Socceroos | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Socceroos

MD Jazz

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Feb 3, 2017
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Good result in the end. Deserved to win although the ref clearly compounded one horror non-penalty call with a horror penalty call.

Some poor keeping by Ryan, hasn't had a great tournament so far.

We have the capacity to score but also leak goals. Gonna need to convert opportunities in order to progress further.

Would like to see Giannou start instead of McLaren and Luongo struggled a little. Not sure if he should retain the starting spot. If Mooy was here I don't think he would be starting.

Ikonimidis was excellent again last night and Behich & Grant played well too.
 

Ian4

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our round of 16 opponent will be either Uzbekistan or Japan. We need Japan to win that game to avoid them. I'm sure they would prefer to avoid us as well.

MD Jazz said:
We have the capacity to score but also leak goals. Gonna need to convert opportunities in order to progress further.

we've shown some improvement when it comes to goal scoring, but we have been weak defensively since the Ange era.
 

spook

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Jun 18, 2007
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Agree with the comments on offensive improvement and defensive weakness (exacerbated last night with the absence of Sainsbury, our best defender). Rogic was clearly the best player on the pitch last night, and was good against Palestine as well. He's the Pendlebury of the Socceroos, his vision and passing were sublime last night and his goal was a cracker. It's pleasing to see a bit more work go into the build-up rather than just crossing at the first opportunity.

Ikonomidis is impressive - an upgrade on Kruse and combines well with Behich. Mabil is exciting, has the priceless knack for scoring, with a screamer last night. I like Grant, like Behich he's always pushing forward.

Agree with Jazz, time to give Giannou a start. Oh, for a quality proper striker, but without one I would like to see how our small ball goes when Arzani is fit.
 

MD Jazz

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Feb 3, 2017
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spook said:
Agree with the comments on offensive improvement and defensive weakness (exacerbated last night with the absence of Sainsbury, our best defender). Rogic was clearly the best player on the pitch last night, and was good against Palestine as well. He's the Pendlebury of the Socceroos, his vision and passing were sublime last night and his goal was a cracker. It's pleasing to see a bit more work go into the build-up rather than just crossing at the first opportunity.

Ikonomidis is impressive - an upgrade on Kruse and combines well with Behich. Mabil is exciting, has the priceless knack for scoring, with a screamer last night. I like Grant, like Behich he's always pushing forward.

Agree with Jazz, time to give Giannou a start. Oh, for a quality proper striker, but without one I would like to see how our small ball goes when Arzani is fit.

Yeh, if we add Arzani/Mooy/Leckie/Sainsbury to last nights side and its a quality starting 11.

Kruse is sort of like the Shaun Marsh of soccer - looks good, always appears to have a lot of quality but never produces at the most important moments. Reckon he may never play for the socceroos again.
 

Ian4

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MD Jazz said:
Yeh, if we add Arzani/Mooy/Leckie/Sainsbury to last nights side and its a quality starting 11.

add Naboutt to that. we'd probably win the tournamant if they were all available.

MD Jazz said:
Kruse is sort of like the Shaun Marsh of soccer - looks good, always appears to have a lot of quality but never produces at the most important moments. Reckon he may never play for the socceroos again.

i think he has been a great servant who has been crueled by injuries. i also think he has been made the scapegoat of a side that struggles to score. he did however lead the assist count in the last round of world cup qualifiers. something that get ignored a lot by the haters. be that as it may, i think his time as a regular socceroo is coming to an end. we have some pretty good wingers coming through the ranks.
 

Ian4

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so we have avoided japan and we play the Uzbeks in the round of 16. after that we'll play the host country without abdulrahman (win) and then likely play South Korea in the semi's (loss).
 

year of the tiger

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Mar 26, 2008
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Ian4 said:
so we have avoided japan and we play the Uzbeks in the round of 16. after that we'll play the host country without abdulrahman (win) and then likely play South Korea in the semi's (loss).

I smell an upset along the road so hope we make it to the final 4.

