Road to Brazil

[sydmariner]

FFS.

[post like sydmariner]No Charlie Yankos[/post like sydmariner]

So your not a fan of lucas

 

[dibo]

So your not a fan of lucas

[post like sydmariner] So your not a fan of charlie[/post like sydmariner]

 

[VicMariner]

.......what's the name of that movie where the guy could not let go of his dead mother??

 

[sydmariner]

[post like sydmariner] So your not a fan of charlie[/post like sydmariner]

Yes I am a fan of him

 

[MagpieMariner]

I'm a fan of Lucas Neil. I'm also a fan of the Rolling Stones, but unlike the Stones, footballers can't go on forever. Sooner or later, a footballer's career at the highest level has to end, and I'm afraid for Lucas that time is now. I would rather fondly remember the highlights of Lucas' career than mutter to myself "Shit Lucas, why didn't you quit last year?" as I watch yet another player nearly 20 years younger beat him all ends up and make him look foolish. I fear this scenario was very much on the cards had he been selected for Brazil. Or even worse, see him get splinters in his arse from spending all his time on the bench. I'd rather remember his last match representing our country as our captain. Thanks for all you've done for Australian football Lucas, now enjoy your time without that huge weight of a country's expectations on your shoulders.

 

[Big Al]

I really like the squad - though I think Duke, Bernie and Juric are all way more talented than Taggart.

Not sure about that.
Inconstant would some up those names - Bernie came home strong. A full year playing that well & maybe the asian cup or what ever is after that.

Taggart was very good & I think he suits the socceroos needs better than those you have mentioned

 

[midfielder]

Kinda start a new thread or post it here ... the change in media acceptance of the WC / A-League and Football generally ... an article from a AFL jounro ...

Waking up to the world game

• PATRICK SMITH
• THE AUSTRALIAN
• MAY 15, 2014 12:00AM

• http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...-the-world-game/story-e6frg7uo-1226918064560#
  

THE gas fire is small but energetic and warms the room well enough. It is a game you don’t know much about — certainly not the subtleties — but it is enough to know Australia is playing it. And that it is a World Cup, which must be of some significance. You barrack.

So in the winter of 1974 we get to know Jack Reilly, Peter Wilson, Manfred Schaefer, Ray Richards, Atti Abonyi and Adrian Alston. There are other team and squad members but those are the names that have stuck in the memory bank at an age when nothing much does.

The losses back then at that level are automatically honourable: 0-3 to Germany, 0-2 to East Germany. Then what we will remember warmly, rightly or wrongly, is the goalless draw against Chile. At least it is not a defeat.

For those of us, and we are in our millions, who follow the AFL and rugby league, our interest quickly reverts to watching Richmond win its fourth premiership under Tom Hafey and Eastern Suburbs win the NSW league crown. Eastern Suburbs, rebadged as the Sydney Roosters in 2000, are the reigning NRL top dogs if that’s what roosters can ever be. Think Big wins the first of successive Melbourne Cups and Jeff Thomson is about to introduce the world to the sandshoe crusher.

From there the world game retreats from Australia’s consciousness. National leagues are set up but mostly rendered dysfunctional by ethnic tensions and lack of money. It is not until 2006 and off the back of a collection of wonderful players that Australia will again reach the World Cup finals. Interest is on the climb, too, because a new national league reinvented the sport locally. The A-League is here to stay.

Reilly, Wilson, Schaefer, Abonyi were our heroes 40 years ago. Now it is the likes of Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Mark Schwarzer, Mark Bresciano, Scott Chipperfield and Lucas Neill. Then along comes John Aloisi. And that moment. Ahh, the moment.

