Having said that, Jordy Bos could do a lot worse than build up his upper-body strength closer to that of say, the AFL player Josh Rachele. He needs to💡

*Waddingham

That’d just confirm what a gaggle of clueless, shameless dillwads the current suits-in-charge are.

There’s this movie SAIPAN about Ireland’s disastrous preparation for their 🇰🇷🇯🇵 ‘02 WC campaign that culminated in Roy Keane walking out on the squad; it stars UK comedy-veteran Steve Coogan as then-🇮🇪 NT gaffer Mick McCarthy: And here’s the clip of the climactic bust-up between McCarthy and...

Ideally one in the vein of the AFL/NRL Footy Shows, rather than solely rehashing Cup Fever!’s formula💡

With Popa or any coach in his and Arnie’s mold in charge of the NT, it quite dampens the enthusiasm though😔

Was def the case w/big Harry; dunno about the others.

Finally watched it last night - by the time it finished I sincerely didn’t want it to end, but it was an absolute fucking masterpiece of a historical 🇦🇺⚽️ documentary nonetheless - that “WogBall” one from a couple of weeks ago could never, by comparison. Others have mentioned this in the...

[Update] FESFUT(El Salvador’s FA) started running another of these camps in Milan for their NT-eligible youngsters based in mainland Europe yesterday through till July 19th : Football Australia, whenTF will you learn..❓😔

Not particularly😌 That said, if they resist the temptation to operate exactly as Clive Palmer did, they’ll prob get by OK(ish) enough.

Never heard of ‘em before this morning, which is prob a lowkey red-flag. Hopefully they turn out to be kosher and not Palmer/Matheson/Tinkler revisited.

Dunno about now, but back in the day Latin footballing culture used to look down on that; it was seen as a last resort at best and tactical-cowardice at worst. Successfully playing out from the back under pressure was what earned respect in those circumstances, definitely. I recall that in his...

As a nation we’ve too many other cultural-⚽️ing influences besides England/the wider UK for that theory to hold water in this specific instance.

And in any case don’t know how to use them effectively. If Popa’s confirmedly in it for the long-haul, then we can def kiss any prospect of Gianluca Okon/Antonio Arena/Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli and now this Max Anastasio kid ever playing for us🇦🇺 goodbye😔

I get your objection to the post being AI because a bottle’s worth of water was used up forever in generating it..but that aspect aside, as long as there were no lies/exaggerations in said post then who really gives a fuck❓

It’s possible to attempt a halfway-approach in the meantime.

We still have to make maximum-effectiveness out of the skilled players that we do have, though. Let’s not have Herrington/Nestor/Volpato playing AFL with a round ball&no hands just because that’s what Connor Metcalfe does, for example.

I genuinely reckon the current FFA are too dumb for that to occur to them. Having said that, he’s not really what we need at the moment.

I’d have thought they’ve made it pretty clear they’re stubborn as hell in sticking to their guns esp. w/regards to having Popa’s back…

Which campaign’s that meant to be? I’m guessing Argentina ’78

It seems people just want quick-fixes, not to mention the fairytale-aspect of if he actually ends up being worth it this early on in the caper. But wishful-thinking’s all that is; it’s high-time we started dealing with reality instead.

All that can easily be deferred to his assistant-coach/es. The bottom-line is that, as Barca4life states, his stock has just taken the degree of nosedive that actually makes him a genuinely realistic option for us(moreso than 10yrs ago when we last approached him). And though I am of the...

I’ve always been of the opinion that if we ever win a WC, we should use an enlarged Federation Star(as appears on our flag and coat-of-arms) instead of the standard 5-pointed⭐️ star:

Post-Asian Cup we’ve no business giving the job to an (effectively)interim-manager, and I die on the hill that’s it’s still much too soon for Millsy to take the job now. His time will come no doubt, but not anytime soon. Besides, for further context Forlán retired 2-3 years before Millsy and...

As oxymoronic as this will sound, IMHO both your take and Verrelli’s are true at once to their respective extents.