Really peaved it’s not on fta
 

Ian4

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year of the tiger said:
Really peaved it’s not on fta

the FFA have no control over this. and the asian cup is not on the anti siphoning list. but yes it is a disgrace. However, you can watch through the Kayo Sports app, who are running a 2 week free trial.
 

leon

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Apr 6, 2014
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Ian4 said:
the FFA have no control over this. and the asian cup is not on the anti siphoning list. but yes it is a disgrace. However, you can watch through the Kayo Sports app, who are running a 2 week free trial.

Thanks for the good advice, Ian. Will look at getting KS although the match times are not that convenient and getting later.

But a disgrace because surely Asian Cup is the next most important international comp for Socceroos after WC!
 

marella jube

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Jul 27, 2004
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Might have a blessing not finishing top of the group. Vietnam very impressive v Jordan. Uzbekistan a more suitable opponent for us but won' t be easy.
 

Ian4

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marella jube said:
Might have a blessing not finishing top of the group. Vietnam very impressive v Jordan. Uzbekistan a more suitable opponent for us but won' t be easy.

Vietnam will be a force in asia in the coming years. Uzbekistan won't be as easy as 2011, but we'll win.
 

marella jube

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Jul 27, 2004
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Striker - Start Giannou instead of McLaren.

Ball movement still conservative. Perhaps it was the game plan but we often ignored a fast switch to a free wing back, preferring to take a safer, more circuitous route, back, sideways then forward, by which time Grant & Behich were covered. Sainsbury still vulnerable in defence.
That said, we're deservedly through to the quarters & have some improvement in us.

Curious to see if/how many gears Japan has, as they were ordinary v Saudis & will need to lift to the challenge of a lively Vietnam. Could be the blue Samurai are playing tournament footy, doing just enough, no more than us.

UAE next, early Saturday. Good. Pressure on them as hosts.
 

Ian4

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i got up at 1am for this? Arnieball has never been sexy, but that was boring as batsh!t. it was like all the backwards and sideways passes was supposed to make them dizzy and disorientated. Yes they played 5 or 6 behind the ball at times, but surely we are good enough to break them down at least once in 120 minutes?

Baloo said:
We need a striker.

i'm not a huge fan of McLaren, but you can't blame him. he was starved of the ball. I would give my my remaining left nut for a target man.
 

spook

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Jun 18, 2007
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Losing Rogic is going to hurt. I thought it was a harsh call, accidental contact caused by the defender charging him.
 

leon

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Apr 6, 2014
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Definitely. Refs and officials in this competition clearly look to be no friends to our team. Penalty given to Syrians was one of the most absurd ever witnessed. Watched first half of opening match V Palestine and Irvine was penalised repeatedly for fairly clean jumps to head the ball. All bizarre. Rogic did not deserve yellow for that at all.

Get a feeling we will be eliminated by an 'interesting' decision if we get too close to winning ,,, next game against UAE hosts, expecting it. The region includes many nations that do not favour Australia's inclusion in Asia.
 

22nd Man

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leon said:
Get a feeling we will be eliminated by an 'interesting' decision if we get too close to winning ,,, next game against UAE hosts, expecting it. The region includes many nations that do not favour Australia's inclusion in Asia.

Agree with that last statement. But it's hard to argue there is much in common with any random group of Asian nations...eg Lebanon v Soth Korea, India v Oman, Etc etc etc...
 

Ian4

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leon said:
Definitely. Refs and officials in this competition clearly look to be no friends to our team. Penalty given to Syrians was one of the most absurd ever witnessed. Watched first half of opening match V Palestine and Irvine was penalised repeatedly for fairly clean jumps to head the ball. All bizarre. Rogic did not deserve yellow for that at all.

Get a feeling we will be eliminated by an 'interesting' decision if we get too close to winning ,,, next game against UAE hosts, expecting it. The region includes many nations that do not favour Australia's inclusion in Asia.

the VAR comes in for the quarter finals at least, but yeah i agree. west asia especially resents our admittance to the AFC. And the referee's have given us a sh!t run at it for all of the 13 years. especially middle eastern refs. we are used to it.