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FIFA World Cup 22
- Thread starter Baloo
- Start date
Everyone saying that FFA needs to capitalise on the goodwill generated but no one ever says how to do it.
I think the Socceroos benefitted from very low expectations compounded by a poor first up showing.
To score in every game was an amazing achievement and to win a couple, with a couple of clean sheets etc was amazing.
Was a good performance and frightened the life out of the Argies at the end, especially the defenders and keeper judging by the excessive and over the top time wasting.
As Jazz said, the game will be remembered for 2 poor errors that led to the 2 goals, Behich with the dumbest free kick in the game (and you could see it coming with his interaction with Messi right before that, his temper had been breached), and then McGree for not going with Messi, he sort of passed him over to Baccus without communicating it, was defensive 101 right there, switch off and Messi punishes you.
It was a shame for Ryan that the game will be remembered for that goal, but he has been very good for much of the tournament and was very good for the rest of the game, keeping some chances out at the end.
Overall, I thought Arnold got the tactics right. Argentina didn't really create a whole deal up until the 2nd goal (apart from Messi's chance), the game then had to open up, particularly in the last 20 mins when Australia went for it, leaving gaps at the back. Was a good approach, and bar for a great save at the end, might have taken it to extra time through Kuol.
I think Australia need to build towards the next world cup now. The centre half partnership is very good and can be locked down now for 5-10 years with them both being 23/24. Kuol showed enough against the Argies to suggest they need to get as much time in him as possible, hopefully Newcastle sort out a good loan for him so he can get some strong minutes in at club football. McGree, Devlin, Mabil, Tilio should be the way Arnold looks to rebuild the side over the coming years.
As Jazz said, the game will be remembered for 2 poor errors that led to the 2 goals, Behich with the dumbest free kick in the game (and you could see it coming with his interaction with Messi right before that, his temper had been breached), and then McGree for not going with Messi, he sort of passed him over to Baccus without communicating it, was defensive 101 right there, switch off and Messi punishes you.
It was a shame for Ryan that the game will be remembered for that goal, but he has been very good for much of the tournament and was very good for the rest of the game, keeping some chances out at the end.
Overall, I thought Arnold got the tactics right. Argentina didn't really create a whole deal up until the 2nd goal (apart from Messi's chance), the game then had to open up, particularly in the last 20 mins when Australia went for it, leaving gaps at the back. Was a good approach, and bar for a great save at the end, might have taken it to extra time through Kuol.
I think Australia need to build towards the next world cup now. The centre half partnership is very good and can be locked down now for 5-10 years with them both being 23/24. Kuol showed enough against the Argies to suggest they need to get as much time in him as possible, hopefully Newcastle sort out a good loan for him so he can get some strong minutes in at club football. McGree, Devlin, Mabil, Tilio should be the way Arnold looks to rebuild the side over the coming years.
They need to strengthen the A league, targeting the best way they can improve the skills of the best Australian talent.
To me, they need to get rid of the "marquee" player signings. They are pointless, add very little to the league and actually take money away from building better squads up. Instead of having this outside the cap, increase the cap and increase the number of foreign players in the squad. They can still protect the league from being overrun with foreign players, by changing the rules to dictate the number of Australian players in the matchday squad, rather than restrict the number of foreign players.
I think this is very easy to implement, and should result in more money being available to spread through the team and attract better players to the A league, rather than just a couple of marquee players that treat the A league like the personal pension pot.
Target the best up and coming players coming out of southern asian countries (they have signalled their interest in this with the change to 5 foreigners to 4+1, but they can still attract more, all in keeping with increasing the overall quality of the A league). Ultimately IMO, the A league need to see themselves as a feeder league for european leagues, and build the A league to represent that.
Totally agree. Unless you get a Messi or Ronaldo no one is going to go and watch for the sake of seeing the player. They cost a fortune and really just deny local talent the opportunity. No matter how talented they are they do not appreciably lift the overall standard of the Australian game. Better that our good players go to overseas leagues to continue their development.