Started watching a bit of it. Tad too cringe for my tastes but it is what it is.

I’ve heard some people suggest over the years that the Socceroos coach shouldn’t be at the Olyroos’ helm when they’re at the Olympics; that it’d be prudent to have a youth-football specialist in charge instead. That being said, in all(bar one) our Olympic mens' ⚽️ appearances we’ve been coached...

Cabo Verde and 2010s-era Iceland are also templates for us to follow.

Which one?

Considering he died from cancer due to supposedly being a lifelong-smoker(as did Les eventually, go figure😔), it’s a nigh-safe bet they wouldn’t have thought to.

Just about the most intelligent thing Gerard Healy’s said in his otherwise-unremarkable life..

At least Norman Conquest wasn’t in goal for us that day(he’d let in 30 goals over our two losses to England A four years earlier) BTW, here’s the matchday-program for the game:

Having said that, there are some eye-catching footnotes about 🇿🇦⚽️-history in that now-distant era: * Their NT’s(of course now known as Bafana Bafana) full-international debut was against Argentina as part of a South American tour in 1906..with South Africa winning 1-0!😮 In fact the Saffas won...

It bears keeping in mind that modern South African football has largely-disowned its apartheid-era history, somewhat analogous to how our🇦🇺 pre-European migrant-influx footballing history is old-soccer’s old-soccer so to speak. And frankly I don’t blame them - from what research I’ve done it...

It’d no doubt be appealing to a Football Australia-admin that actually GAF about doing its job for the game here’s greater good…but alas, the mob currently in charge ain’t it😔

You mean Noah Clément? He apparently just signed for Darmstadt yesterday or two days ago

If that’s the term he used, then I’d have to take back what I posted earlier..

He certainly did😁

As you mentioned, she dated Dermott Brereton(and Brett Leonard* at one point; *the dude who directed The Lawnmower Man - random, I know) If she has extra curves these days that in itself isn’t a bad thing; she did err a tad on the too-skinny side at one point of her SBS tenure.

😆She was responsible for one of the all-time moments(real ones will remember) of On The Ball/The World Game show that borderline veered it into AFL Footy Show-territory… She’d finished reading some story/wrap-up and then, flashing that toothy smile of hers, chirped to SBS mainstay Kyle...

Old-mate “Lord” Rashid Mahazi(former Vuck player and now co-host of the “Suited&Booted” podcast) posted a long diatribe on his socials after we got knocked out by Egypt; in it he suggests we should stop glazing Japan as a model for 🇦🇺⚽️ to emulate because in his view, their approach to...

If we’re talking in a strictly pre-1990s context, Japan aren’t a ‘traditional' powerhouse of Asian football. The thing is, it’s actually a reasonably-known fact so I in turn am lowkey-shocked that you were unaware of that.

This is vital. Our youth need to be playing more, not less.

First I hear of it. So what happened - scrapped as a BS ‘cost-cutting' exercise..? There’s a blast from the past; he always ended up amounting to a decent-enough career in my Football Manager 2011 savegames once I’d locked him in for Australia(mind you, in those Leigh Broxham and Rhyan Grant...

Wasn’t Adam Howard from SokkahTwitter involved in that capacity(if so, dunno if he still is)? As a segue, a Salvadorean fan Hugo Alvarado began scouting for NT-eligible players in his spare time 15+ years ago and unearthed quite a few that went on to be of use; their national-FA eventually...

And despite the factors I’ve mentioned that make this easier for El Salvador to do than it would Australia, it is indeed relatively-informal: basically just a series of tryout-camps across the US overseen by ‘90s Salvadorean-NT&LA Galaxy player Mauricio Cienfuegos and the Salvadorean-born former...

Of course the geographic-proximity between El Salvador and the US is a vital factor, not to mention the fact you don’t need to traverse a body of water to get from one to the other in that case whereas we🇦🇺 have to.