A win against Uruguay must be achieved if Australia is to get to Germany. The sides are locked together after the return game in Sydney in November 2005. A penalty shootout is required. Our immediate World Cup fate is on Aloisi’s boot. He shoots, the ball is in the net and Aloisi begins one of the most joyous and contagious runs in

Australian sport. Interest in World Cup football is growing into pride. Names like Kewell and Viduka ring more than bells, they excite the imagination. Schwarzer, too. We have moved on from bystanders with an interest to experts with expectations. And Guus Hiddink, the manager-coach, is considered a national treasure.

Not bad for a Dutchman.

A spot in the quarter-finals disappears in injury time when Italian Fabio Grosso takes a dive. He is downright unAustralian. Francesco Totti puts the penalty away and Australia is finished.

Four years later, another Dutchman manages Australia. Pim Verbeek takes on Germany without a striker and loses 4-0. That is effectively Australia’s campaign and all of a sudden it is Pim Vamoose.

Still football grows back home. The A-League is entranced by the new team out of Sydney’s west that reaches the grand final in its first two seasons. More people know more about the European leagues, too, than ever before.

Hell, even the AFL now mimics football. The build-up at the back is slow, sometimes back and wide, wide and back; possession is kept through the midfield. The defenders push up to and across the centre to form a quasi offside line. A long ball over the top has everyone dash back either to score a goal or defend one.

Then yesterday the side for next month’s cup is named. Australian Ange Postecoglu documents his initial squad. He is economical with his words but not even his deadpan delivery can dilute the excitement.

There is comfort for those of us who have not quite reached aficionado status. Cahill is there so we might score a goal. Josh Kennedy is tall and always looks threatening. Mark Bresciano, yep, we like his bald head. Mark Milligan and Luke Wilkshire we recognise. But no Neill, no Archie, no Brett Holman. Alex has gone brusquely.

Our growing interest in the A-League has been worth it. Only eight of the 30-man squad did not start off in the local league. We might not be able to name all of them but we know enough.

Eugene Galekovic and Mitchell Langerak as goalkeepers. Tick, tick. Defenders Jason Davidson, Ivan Franjic (he was on tele yesterday with Ange), Matthew Spiranovic and Wilkshire. Tick, tick, tick, tick. Bailey Wright we know, too, not as a footballer but as a young man caught up in some type of betting scandal. Cross, cross, cross.

We are on a first-name basis with some of the midfielders. Tommy and Tommy. Mile, James and James. Matthew. And Mark and Mark. Then we have Tim and Josh up forward. Feel very good about that. Tim gets a couple of goals just buying the bread.

A generation literally woke to soccer in 1974. Now it is part of our lives by osmosis. The higher profile of the sport, the magic of November 2005, the wrenching moment Grosso fell and now a new bunch of kids are going off to chance their luck in Brazil. We are not observers any more. This is part of our lives. We have our favourites, we have theories, we have our hopes and the Socceroos have our support. It’s fantastic, isn’t it?

And even better, we’ve got a new heater.

 

[sydmariner]

Then what we will remember warmly, rightly or wrongly, is the goalless draw against Chile. At least it is not a defeat.

finally revenge at last

 

[Big Al]

Was listening to the Friday night NRL game on ABC radio.

We don't have an NRL game on in Sydney for 4 weeks. "We are so lucky the A League has finished" SFC or the Wanderers playing then would have been very bad".

In the past they would just bitch about no Sunday game. Now they refer to us as a threat. In the past they wouldn't even know the A League was on. The WSW have cartainly caused a stir out west vs. Parra, Tigers & Panthers.

Possibly never be equals but are certainly on the radar.

The timing of WSW was pretty good to as it has reinvigorated the league & Media at a crucial time as it approaches the 10th season. That is a great success on it's own.

Also the league has strengthened & how the Socceroos go will be very interesting & show how far the league has come & how far it has to go.

 

[Atomic]

Absolutely dire performance against Sth Africa tonight. i was hoping we'd be able to jag a draw over in Brazil, but that is looking like a pipe dream at the moment.

Wilko… love him to death, but far to slow based on tonights performance. I have a feeling he'll make the 23 though, as we are struggling for CBs.

