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Australian Dual Nationals 🇦🇺🏳️

Disagree. Other than being able to strike a ball from distance, he offers fuck all
He's got a very good short passing game and can then move well off the ball. He's put some very handy passes through tight spaces. He's got a solid first touch as opposed to many we play regularly.
 
Talk about telegraphing your punches! Picks Triantis and Sega but doesn't play them, basically alerting other nations that this is their last chance to poach and throw the kitchen sink at the players. Embarrassing.

How will Popa be remembered in a decade? As a winning manager who had loyal players, or by the number of caps made by the players lost? If he doesn't win, what do we have?
That's what makes it all the more frustrating. They were called up and absolutely warranted play time only to get stuffed around.

I get the coach may not think it's the right moment in a tactical sense but those played ahead of them weren't warranted.

Some are saying it we get Volapto and Arena then all will be forgiven. The latter is so young that forcing a decision at this age is harsh. Once you're 19 and playing for the U20 national team with that form you've got to get tied up.

There's also the comical situation that Segecic won't end up playing for Croatia and we'll be in a Volpato situation come 2029.
 
What it means to wear the green and gold:



How we're feeling now we know this might never be Sega:


I've always maintained if I HAD to choose from these big cohort of talents it was always going to be Circati and Irankunda and they're actually delivering most.

Triantis, Robertson and Segecic were next.

Volpato I'm just on the fence with and if he comes in I'm sure he'll wow us like a new club signing. Arena is so young and heavily touted by Italy that I'm resigned to the facts.
 
There's also the comical situation that Segecic won't end up playing for Croatia and we'll be in a Volpato situation come 2029.
I.e. a 25-year-old Sega might come back but be torn on whether or not to do so?
 
I.e. a 25-year-old Sega might come back but be torn on whether or not to do so?
Exactly. I don't think we can sell the Asian Cup too well but that's something a lot of players should be told, 'next cycle'.

Ironic given Segecic was a star at the U20 Asian cup and loving life. Idiotic we didn't just pounce then and there. The opportunities were there.

I'd respect the coaches call but I can't because we played the ragged regulars at home to Bangladesh.

As fate would have it McGree and Bos both got injured against Lebanon but we also lack opportunities to try players only due to poor selections the previous 12 months.
 
The Croatian fans aren't really keen on Segecic given his Championship status and the vast talents they also have.

I doubt this is some big ploy by Segecic to get Popovic to contact him. One big advantage is Segecic won't need to worry about the travel. You've got to commit to it but it's somewhat understandable for some who don't want it to affect their club careers. International football isn't for everyone.

There are even suggestions the Portsmouth manager preferred Segecic not to go just to sit on the bench and maybe this is the information Popovic gave Segecic recently.
 
I've always maintained if I HAD to choose from these big cohort of talents it was always going to be Circati and Irankunda and they're actually delivering most.

Triantis, Robertson and Segecic were next.

Volpato I'm just on the fence with and if he comes in I'm sure he'll wow us like a new club signing. Arena is so young and heavily touted by Italy that I'm resigned to the facts.
Oh yeah they were definitely the priorities but still.
 
Segecic was at best a borderline chance to make our WC squad.He would not even be within a bull's roar of making the Croatian squad.He would have been in contention for the Asian Cup and the next WC cycle for the Socceroos but needed to work more on his defending( pressing) game and tendency to disappear during games.
 
Ok some thoughts

- there has been a consistent pattern of players looking at other countries when they are frustrated by not being called up. If it was just one or two, that would be one thing and we could say "well I only want players who bleed for the shirt". But it seems to be a whole generation. Remember we nearly lost Irankunda and Robbo, Circati needed to be chased. This man management strategy just isn't working for dual internationals

- other countries are willing to cap and call players up well before they they make their best 23 in order to shore up the future. The odds of segecic making croatia is pretty low, but if you have lots of players with Segecic's trajectory maybe one comes good. So we need to be more strategic

- Segecic probably is currently our 5th best attacking mid/wide attacker, 6th if Volpato declares. Poppa's system also puts a lot of pressure on the physical abilities of our players, while technically strong but physically weak players like Nisbet and Tilio got game time under Arnie, no player like that has gotten a look in under poppa. So even Al Hasan Toure is ahead of Sega in poppa's system. So in the short term not a huge loss

-It is harder to gauge the long term loss. Development is unpredictable. But if I look at all a league era attacking mids/wide attackers early career, he is tracking well by our standards.