Foremostly it’s President Bukele’s administration in El Salvador that’s seemingly done a Frank Lowy c. 2003 of-sorts in getting FIFA to be okay w/what is essentially gov’t-interference in ⚽️(for context the president’s brother is now head of the national FA, though he had to step down from his...

Relatively-speaking no, but it’s definitely increasing😉

💯% I think it’s safe to assume we don’t😔 The FA of my heritage-country El Salvador🇸🇻 has recently started conducting triallist-camps for NT-eligible youth players in the US; mainly from the local diaspora but also from elsewhere. And given that historically the Salvadorean FA’s...

This. Heck, even capping 3-4 of them at once vs. Pakistan/Brunei/East Timor etc. in an Asian/World Cup-qualifier would be more prudent than our usual approach to these situations. That Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli kid at Chelsea’s youth-setup has to be a top priority, IMHO💡

You should see his brother’s😏

Methinks the poor darl was still playing w/her set of Barbie dolls at the time all that happened😆

She’s sleeping with Claudio Fabiano BTW, so maybe let’s not glaze her timely pretenses of integrity too much💡

Okay../s

The more things change… Seriously, someone right now should be grilling Garriock/Kugeler/Rosich on what their motives actually are..but Flogari for one is too busy writing puff-pieces about hanging out w/Aaron Chen at the WC🙃

The other thing to consider(that I forgot to mention in my prev. post) is that this was Ange’s second(?) youth-tournament campaign w/us as members of the AFC; he’d been dual-coach of the Joeys and Young Socceroos since Les Scheinflug&Raul Blanco left the setup after the ‘99 U17 WC. What some...

They’re both equally-valid IMO, though there’s no understating the extenuating circumstance of still having been no National Youth League to replace the NSL-era one, on top of youth-players in general being neglected in the first 1½ seasons of the A-League(which Ange alludes to in his opening...

The little eshay-wannabe hardly has a toe to tippy on considering she said on her Twitter account 2 years ago(not long before she blocked me, LOL), “I have to be careful what I post on here bcoz I don’t want to be blacklisted”*🤣🤣 *As much as it initially reads like it, she wasn’t being sarcastic..

"Eff-Eff-Ayy" for mine

As the proverbial finishing-school to the (best)youth-setups of those much-maligned effnik NSL clubs.

I'll always call it the FFA.

The difference is that the Irish have largely moved on from any pertinent notion of ‘code-wars’, plus the small matter of them never having entertained any delusions about making Gaelic Football/hurling etc. global in the truest definition of the word. And this is in context of them having...

Had to modify your post in context of some people out there expressing similar concerns re. heading the ball in our game. That said, thankfully the risk of ending up as a para/quadriplegic through severe injury in our game is virtually nonexistent compared to theirs.

And Maradona ‘complimenting’ him after we got knocked out in the USA ‘94 qualifiers.

Same goes for the Roar once Ange left(though Mike Mulvey to his credit did try to maintain some continuity)

Neither of those two(nor Holger) should've gotten the gig in the first place, so it's a moot point. I'm really not in the mood to explain my stance on this at length - so feel free to dive into the rabbit-hole of my posting-history on here to answer any queries you might have re. this.

That's not the purpose of the senior mens' national-team coaching job, my friend. Like, at all.

I was wondering WTF happened to him; I assumed he returned to Spain ages ago. By all rights he'd have either been Auckland FC's inaugural coach or managed the All Whites by now.

Exactly why is that so important? And please, no Hansonite-esque jingoism to 'justify' your opinion.

And that is what burns them(the AFL) up arguably moreso than the wider-world not giving a fvck. In any case, this sums it up: “They just absolutely cannot handle the fact that literally no one outside of 3 or 4 states in a single country gives a flying fuck about the sport. 1.4B people in...

How’s that for irony, in light of the hissy-fits he threw in 2001* re. releasing his compatriot-charges at Arsenal to play for France against us in the Confeds Cup and friendly at the ‘G in which Muscat did a number on Dugarry *to the effect of “I’ll never get involved in international-football...

