The Soccer/Football Thread

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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by RedRaider »

Unfortunately the Socceroos had a 2 all draw with Oman. A last minute penalty goal against Australia cost us. Yesterday Japan beat Saudi Arabia so that makes it difficult for Australia to get through in the top 2 of our group. We still have both Japan and Saudi Arabia to play but they are well clear of us on the Group ladder. Australia will have to play away to qualify against a team from another Group. I'm not sure which opponent we will likely have to beat to get to the World Cup at this point.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Japan clearly superior to Australia tonight in their 2 nil victory. The score flattered Australia. Too much skill, pace and team know how by Japan. Australia now has to do it the hard way to make the World Cup, via must win matches against other group teams. The Socceroos will have to improve by a long margin to progress.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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That second goal was particularly embarrassing. Admittedly I only watched the last fifteen minutes but Australia could barely string more than three passes together let alone generate an attacking chance. Terrible
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by zim »

They were running a busted line up. Never a real chance.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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It will be interesting to see the line up against the Group leading Saudi's next up. Does Graham Arnold stick with the side which was out classed by Japan or try some youngsters. Certainly the unavailability of Aaron Mooy has disrupted the midfield. There is no one else with his vision, quality and control.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Saudi's beat Socceroos 1-0. Much closer contest this time. Socceroos still have qualifying matches to play. Tough road to the World Cup.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Socceroos V UAE on June 7. This will be the first of 2 qualification games. It is a must win. The loser bows out.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by gerg »

For the soccer fans. What's so amazing about Ange Posticoglou getting Celtic a trophy? Haven't they dominated the league for the past 30/40 years?
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by FuiFui BradBrad »

gergreg wrote:For the soccer fans. What's so amazing about Ange Posticoglou getting Celtic a trophy? Haven't they dominated the league for the past 30/40 years?
They have, but their last coach left the squad in a shambles. Last season was their first trophy less season in years, and they finished 25 points behind the champions.

This was meant to be a rebuild year. They started off shaky with a new coach, new style etc, and the club was kind of expecting another nothing season. Plus Ange got a lot of heat at the start for being a relative unknown in Europe.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Socceroos beat UAE 2-1 to progress closer to a World Cup position. They must beat Peru next up to qualify. Here's hoping they can qualify for the biggest football event on the planet.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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The Socceroos have qualified the WC with a penalty shootout win over Peru.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Coastalraider »

Well that was an exciting morning. Balls of steel from Arnie to switch keepers.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Yep, Arnie gambled and won. Not often does swapping out the Captain come up trumps but it this case it did. Congrats to all involved with the Socceroos.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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-PJ- wrote:The Socceroos have qualified the WC with a penalty shootout win over Peru.
Am I right in thinking we’ve now made more World Cups this millennium than Italy?
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Australia's 26 man World Cup squad named.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/s ... 16cba42790

No one can accuse Graham Arnold of 'jobs for the boys' after he didn't pick his son in law Trent Sainsbury. FTR - I would have picked him. He is a rock in defence. I am glad the 18 year old Kuol has been selected. He is a natural talent and we've not had such a player since the retirement of the likes of Tim Cahill and Archie Thompson. Very glad to see Mooy in the side and I hope he can feed the young man opportunity. Best of luck to the Socceroos.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia. Wouldn't this be a boilover.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Qatar has some explaining to do after thousands of fans appear to be missing from its official crowd numbers at the Soccer World Cup: https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/ ... 9db931902b

Payments cut for ‘fake fans’ employed to attend Qatar World Cup: https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/ ... 86e8c5dd51

American journalist detained in Qatar for wearing a rainbow shirt: https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/ ... 4e5fd0b897
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by gangrenous »

Watching this game you have to worry for the future of soccer, the decision making at the top. Young kids may be fooled, but the older folk in the ranks will wonder what they’re seeing…

How is this considered a World Cup game without 5000 Vuvuzelas?!
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by RedRaider »

Australia started so well with a goal to Goodwin and then, France took over. They have put 4 reply goals on us. We have had chances with Irvine hit the post with a header. France too good. As a Rugby League comparison its like the Kangaroos v Lebanon. Good side but not a threat to the top nations. This is a building World Cup for Australia though. Lots of young players who have never been to a World Cup before. Up against the winners of the last World Cup with the best player from that World Cup, Mbappe, in good form for France.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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gergreg wrote: November 22, 2022, 9:22 pm Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia. Wouldn't this be a boilover.
Saudi's showed great speed and skill in qualifying and they showed it again against Argentina. They are good to watch and are a good chance to win through to the 16.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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RedRaider wrote: November 23, 2022, 6:57 am Australia started so well with a goal to Goodwin and then, France took over. They have put 4 reply goals on us. We have had chances with Irvine hit the post with a header. France too good. As a Rugby League comparison its like the Kangaroos v Lebanon. Good side but not a threat to the top nations. This is a building World Cup for Australia though. Lots of young players who have never been to a World Cup before. Up against the winners of the last World Cup with the best player from that World Cup, Mbappe, in good form for France.
I thought Arnold gave them the wrong strategy actually. At 1: 0 up and 1 : 1 France are rattled. Time to push at them, attack, raise pressure in midfield with some aggression- giving a couple of cards is better than letting France settle into the game. keep them on edge, frustrate... And one more goal there gives us the game.

Instead we sat back as if we were going to protect it. France began to warm up and play their football and do as they liked. Saudi actually showed how to shock a team with disrespect/ go at them. We didn't look like we wanted it. Messi was given zero space by Saudi, we gave Mbappe his own private pitch to play on.