PlayerAge when getting 25+ games in a season in all competitions for one of Europes top 20 leaguesLeague they did it in
Segecicu22Championship
Mcgreeu24Championship
Mabilu24Superliga
Metcalfu242 Bundesliga
Leckieu222 Bundesliga
Irankundau20Championship
Robbou22Championship
Boyleu25SPFL
Sapsfordu24SPFL
Hrusticu24Eredivisie
Volpatou21Seri A
Kruseu25Bundesliga
Rogicu24SPFL
Nathan Burnsu23Greek Superleague
Silverau24championship
Oaru22Eredivisie
Liam Chipperfieldu21Swiss Superleague

There is a pretty skinny list of Australian players the last 20 years getting regular game time in Europe at Segecic's age.
Even less when you remove the dual nationals that haven't declared for us.
We are kidding ourselves if we think we can let players of this level walk away easily without weakening ourselves.
 
I think Triantis's decision to switch to Greece was a bigger loss for the Socceroos.He had more to his game than Segecic.
Agree but at the same time, if they don’t want to wait for their opportunity, so be it. If they truly wanted to play for us, they’ll bide their time
 
We aren't Germany so we can't lauugh off Turkish players who opt to play there. In saying that Germany got Özil and Güdogan but Uzun and Yildiz opted for Turkey. Yildiz was a massive German mistake is disregarding him so much while others took faith.

Australia can't afford to be so lax. I agree if they can't be patient then hell to them but we're not working positively with player mindset and then family, agents and other FA's get into their ear and we start to sound even worse than we are.

What's most frustrating is these guys played for Australian youth teams, grew up in Australia and went to the effort with the travel.
 
Interesting that so many people want to blame Popovic for a decision Segecic made. If you are angry about it, direct that anger at the person that signed the paperwork.
With all due respect, that is such a simplistic way of looking at it by drawing a conclusion based on the final outcome. Why don't you take a few steps back and ask yourself WHY he has signed the paperwork?

If you were continuously overlooked for promotion by your boss at work in favour of colleagues who clearly weren't as good and then you decided enough was enough and resigned, is your boss the problem or are you the problem?
 
Where is the evidence that Triantis wanted to be a Socceroo? He got picked for one squad and didn't get game time, then pulled out of the next squad he was picked for and then switched his allegiance. That really doesn't sound like someone who wanted to play for Australia. I accept you are angry and disappointed at the decisions that some of these dual eligibility players have made, by they are the ones who made the decision. No one has held a gun to their head and said sign here (nor should they).
The evidence that he wanted to be a Socceroo is that he accepted the call-up. It's that simple really. I think every post I've ever seen from you on this forum has been to be an apologist for Popovic. I honestly don't know how anyone could be defending Popovic at this point. How many more young talented dual nationals will it take to walk away from the Socceroos for you to realise that there's a problem and that player management has been appalling? Popovic doesn't own this team. It's the people's team. He's simply a custodians at this time. However, decisions he is making will screw over the Socceroos long after he's gone. That will undoubtedly be his legacy.
 
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The evidence that he wanted to be a Socceroo is that he accepted the call-up. It's that simple really. I think every post I've ever seen from you on this forum has been to be an apologist for Popovic. I honestly don't know how anyone could be defending Popovic at this point. How many more young talented dual nationals will it take to walk away from the Socceroos for you to realise that there's a problem and that player management has been appalling? Popovic doesn't own this team. It's the people's team. He's simply a custodians at this time. However, decisions he is making will screw over the Socceroos long after he's gone. That will undoubtedly be his legacy.
Popovic's apparent passion for the national team get eroded with his hypocritical decisions and words not to mention any hard questions will be deflected.

He's so right that a cap needs to be earned but his selections haven't always followed that. Cue the snippet on social media where he says something about needing the best players to maximise the chance of success.

He's a walking hypocrite. I still buy the theory he doesn't want to pick anyone who's beaten or crossed him in the past.
 
The evidence that he wanted to be a Socceroo is that he accepted the call-up. It's that simple really. I think every post I've ever seen from you on this forum has been to be an apologist for Popovic. I honestly don't know how anyone could be defending Popovic at this point. How many more young talented dual nationals will it take to walk away from the Socceroos for you to realise that there's a problem and that player management has been appalling? Popovic doesn't own this team. It's the people's team. He's simply a custodians at this time. However, decisions he is making will screw over the Socceroos long after he's gone. That will undoubtedly be his legacy.
Both Triantis and Segecic made a conscious decision to play for other National teams. I respect their decisions and accept them. You seem to think they were forced to make their decisions by a person who is the current national team coach who will likely finish his term as NT coach well before the careers of those players is over. By signing paperwork they made it clear where their allegiances lay in terms of any national team football. I think they made the decisions based on what they believed was best for them. If they made it out of spite because they didn't get game time (I don't believe that they did) one has to question if they have the temperament to succeed. Good luck to both of them in their respective careers. I will maintain that if these players really wanted to play for Australia then they wouldn't have switched. If you can't accept that then thats your issue to deal with.
 
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