Socceroos vs Paraguay 2026 World Cup match thread 🇦🇺🇵🇾

[Bunch_of_hacks]

All good guys
Ange ain’t gonna happen.
As for poppa
Parking the bus staying inverted is not complicated Graz to then break out in attack.
Been done for years not pioneering.
Trouble is not picking the cattle that could actually do damage in the first half backed up by the good defense.

This, bang on.

Nothing wrong with using catenaccio with counter attack, especially when you have great defenders/keepers, fast attackers and poor ball players (like us!!). The issue is we took away our threats going forward, and in leckies case played an outside winger in a position that requires him to come inside to allow space up the line for the RWB. Completely nullified Italiano going foward, and was soooo far away from toure who was very isolated. Basically we were attacking with one less player than what we were against turkey, and our players were not connected.

The volpato sub changed this, not just because of his dribbling, but also as hes a left footer and looks to come inside. This allowed Italiano to overlap and volpato was a lot closer to the CF, creating an attacking triangle which worked well.

Nothing wrong with the system, it suits us well infact, but the application of it last game was very poor.

I get he was tryong to nullify the excellent US fullbacks, but he completely blunted us gling forward which inevitably allowed the US to put us under more pressure, undoing what he was tryingvto achieve in the first place

 

[JS96]

Hrustic is a lazy bastard and shouldn't even be in the squad. His deadballs are decent but I want to scream at him for his work rate.

 

[JS96]

No he never 'dreamt' of a back 3.

He religiously is a 433 man, he switched to a 343 or 352 in latter stages of 2018 world cup qualifying after we kept conceding goals on the counter and the media were crucifying him for being too gung- ho. We switched after the Thailand game at AAMI which we drew and the media slammed him.

Im a Spurs fan, and can tell you he switched to a 352/343 sometimes to close out matches, did it at end of the europa league final infact, but it was always a defensive tactic he had up his sleeve when he feared the opposition. Ideally he aims for his 433 inverted fullback system.

He dreamt of it worked perfectly for us when it wasn't. The players he picked was the problem.

 

[Bunch_of_hacks]

Proportionally not necessarily. We've got plenty of good ball players that Popovic is overlooking.

We dont really relative to other nations.
We have Robertson who just played last season in League one, we have Luongo in the Champ whose 33 and was out all last season.

We have Volpato whose a good player dobt get me wrong but is a serie A bench player, and we have Hrustic who played all season in a team that got relegated from the eredivisie.

Thats it really as far as proper technicians go.

Our relative strengths are our keepers, huge yet mobile CBs, and fast forwards and wingbbacks.

Popa's system is very suited to our playing stocks, just the application of it was very wrong with the two 'outside' wingers he picked which blunted our wingbacks getting forward, left a huge chasm in the middle of the park making it easy to defend against, and left Toure totally isolated. Was like going into a fight with one arm tied

 

[JS96]

We should just pretend we need to finish 2nd. These other group results are starting to nudge either 4 point potentials or 3 points and good GD.

The NZ will be clearer in a few hours. Iran drawing their last game will mean 3 points and even GD. NZ probably to finish on Max 2 points. Belgium on 5 and Egypt could be anything currently.

 

[HonestSpursFan]

Hrustic is a lazy bastard and shouldn't even be in the squad. His deadballs are decent but I want to scream at him for his work rate.

To quote SZA, he likes to "snooze and miss the moment".

 

[HonestSpursFan]

The NZ will be clearer in a few hours. Iran drawing their last game will mean 3 points and even GD. NZ probably to finish on Max 2 points. Belgium on 5 and Egypt could be anything currently.

Belgium could get grouped. They’ve had a proper shit campaign in a fairly easy group.

 

[rebelliousfeminist974]

Belgium could get grouped. They’ve had a proper shit campaign in a fairly easy group.

Belgium got grouped last World Cup cycle so if they end up getting grouped again this year it would mean their campaign has ended at the first hurdle for the second straight edition of football's showpiece event.

 

[DandyCasey]

Huge set piece threat for starters. Prob the best set piece taker ive seen for the socceroos. Has a wand of a left boot on him, can really cross and pick a pass.

Statistically great at winning the ball in the final third and can create and ping passes. On the flip side doesn't really threaten running at players.

 

[DandyCasey]

He dreamt of it worked perfectly for us when it wasn't. The players he picked was the problem.

He experimented with a back three cos we didn't have the cattle for his preferred formation.

 

[DandyCasey]

Feel like Popa really missed a beat not having a look at Dylan Scicluna in camp. He is probably the best we have in tight areas and can run at and beat players and an excellent rull winner.

 

[erogenouszone]

Christ almighty
Resting core players being over worked lol
6day odd breaks between games.

That's just deflection. Coaches will always draw attention away from the players no matter how illogical. Lest we forget that they were jerking their gherkins about the squad's preparation being the first one there etc so I don't pay coach comments like that any mind. Fact is Popa fucked up and Poch midfield rotation and overload worked very well.

 

[JM47]

It will be really, really interesting how Paraguay approach this game.

Whilst a draw will be sufficient for them, a loss could well be catastrophic and a win would see them face a more palatable Rd of 32 opponent. Knowing a loss could well eliminate them, I think we're most likely to see a more conservative approach from them, with a desire to jag a goal on the break. This is more or less how they play, but just interesting how their approach is well dependent on the consequence of the result.

 

[ClockworkOrange]

Struggled might be harsh, but the year in question, 2013/14 the year leading up to the wc, he was in and out of the xi, sometimes dropped from the squad sometimes and often la rocca and poljak where favoured in midfield. Against us (the roar) he replaced la rocca who got injured which changed the game. Mooy was clearly the better player, but in poppas system la roccas positional discipline and physical presence completely shut us out imo

I think Mooy was competing for the AM spot with a guy called Shinji Ono, rather than a DM spot with La Rocca. Mooy had played 21 games in 3 seasons when he arrived at WSW. In fact some may argue that Mooy’s career actually took off under Popa ….

 

[kiro kompiro]

I think Mooy was competing for the AM spot with a guy called Shinji Ono, rather than a DM spot with La Rocca. Mooy had played 21 games in 3 seasons when he arrived at WSW. In fact some may argue that Mooy’s career actually took off under Popa ….

I thought Mooy left WSW because Popa didn't give him enough matches?

 

[Herringbone]

That but with Ira alongside Toure and Volpato as a 10.

Like it

 

[LFC]

I thought Mooy left WSW because Popa didn't give him enough matches?

and what does that tell us re reading players eh - goes to MC for 2seasons rips it, the rest is history.

 

[DandyCasey]

Aiden carrying that ankle injury? If so not sure what Popa is smoking regarding resting players.

 

[ClockworkOrange]

I thought Mooy left WSW because Popa didn't give him enough matches?

He played more games than Ono … maybe he didn’t like the rotation … especially getting dropped every time he scored a goal.

 

[Bbouy]

I would hate to play NZ in the round of 32. Imagine we lost to them, that would be soooo bad. Feels like a team we won't take too seriously and get caught out.