I was at Fed Square this morning. Sheer madness, but bloody awesome. Even FIFA tweeted about it. I got there at about 4:40am. They closed the gates just after 5am. AAMI Park had about 20,000 attend.
Was also interviewed by Weekend Sunrise and was seen in 10 News picking up rubbish after the game. Still trying to obtain footage of Weekend Sunrise.
As for the game... Extremely proud. We had a massive crack, and you could see we had them rattled at the end. But they were just too classy.
Football is a game of what ifs...
Top 2 go though (32 in total).
12 groups of 4 would also see 32 teams go through (best 8 third placed teams) would makes up the last 8).
This method also provide incentives for teams who qualify early and we might not see a repeat of what France did the other night (rested their whole team).
This world cup proves the A-League is at an exceptional standard.
It's the attitudes and perception of the casual fans is what needs to change (as well as convincing state and federal government to provide the fair and equitable funding we rightly deserve). Hopefully this performance might get a few extra people through the turnstiles next weekend when the AL returns.
To finish off, a big middle finger to the AFL for releasing the R1 fixture as the match kicked off. And people wonder why I hate AFLHQ so much.
Was also interviewed by Weekend Sunrise and was seen in 10 News picking up rubbish after the game. Still trying to obtain footage of Weekend Sunrise.
As for the game... Extremely proud. We had a massive crack, and you could see we had them rattled at the end. But they were just too classy.
Football is a game of what ifs...
Top 2 go though (32 in total).
12 groups of 4 would also see 32 teams go through (best 8 third placed teams) would makes up the last 8).
This method also provide incentives for teams who qualify early and we might not see a repeat of what France did the other night (rested their whole team).
This world cup proves the A-League is at an exceptional standard.
It's the attitudes and perception of the casual fans is what needs to change (as well as convincing state and federal government to provide the fair and equitable funding we rightly deserve). Hopefully this performance might get a few extra people through the turnstiles next weekend when the AL returns.
To finish off, a big middle finger to the AFL for releasing the R1 fixture as the match kicked off. And people wonder why I hate AFLHQ so much.
I hadn't realised that about the AFL. What a *smile* move. Gill is so scared of any other sporting competition, despite the fact that the majority of the A league season is played when the AFL isn't. They can co-exist. If the A league goes up against any sport, its cricket, not AFL.
I'm not sure how you can deduce that the A-League is an exceptional standard from that performance. 10 of the starting 11 don't even play in the A league. Only Leckie is an A league player. Ignoring the deficiencies of the A League will not move it forward in any way. Agree that move state and federal spending should occur, but you are so defensive of the A League that you cannot even see where it sits within the hierachy and that it needs a significant change to improve its standard.
The Australia performance should be commended completely, however, the technical deficiencies that we saw against France, Tunisia and Denmark, were also clear to see against Argentina. That performance was heart and tactics (sorry Arnold haters), not technical ability. An improvement in training standards from young ages has to be the target for the FFA.
You keep banging that drum Binman but it's not correct. A-League would be League 2 in England, maybe League 1 at a stretch. We punched above our weight in the World Cup and full credit to everyone involved. But even in the world cup you could see that most of our boys were a class below. We're two touching most balls and under pressure don't have the poise and time the top flight teams have.
The quicker everyone involved accepts that reality, the quicker it can be addressed. To fool yourself into thinking the A-League is "exceptional" (not even sure what that means in this context tbh) will just keep holding the A-League's potential back.
Complete f*ckwits, and only in the HUN apparently, FFS, way to p!ss a hell of a lot of people off.
Geez they're a bunch of idiots, first they schedule the AFLW finals against a women's soccer match then this. Really? Insecure a bit??
DS
Is everyone talking about the AFL Draw now?
No.
They're all talking about the Soccer World Cup.
You want a definition of an own goal, you just got one.
