Australia World Cup 2026 Journey!

[sevengoals]

Mancini walks.
Next game in three weeks against the Saudis.


https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... coach-exit

[Stuckey]

[blahblah]

Not sure what to make of the squad for the Saudi/Bahrain games. Some players like Balard I am excited to see, whereas others such as Borrello and Grant feel out of place. Given what I saw on the weekend, Pieria would be a better choice than Grant.

Mathews had a shocker yesterday; real brain fade., Hopefully he puts that behind him.

Max BALARD NAC Breda, Netherlands
Aziz BEHICH Melbourne City FC
Brandon BORRELLO Western Sydney Wanderers FC
Jordy BOS K.V.C Westerlo, Belgium
Martin BOYLE Hibernian FC, Scotland
Cameron BURGESS Ipswich Town FC, England
Anthony CACERES Sydney FC, Australia
Milos DEGENEK FK Crvena zvezda, Serbia
Mitchell DUKE FC Machida Zelvia, Japan
Joe GAUCI (Gk) Aston Villa FC, England
Jason GERIA Melbourne Victory FC, Australia
Craig GOODWIN Al Wehda FC, Saudi Arabia
Rhyan GRANT Sydney FC, Australia
Ajdin HRUSTIC U.S. Salernitana 1919, Italy
Jackson IRVINE FC St Pauli, Germany
Paul IZZO (Gk) Randers FC, Denmark
Hayden MATTHEWS Sydney FC, Australia
Riley McGREE Middlesbrough FC, England
Lewis MILLER Hibernian FC, Scotland
Aiden O’NEILL Standard de Liège, Belgium
Kye ROWLES Heart of Midlothian FC, Scotland
Mat RYAN AS Roma, Italy
Harry SOUTTAR Sheffield United FC, England
Nishan VELUPILLAY Melbourne Victory FC, Australia
Patrick YAZBEK Nashville SC, United States
Kusini YENGI Portsmouth FC, England

[otto62]

Popovic really stamping his authority on the team with those changes. I wonder if he’s planning to take our style in a different direction as well?

Big, big games these next two. Win both and I think we’re one foot in the door.

[EdDog]

Alex Robertson didn't make himself available for selection but played on the weekend for Cardiff. Would be gutting if we miss out on him.

[blahblah]

Alex Robertson didn't make himself available for selection but played on the weekend for Cardiff. Would be gutting if we miss out on him.

I don't think the world will fall apart if he chooses elsewhere (Scotland? Peru?).

I'd rather those who want to wear the Green & Gold on the pitch, hence if he doesn't want to play we shouldn't be begging for him to do so. He may well change his mind once he matures a bit and realises opportunities are slipping by.

[sevengoals]

Huge.

[sevengoals]

Australia 0-0 Saudi Arabia

27min

Gauci saves!

[sevengoals]

Australia 0-0 Saudi Arabia
48min

Gauci shows his class.
Two great saves.
Offside.

[sevengoals]

Australia 0-0 Saudi Arabia

72min

Surprised VAR did not look closer at that incident in the box with Velupillay.

[sevengoals]

Australia 0-0 Saudi Arabia
Game over.

Now that was a dramatic finish!
Oz nearly blows it at the death and then nearly scores with the last action of the match.

Football, bloody hell.

[otto62]

Missed the game. Player ratings make it look like the Saudi’s absolutely dominated us. Is that an accurate assessment?


Oh. And I wasn’t impressed by Popovic’s pregame presser. I felt he made it sound like it was a “start from scratch” project, where we aren’t playing the right way and he has to rip it up to fix it. Then I see the lineup and that’s what he’s done. He’d better get his new team and tactics firing pretty quick or we’ll miss the cut.

[sevengoals]

We huffed and puffed but unfortunately it was not enough once again.
We take too long in transition.
Sometimes we need to be quicker and more direct to goal.

[Woy of the Wovers]

We huffed and puffed but unfortunately it was not enough once again.
We take too long in transition.
Sometimes we need to be quicker and more direct to goal.

We looked more threatening with Vellupilay and then Borello I thought.

Saudis were good, even though they had a few out. They made it very hard for us. Our 2nd half was obviously better, but they really piled on the pressure. However, a lot of huff and puff from them too.

I thought the Velupillay incident in the box was a penalty. He had the ball and 3 of them clattered into him and took him out. Could not see how they got the free kick!

However, the offside call on their disallowed goal was dubious. I noticed the commentary team didn’t interrogate it much, but he looked onside to me when the ball was kicked.

Definitely missed Goodwin.


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[Stuckey]

We looked better once we worked out how to get Hrustic the ball. I really hope he can get back to regular game time with Salernitana. I still believe we wouldn't have made the last world cup without him.