.
 
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