Even here, on an AFL forum, there are more posts about the soccer world cup than the release of the AFL draw. I don't even know if they released some of, or all of, the draw, I have no idea, we get The Age so presumably aren't allowed to know and I ain't looking it up in December.
Bunch of amateurs saved by the tribal loyalty of fans of the clubs and the fact we have the best football code going (at least until they completely wreck it).
DS
This. Tribal loyalty overrides all the crap the AFL dishes up. Getting the AFLW going their biggest tick.
Love your passion BIN but if the A League is an exceptional standard why are the fans not turning up? The World Cup was a great tournament for Australia but let’s not get carried away with it being off the back of a successful domestic competition.
Nice post Ian. Given you are the most poassionate long-term local fan on this forum I'm willing to accept your word for the skill level of the A-league. I only really watch it on an ad hoc basis. But It can't be that bad, an A-leaguer scored 2 goals at a WC!
I'm bullish about the codes future here. Our local club, Mt Eliza, is thriving. And the amount of time they are devoting to impropving skills is phenomonal. The amount of coaching expertise and information provided to coaches at all levels is impressive. And the extra sessions are available and encouraged for all the juniors. I can only see the game improving with more kids being exposed to higher level training at earlier ages if our club is an example.
And with more and more kids moving away from AFL to "soccer" you imagine they are going to get some elite junior athletes choosing the game.
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Way more of our team played in the SPL. Does that make the SPL a more than exceptional league??
I think its crazy that we say the A League is exceptional in terms of talent. It falls into the arrogance trap which is what soccer fans usually throw back at the AFL.
It's going to be 16 Groups of 3 nations not the current 4 nation groups, so as to keep the finalists maximum games played at 7, not 8 or more and no one can complain about the players having to play more games.
Currently - 8 Groups of 4 = 3 games + RO16 + QF + SF + WCF = 7 games.
48 Nations - 16 Groups of 3 = 2 games + RO32 + RO16 +QF + SF + WCF = 7 games.
"The tournament will open with a group stage consisting of 16 groups of three teams, with the top two teams progressing from each group to a knockout tournament starting with a round of 32 teams. The number of games played overall will increase from 64 to 80, but the number of games played by finalists remains at 7, the same as with 32 teams. Each team will play one fewer group match than under the previous format, compensating for the additional knockout round. The tournament will also be completed within 32 days, the same as previous 32-team tournaments."
Top 2 go through, the same as the 32 nation World Cup and because it's only two group games you must perform in both and there's no third group game to help you get through or rest players. Five knockout games instead of 4 so a bit more exciting because you have to perform in all 7 games, not just 5 or 6.
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Liked most of your post, but this comment. No way!
The vast majority of our squad ply their trade overseas and generally have done so from a young age.
There is no doubting that we are starting to prove to be a deep breeding ground for solid footballers, a bit like the NBA, but that is where the buck stops.
Have basically zero knowledge of the world game , however I can’t comprehend how we can be happy with our achievements at this World Cup , I’m happy to be corrected , though didn’t we just scrape in against “ minnow” nations to make it to the WC ? Then we get well beaten by a power nation , then win a game we should win and then did an outstanding job of beating the worlds 10th best team , however knocked out in the first round of the last 16 .
We are not new to this game we have been playing the world game in this country for decades , we have squillions of kids playing from a very young age , yes it’s played by so many countries around the world , so the field is very deep , again however I don’t see this as anything amazing ( yes I’m very in educated in the game ) , so much of social media is the traditional excuses today , from outsider the Australian culture is filled with way to much excuses .
As a proud Skipy I expect our nations teams to be better then what the Socceroos produce
We are not new to this game we have been playing the world game in this country for decades , we have squillions of kids playing from a very young age , yes it’s played by so many countries around the world , so the field is very deep , again however I don’t see this as anything amazing ( yes I’m very in educated in the game ) , so much of social media is the traditional excuses today , from outsider the Australian culture is filled with way to much excuses .
As a proud Skipy I expect our nations teams to be better then what the Socceroos produce
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.
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