Stops being a feeder-league? Impossible, not to mention in no way mutually-exclusive w/being what you say in your last line. But the only thing that is guaranteed to bring about both in synergy..is the introduction of pro/rel. There is literally no other way💡

Just hire computer-hackers to drain said bank-accounts and siphon it all into the FFA/APL’s coffers; not straightaway though as that’d be trackable. Putting it into 100 different Swiss/Bahamian shell-company accounts first for a period of 9 months to a year ought to do the trick💡

No sh1t. But considering that the Brazilian league and São Paulo are more prestigious and of a higher standard than the A-Liga and Newcastle Jets, the analogy’s about as relevant as the price of fish in the Gobi Desert..

The flipside is that his coaching career, despite how well-intentioned his ⚽️ing philosophy, to put it generously leaves too much to be desired still. As w/Millsy, I’d gladly consider him in 7-10 years’ time provided he’s won silverware at club-level somewhere decent by then.

Our (esp. current)locals are mainly shit - that’s why it’s a problem. And don’t get me started on the whole pseudo-One Nation shtick of “foreign coaches don’t understand our culture/mentality”..👎🏼 Furthermore, one only ends up w/garbage like Pim/Holger/BVM due to not looking far&wide enough. No...

I think you and SocceroosFan84 are confused; Bielsa would’ve succeeded Ange. Instead we got Van Maarjwik and Arnie.

Again beside the point which was that despite everything, we were able to afford him at all💡

How many by strict-definition 'foreign' coaches has the NT ever had though?

The sophistry of blame re. the Iran game is beside the point I’m making. What I’m saying is that if our national-FA back then, notorious for its unprofessional/hand-to-mouth MO, could afford a gaffer of his pedigree then surely we w/6 consecutive WC appearances these past 20 years can entice...

As I’ve said on here I’m not at all opposed to him taking the reins someday further down the line, but it’s just too fucken soon for him now. But as you imply, it’s a question of 💲 in the end. However, I die on the hill that if Soccer Australia(which was basically always an accounting-error or...

And to add insult to injury, bc there’s just no fucken way they were being genuine w/this:

More realistically just have them kn0ck-up some of the local sheilas and we should see the results in 15+ years’ time; pay-to-play system and general youth-dev. incompetence be damned..

Liked watching Nicky play back in the day, and applauded his public anti-racism stances; true pity that it seems he wasn't entirely without character-flaws.

Only thing I’d ask Josh Rachele is his workout/fitness regimen, so that Jordy Bos can replicate it(esp. building up upper-body strength)💡

He would’ve been disgusted by that, surely. The ‘Hun’s AFL-appeasing hatred of ⚽️ was already renowned beyond VIC borders during the final years of Johnny’s life.

So what? Without pro-rel to underpin it all, it’s for nought. Besides re. Messi, how many of Becks’ groupies stuck w/MLS after he left LA Galaxy?

The Viking-helmeted redneck who stormed the Capitol?😅

The Messi circus’ll have to leave town someday. What then?

Obviously not at all the bloke I was referring to😆

This☝🏼 It’s a sentiment shared in the US’ case by that Ted Westervelt dude on 🇺🇸 SokkahTwitter: just because the closed-shop franchise cartel league isn’t popular, doesn’t mean that ⚽️ in general isn’t💡

It folded in 2017, ironically at around the same time that Gold Coast Utd was resurrected.

Graham Cornes talked some insecure smack the other day, but I won’t dignify it by going into detail. Suffice to say fvck him and his inbred-looking flog of a son Kane too.

Honestly I wouldn’t trust the current admin(same goes for the APL too) with anywhere near that kind of money.

Like Clive Palmer he struck me as a non-⚽️ yuppie bogan looking to make a quick buck rather than playing the long game - hardly the sort of person you’d want in charge of a club, in this country particularly. IMO the Fury also missed a trick by being based exclusively in Townsville; they needed...

If they do come back and choose to retain the old logo, I hope they go w/the shielded variant of it: