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Socceroos vs Egypt - 2026 World Cup R32 - Sat 4th of July 4am AEST

To be fair for as good as our attacking talent is I do believe that our absolute best players are our are defense. Before the tournament I said that our backline really was the best it's been since 2006 and I stand by that. Souttar, Circati, Herrington, Bos. Fantastic players. Italiano out is a loss but Behich is a very experienced player and I trust him to step up yet again.

Our backline right now is almost on par, with our 06 Squad, and I believe Circati and Herrington, Bos can exceed that level in the future. Our midfield is nowhere near that level. Our attacking players have the POTENTIAL to reach that level. Is my very brief take on it.
 
Irvine should start this game. I believe we need his experience but also his runs into the box and goalscoring threat.

Irvine has the most goals for the socceroos in this current squad.......

GRIM FINDING BUT LETS GO IRVINE
 
Alex M said:
We made the last 32 of the World Cup. That was looking pretty shaky when he took over nearly 2 years ago. While his tactics are a bit dour (not dire) I think his selections have proven to be pretty sound overall.
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What a crock of shit. We were maybe looking shaky at qualifying for the World Cup at the first stage. Not missing out altogether. And Popovic set us out wrong against the US - that shocking half could have cost us just as Germany did for Pim. As it was it was a tight-rope to get to the 32.

His selections

Picked by others before

Ryan, Behich, Circati, Souttar, Burgess, Degenek, Geria, O'Neill, Devlin, Irvine, Metcalfe, Hrustic, Mabil, Bos, Toure, Irankunda - picked before

Leckie - picked before but poor choice

Picked by Popovic - sound picks

Beach, Herrington, Italiano, Trewin, Volpato, Yengi

Okon-Englster - debatable (I still think too soon)

Izzo - poor choice
Vellupillay - poor choice

So his basic selections are sixteen because they had already been picked, one that has already been approached, six that were sound new picks, one debatable choice and two poor choices.

He has probably done enough at this stage to justify the extension to the Asian Cup (which was done too early) but he has not done anything great in terms of progressing our game or selections but he does gets a pass mark for maintaining the status quo.

Am I excited by the future - yes - because we have some great younger players both in the squad and coming through. Does Popovic add to my confidence - no. Would Arnold add to the confidence - probably not either.
 
patjennings said:
What a crock of shit. We were maybe looking shaky at qualifying for the World Cup at the first stage. Not missing out altogether. And Popovic set us out wrong against the US - that shocking half could have cost us just as Germany did for Pim. As it was it was a tight-rope to get to the 32.

His selections

Picked by others before

Ryan, Behich, Circati, Souttar, Burgess, Degenek, Geria, O'Neill, Devlin, Irvine, Metcalfe, Hrustic, Mabil, Bos, Toure, Irankunda - picked before

Leckie - picked before but poor choice

Picked by Popovic - sound picks

Beach, Herrington, Italiano, Trewin, Volpato, Yengi

Okon-Englster - debatable (I still think too soon)

Izzo - poor choice
Vellupillay - poor choice

So his basic selections are sixteen because they had already been picked, one that has already been approached, six that were sound new picks, one debatable choice and two poor choices.

He has probably done enough at this stage to justify the extension to the Asian Cup (which was done too early) but he has not done anything great in terms of progressing our game or selections but he does gets a pass mark for maintaining the status quo.

Am I excited by the future - yes - because we have some great younger players both in the squad and coming through. Does Popovic add to my confidence - no. Would Arnold add to the confidence - probably not either.
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Great post. Agree on every point.
 
patjennings said:
What a crock of shit. We were maybe looking shaky at qualifying for the World Cup at the first stage. Not missing out altogether. And Popovic set us out wrong against the US - that shocking half could have cost us just as Germany did for Pim. As it was it was a tight-rope to get to the 32.

His selections

Picked by others before

Ryan, Behich, Circati, Souttar, Burgess, Degenek, Geria, O'Neill, Devlin, Irvine, Metcalfe, Hrustic, Mabil, Bos, Toure, Irankunda - picked before

Leckie - picked before but poor choice

Picked by Popovic - sound picks

Beach, Herrington, Italiano, Trewin, Volpato, Yengi

Okon-Englster - debatable (I still think too soon)

Izzo - poor choice
Vellupillay - poor choice

So his basic selections are sixteen because they had already been picked, one that has already been approached, six that were sound new picks, one debatable choice and two poor choices.

He has probably done enough at this stage to justify the extension to the Asian Cup (which was done too early) but he has not done anything great in terms of progressing our game or selections but he does gets a pass mark for maintaining the status quo.

Am I excited by the future - yes - because we have some great younger players both in the squad and coming through. Does Popovic add to my confidence - no. Would Arnold add to the confidence - probably not either.
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You left out his outstanding man management of Triantis and Segecic.
 
As a coach your not going to get every selection correct. I agree he set us up wrong against the USA tactically and player wise.

Who are a few young players up coming in the aleague to look out for or players playing abroad for the future ?.
 
Nothing to fear against Egypt if we do the same like we did against 🇺🇸 it will bite us. To much respect and didn't get it right tactically and personel wise. Has to get the balance between defence and attack right. I'm confident we can win this and expose them
 
Villa Dan said:
As a coach your not going to get every selection correct. I agree he set us up wrong against the USA tactically and player wise.

Who are a few young players up coming in the aleague to look out for or players playing abroad for the future ?.
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Of the top of my head and probably missing some - some still NPL, some ALM, some OS

James Overy, Amlani Tatu, ,Haine Eames, Dylan Leonard, Medin Memeti, Clayton Taylor, Eli Adams, Dylan Periac-Cullen, Jaylan Pearman, Daniel Bennie, Waturo Kamijo, Miguel Di Pizio, Marcus Younis, Luka Jovanovic, Thomas Waddingham, Hayden Mathews, Kasey Bos, Oliver O'Carroll, Luke Becvinovski, Max Naylor, Max Court
 
Australia will be playing an EPL side with a substantial mix of politics, sectarianism and hatred and no, the quality of EPL leaves a lot to be desired. Australian AL players would be dominant in the EPL and I can vouch for this after watching many EPL (best values for drawn games) games. I am pretty certain Australia will win, but it will be an ugly win.
 
Quicky said:
I wish Irankunda was kept wide and Yengi used in Tourss absence.
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I don't think Irankunda is a lone central striker at this stage of his development but he is young and I think with more experience he could handle that role if needed. At least he was able to keep a few defenders on him leaving a little more space for others.
 
There are not many EPL players in the Egyptian side; most are home based.
Egypt are not a major soccer power, so we should beat them.

Having said that, I can't see where our goals are coming from. None in the last two games. We have no established centre forward, and Irankunda is not being used in the right way, he needs to go out wide to run on to defence splitting passes, and he is just not getting that service.

Hope the lads are practicing penalties because that may be our only chance.
 
Alex M said:
I don't think Irankunda is a lone central striker at this stage of his development but he is young and I think with more experience he could handle that role if needed. At least he was able to keep a few defenders on him leaving a little more space for others.
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I don't think Irankunda has been bad in the role and I'm not criticising him. It's more a view I think he is more dangerous wide, which helps the team, so I think how do we make that happen.
 
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