 

[Roy Law]

Wilko - no one went past him; every header he won went to a team mate; did not give the ball way. For a bloke who looked pretty nervous before the game he quietly grew into it. The midfield let down the Socceroos, not getting back quick enough and not controlling the play. Milligan could have prevented the goal but he stood on the edge of the area and just watched.

 

[true believer]

Absolutely dire performance against Sth Africa tonight. i was hoping we'd be able to jag a draw over in Brazil, but that is looking like a pipe dream at the moment.

Wilko… love him to death, but far to slow based on tonights performance. I have a feeling he'll make the 23 though, as we are struggling for CBs.

It's gunna be like clubbing baby seals.

 

[Big Al]

Pitch was horrible didn't help.

Wilko first game starting so going to be nevous but though he was solid with not much to do.

The crossing is crap & predictible.

Scoring off there first & only trip to our end on a break was really concerning. Mat will have plenty of work to do as they will be shooting at him like he is the target of the firing squad.

Liked the movement & speed - Much prefer to watch them than Holgers crew but lacked any class in the final 3rd & crossing every time was not up to scratch.

Before the game comemtator said crosses where almost banned under Ange at Roar & MV but was playing to our strength with Timmy. Timmy is good but crossing is not a strength of our team. Would be better keeping it on the carpet & trying to get into goal scoring positions.

either way the WC will be a massacre

 

[pjennings]

Before the game comemtator said crosses where almost banned under Ange at Roar & MV but was playing to our strength with Timmy. Timmy is good but crossing is not a strength of our team. Would be better keeping it on the carpet & trying to get into goal scoring positions.

That first 20 minutes wasn't as pretty as a lot of people made out. The much lauded middle (in both ways) of the park was actually pretty poor.

Starting with McGowan at CB. The guy looked suspect all night, ignored both Davison and Wilkinson who tried to move the back four as a unit. His lingering led to their goal.
If McGowan ever found Holland he then seemed to lose the ball. Milligan when he wasn't losing the ball was fouling the Sth African players and Trioisi seemed not to be able to put anything on target.

With this ineptitude it was no wonder that Australia relied on Wilkinson to send it wide to Franjic and Davidson to bomb forward and combine well with Oar and Leckie. Whenever the ball went to the centre of midfield they immediately lost the ball and Franjic and Davidson had to scamper back. No wonder they resorted to hopeful crosses to Timmy.

The good news is that Spira, Jedinak, Bresc and Rogic are a lot stronger than the spine last night.

 

[pjennings]

The dilemma is that we only have 4 fit CBs. That said I still think McGowan should be one of the those to be cut. Milligan at his worst would still be better at CB than McGowan last night. Spike also does not fit the 4-1-2-3 formation - not creative enough in attack and unable to fill a lone DM role at a high level so his only option should be to drop back.

Sarota, Good and Brilliante have been cut so the remaining guys to miss out should be McGowan, Vidosic, Birighitti & Holland
leaving

Keepers of Ryan, Langerak, Galekovic

Defenders of Davidson, Spiranovic, Wilkinson, Wright, Milligan, Franjic, Wilkshire

Mids of Jedinak, McKay, Luongo, Trioisi, Bozanic, Bresciano, Rogic

Attack of Oar, Halloran, Kennedy, Taggart, Cahill, Leckie

It would look so much better with a fit Williams, Kruse and Sainsbury

 

[Big Al]

Sainsbury knee injury is worse every time the socceroos play. He would have been great & got a run. Bugger.

It's probably not going to matter how many CB's we have. We will get punished.

Might actually be the best for all those injured players. While missing the cup is huge being embarrassed at the back is not

 

[Forum Phoenix]

That first 20 minutes wasn't as pretty as a lot of people made out. The much lauded middle (in both ways) of the park was actually pretty poor.