There is a quality gap to past sides for sure (Timmy C puts the ball in the net if you gift him a free ball in space 20m out like Duke was, Irvine missing with an uncontested header...) but a bit more attitude/determination to take that from France and we may have got something. there

4:1 down is not the time to bring on two attackers Arnie. The game is gone there. Press when we have a chance to win the game and France needed to take some risks to get back in it- attack early and keep the foot on them.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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gergreg wrote: November 22, 2022, 9:22 pm Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia. Wouldn't this be a boilover.
The Argies were very unlucky not to be up 3 or 4 nil at half

They put the ball in the back of net 3 times and got them all called back, 2 of which for VERY marginal offsides, that as i understand it were technically correct calls but as a sports fan who just lobs in for big events, i find the soccer offside rule is one of the more ridiculous rules in sport.
It's imo, utterly stupid that a players feet can be a foot behind the defender but because he's leaning forward to start his run, and his **** arm sleeve is in front, then it's call back. Im sure soccer purists will come and tell me that's a good rule but save your time. I understand all the arguments and i simply dont agree with the rule.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Botman wrote: November 23, 2022, 8:12 am
gergreg wrote: November 22, 2022, 9:22 pm Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia. Wouldn't this be a boilover.
The Argies were very unlucky not to be up 3 or 4 nil at half

They put the ball in the back of net 3 times and got them all called back, 2 of which for VERY marginal offsides, that as i understand it were technically correct calls but as a sports fan who just lobs in for big events, i find the soccer offside rule is one of the more ridiculous rules in sport.
It's imo, utterly stupid that a players feet can be a foot behind the defender but because he's leaning forward to start his run, and his **** arm sleeve is in front, then it's call back. Im sure soccer purists will come and tell me that's a good rule but save your time. I understand all the arguments and i simply dont agree with the rule.
It's as weird as the forward pass rule in league.

But yeah, I don't know why they don't just amend it to say the feet are the marker for offside or not. (the forwards feet can't be past the defenders feet) It would make it a lot simpler.

If you don't have an offside rule at all you'd just get long high balls pumped in the air from end to end to tall players just outside the goalie box and nothing in between. Not very entertaining.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Oh yeah i absolutely get the need for an offside rule, no qualms about that at all, just how this rule is currently officiated.... i just cant get around it when a dudes feet are clearly behind the defender when the ball is released. He's behind him and we're taking great goals and enterprising/entertaining soccer off the table because some guys **** sleeve, or a thin sliver of someone's hip or forehead might (and MIGHT is all it is, since this VAR technology is FAR from reliable) be in front of a defender

and to your point, im sure casual RL fans would find a few rules in our sport to be extremely confusing and make little sense.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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On other notes though, i watched most of the socceroos game... and the difference in quality between the sides was substantial, which i guess is to be expected.
The french played with such grace and control, precision in their passing and ball movement left us for dead. Probably could have put 6 goals past us if they were a tad better with their finishing. Mbappé had probably 2-3 chances he might bury home most times
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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let's be fair dinkum, Aus have no right being there after qualifying through the gutter in a penalty shoot out against Sth American 75th ranked team

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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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bonehead wrote:let's be fair dinkum, Aus have no right being there after qualifying through the gutter in a penalty shoot out against Sth American 75th ranked team

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The amount of games they botched against bum Asian teams they shouldn't have even made it to the playoffs

The Socceroos were painful to watch, their buildup was so slow, they rarely found space and when they did the reciever had the touch of a sledgehammer. France's speed on the wings absolutely destroyed the defence, and as pig said if they didn't blow chances it could've and probably should've been 7 or 8

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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Australia is a developing side with few players in the squad who play in overseas competitions. The experience of the World Cup will be good for player development. To come up against the current World Cup title holders first up is just how the draw panned out. Most teams in the World Cup will not beat France. Denmark are also a very good side in Group D. The match against Tunisia is our opportunity for a win if we are good enough. We only have to wait until the weekend.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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You couldn’t pay me enough to watch a single game.

At any level, boring boring boring.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by gerg »

-PJ- wrote:You couldn’t pay me enough to watch a single game.

At any level, boring boring boring.
I try my best to watch, at least for the World Cup but **** me it's a struggle. Most games bore me to tears, but generally speaking Brazil and Spain are usually ok because they focus on attack.

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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Yes he’s having Fava beans instead of oranges at half time.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Japan have beaten Germany in their opening match. Along with the Saudi's who beat Argentina, the two leading sides from our qualifying group in the Asian Football Confederation have now had wins at the World Cup against more favored sides.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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RedRaider wrote: November 24, 2022, 6:23 am Japan have beaten Germany in their opening match. Along with the Saudi's who beat Argentina, the two leading sides from our qualifying group in the Asian Football Confederation have now had wins at the World Cup against more favored sides.
I said 20 years ago that Japan would win two world cups in my lifetime.

I was drunk, obviously, but they're playing well.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Yes they are TR, skill, speed, commitment and the nerve/focus to come back from being behind early in the game is a tough combination of factors to beat. Japan qualified second in our group B of qualifying in the AFC and beat the Saudi's on the way through to the World Cup. They are in Group E in the World Cup and still have Spain and Costa Rica to play, but by beating Germany they are well on the way to the knock out stage of the World Cup. I think they will beat Costa Rica to get through. The match against Spain will be a beauty.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

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Qatar 2nd host country to be eliminated in the group stage, I'd say they'd be the first to be out after 2 games

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