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The Australian National Football Team General Discussion*OFFICIAL*

Balard and Nisbet were very complementary players at CCM. Balard and Nisbet are both good ball winners and great organisers. Often Max would contest the ball and Niz would pick up the scraps at get CCM moving forward. I don't see either of them playing alone as a 6 for the NT. TBH I think you have to go back a fair while to find a solo effective 6 in the NT and I don't think any of the current crop can do it. Maybe Okon Jr in the future.

Circati has the right attributes but I'd prefer to build the defence around him.
It was certainly a very good CCM team unit in that year or two.
 
Balard plays mainly as a 6 these days (I think) and is near six foot. Playing well at a better level than anyone else in the conversation
I honestly have to convert from the Imperial measurement system to the Metric system these days!

6 foot =1.83 metres.
 
I was hoping to read a few more positive posts from some of Popa's naysayers for selecting newer players Segecic, Kalik, Botic, Milanovic, Balard, plus Irankunda and Matthews who've only played limited minutes.

Circati is still young, but is possibly already the best player in the team. Silvera and Toure haven't played many minutes either.

Popa is looking at a range of emerging players to create depth.

Is Souttar injured?
There have been a bunch of positive posts about the squad. Almost all positive actually.
 
It can also depend on the tactics of the opposition. It is handy having a tall screener in 2 midfield DMs, but the taller the less nimble.

If the opposition plays a lot of high balls into the attacking third, a good header as a DM is important. Jedi did this for Aus with aplomb, as does Irvine currently.

The Italian great DM Gattuso wasn’t tall, who played next to Pirlo.

Vince Grella was 1.83 m tall, but wasn’t that good in the air.
yeah usually if you want to have a tall DM if you play 2 10s and its handy to have a player like that in your squad (even if not first choice every game) for if you are chasing the game or facing a deep block that refuses to break down
 

Australian players FIFA 26 ratings
Irvine the highest at 75. I actually play better with 60-80 range players. I find there' a bit more manual work to their movements whereas the CPU likes to get creative with higher ones and the twists put me off.
 
For anyone that hasn't played FIFA for a while, give the latest ones a go and see if you can get the Kewell card... unbelievably good in the game, outside of the foot shot is overpowered.
 

There is nothing I have read about this kid that isn't hugely impressive.

Also big credit to Lynch for continuing to provide coverage for the sport when there is little else, even as he has regular chemo. His sub stack has lots of great articles as well.
 
I think it was Bowden or Pala around 2018 saying that if things keep up we'll see the benefits of African heritage in Australian football. Well, it certainly arrived tonight.
 
Following yesterday's games Australia has jumped above Iran (and S.Korea) on https://www.eloratings.net/AFC. I think this is the first time since around 2018? Hopefully the same reflects in this month's FIFA Rankings as well.
No such luck. Ecuador has moved above us and we have dropped to 25th based on this live ranking of FIFA Rankings:

 
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