Starting with McGowan at CB. The guy looked suspect all night, ignored both Davison and Wilkinson who tried to move the back four as a unit. His lingering led to their goal.
If McGowan ever found Holland he then seemed to lose the ball. Milligan when he wasn't losing the ball was fouling the Sth African players and Trioisi seemed not to be able to put anything on target.

With this ineptitude it was no wonder that Australia relied on Wilkinson to send it wide to Franjic and Davidson to bomb forward and combine well with Oar and Leckie. Whenever the ball went to the centre of midfield they immediately lost the ball and Franjic and Davidson had to scamper back. No wonder they resorted to hopeful crosses to Timmy.

The good news is that Spira, Jedinak, Bresc and Rogic are a lot stronger than the spine last night.

For mine, those are the most accurate posts I have read across the net on the game PJ.

Before my giving my 2 cents, I should state I'm not unhappy. We should have rebuilt earlier by investing in at least 3 or four more players prior to now I believe, but I like the renewed spirit and I'm confident that we will improve under Ange and I think we will have some great new players emerge through the ranks over the next ten years.

The SA game... I thought 25 minutes of likeable pressure and enthusiasm translated to good possession and some excitement, but those 25 minutes were still full of poor decisions, poor technique - namely a lack of meaningful passes and vision, topped off by some very poor finishing. Ultimately in the front third, without a skilful #10, we were clearly reliant on attacking from wide making us too one dimensional. You can't play the ball central into pressure if you don't have talented enough ball to feet players there or a very gifted 9 like Viduka to work off. Rogic could be a big help with this, but watching his lack of progress I still don't think he trusts himself enough. The kid has no ego, it's a beautiful thing, but he has to decide to stand up and be counted or he will languish like he did at MV and Celtic among the bigger heads and personalities.

Also impossible to cut teams open if you don't have players with the passing ability required. Milligan was atrocious. And to be fair no one else was helping out much either.
Bresc will, and I thought Ollie showed glimpses of promise too, but Milligan will be preferred to Ollie and will play alongside Mile, and Mile won't help with this deficiency either... so our likely starting 11 still has me concerned. I think we are clearly missing a DM with the passing range required if we want to play with 2 and transition into dangerous attacks against top sides.

Timmy is a very hard one for me... our best goal scorer, national talisman, so needs to play... but he places considerable limitations on how we can and do play for mine, and I'm not sure he will be able, nor should we expect him, to be able to maintain a high pressing game for more than 30 minutes.

Imho, to play Ange's high pressure high tempo, keep possession in the middle at times, and be able to pass forward, the below line up would probably be the most suitable...

------------------Ryan

Franjic ---- Milligan ---- Wilko --- Davidson

------- Mile --------- Ollie/Mckay

------------- Rogic/Bresc
Halloran -------------------- Oar

--------------- Leckie

Key problem... missing Tim's inspiration and any real experience in the critical front third.


How I think we'll line up... (Love Ange to surprise me)

--------------- Ryan

Franjic ---- Spira ---- Wilko --- Davidson

------- Mile --------- Milligan

---------------Bresc
Leckie -------------------- Oar

-------------- Cahill

Likely problems as I see it...

Bresc and Tim will not be able to sustain the tempo Ange wants to play. Mile and Milligans lack of creative ability - will mean we are too reliant on Bresc - which as has been seen before means his (potentially high) impact on the game will all depend on how closely he is marked by our opponents and the way they set up.

Timmy will press hard until he can't... at which point he will do a skilful version of pressing, and our opponents will begin to play out of the back with greater ease and will have more and more meaningful possession. Timmy while a great finisher - lacks the skills and speed to go past anyone, so he is service dependent, and our service needs a lot of work. But Kennedy can't improve on this. Can Leckie or Halloran playing up front? In some areas perhaps, but could you back either of them to out score Timmy? Though the purpose of a team set up is to outscore the opposition...

A striker like Berisha would suite our needs perfectly. Huge work rate, presses hard and fast, great with the ball at his feet, and an excellent finisher.

The closest we have to that ilk in Australia is Duke, which is why I still genuinely think he should have been in the squad and will always maintain that it was a tragedy Arnie stuck him on the wing on his return form a successful NT call up. As for Taggart... (He certainly had a great season Big Al) but apart form his share of luck (which is fair enough) his season was full of goals I just honestly wouldn't at all be surprised if he never repeats, and the key indicator for me is that in general play he clearly lacks Dukes ability - and I have watched him for several years and he has never been consitent or prolific. I'm happy to be proved wrong, but he's another Hoffman for mine.

Back four - Wilko easily had the best positioning last game. Never lost his man. Covered moderately well. Did not ball watch. (Was surprised how many failed to see this)
Whereas the other three defenders at times, all lost their men, failed to mark, hold the line and ball watched... MvGowan the worst culprit. The other teams in our group will almost certainly destroy us because of this. Especially if our back four is even remotely as exposed by Milligan's well intentioned surges, that unfortunately have little chance of ever resulting in something as his technical ability nearly always lets him down at the end of them... He's really just a better Zadkovic. If he could pass better, he wouldn't have to push out of position so often to try and invent something. In fact if he was a better passer, he really would be a high quality player... But he isn't. Though at least he presses well, has a great work rate, decent tackler and marks well... A lesser Mile.

Anyhow, the positives as I see them...
It's a world cup.
Australia is in it.
Our spirit seems good I think.
They will have a go and football is a funny game and you can never be sure what can happen.
Both the line ups above I think are a lot stronger than what we fielded against SA for only 3 different inclusions.
We still have two more preparation games.
Ange will attack at least.
Our games will never be nil all draws...

 

[pjennings]

Milligan was actually playing further up than Holland but had to try and cover his ineptness. How I think we'll line up against Chile...the talk is that Ange is committed to 4-1-2-3.

-------------------- Ryan--------------------

Franjic ---- Wilko ---- Spira --- Davidson

-------------------- Mile ------------------

--------Bresc/Tommy------Ollie/McKay------

Leckie ------------Cahill-------------- Oar

I think Bresc and Tommy will share the position - probably starting with Tommy and when he runs out of gas replace him with Bresc who will appreciate coming on when the pace has slowed slightly. Ange will probably be leaning towards McKay at LAM but with a couple of weeks to go I think Ollie will impress him with his sharpness.

 

[sydmariner]

Milligan was actually playing further up than Holland but had to try and cover his ineptness. How I think we'll line up against Chile...the talk is that Ange is committed to 4-1-2-3.

-------------------- Ryan--------------------

Franjic ---- Wilko ---- Spira --- Davidson

-------------------- Mile ------------------

--------Bresc/Tommy------Ollie/McKay------

Leckie ------------Cahill-------------- Oar

I think Bresc and Tommy will share the position - probably starting with Tommy and when he runs out of gas replace him with Bresc who will appreciate coming on when the pace has slowed slightly. Ange will probably be leaning towards McKay at LAM but with a couple of weeks to go I think Ollie will impress him with his sharpness.

so is kennedy being used as a super-sub

 

[Atomic]

Milligan was actually playing further up than Holland but had to try and cover his ineptness. How I think we'll line up against Chile...the talk is that Ange is committed to 4-1-2-3.

-------------------- Ryan--------------------

Franjic ---- Wilko ---- Spira --- Davidson

-------------------- Mile ------------------

--------Bresc/Tommy------Ollie/McKay------

Leckie ------------Cahill-------------- Oar

I think Bresc and Tommy will share the position - probably starting with Tommy and when he runs out of gas replace him with Bresc who will appreciate coming on when the pace has slowed slightly. Ange will probably be leaning towards McKay at LAM but with a couple of weeks to go I think Ollie will impress him with his sharpness.

Not bad… 5 ex-Mariners