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Socceroos vs USA 2026 World Cup match thread 🇦🇺 🇺🇸

Hounddog said:
I am going to defend the coach, i understand the strategy he was trying to use, he had to try something.

Quaility opposition with early momentum, vocal crowd support the US getting a couple of 50/50s. Our players simply got a bit too nervous and negative in the first 20 mins.

There was some element of luck in both US goals, and in both cases earlier movement by our players could have made them less likely.

The US team is tall, fit, fast, and far more skilled and tactical than any US team I have seen.

Clearly we were hoping for 0-0 at halftime, we could have had our best attacking players on from the start and still been 2-0 down at halftime.

The US is a very good team, playing at home with good crowd support.

The big test for the coach and players is, the next game.

If is clear to me we are a young side which should be this level or better for the next 8-12 years. These players need more experience and we need to find the next batch of 4-5 exciting young players.

In all sports when the team loses, the coach is always blamed.

I doubt that the US can win it, but they might make the final 4.

I would settle for us winning 2 more games.
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I get what he was trying to do. It’s just if you are aware of the occasion possibly getting to players and of the opposition’s speed, is a young kid from the ALeague and an aging ( and slowing) veteran the best bet. I absolutely understand the Irankunda decision, but Metcalfe would have been brimming with confidence … Wonder how he felt, being dropped for Leckie?
Surely at the end of a season, with a few weeks training, a player like Metcalfe can go another 70 minutes with 6 days rest after a night match? Surely?
 
Bunch_of_hacks said:
Popa makes 2 changes taking away the 2 guys who scored and would have been surging with confidence 🤦

Can see as soon as they came on the lift in the team and how bright they were. When volpato joined them we went into the ascendency.

Great great socceroo Leckie, i particularly liked when ange used him as a RWB during 2017, but cant be using a guy at age 35 whose main asset was his running.

Popa bottled this game and paid the US far too much respect .. treated them like an England, France, germany etc
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If we were good enough, we would have scored 2 goals in the second half.

We do need our best players on from the start of all games.

I assume we don't have another mid-day game? The heat might have been one reason for some players starting off the bench.

In all honesty, the US team was clearly better than ours on the day, our best players starting might not have made a difference.

A couple of our starters had very nervous games, and were well off the pace. That is a learning experience and perhaps a case for not starting them.
 
ClockworkOrange said:
I get what he was trying to do. It’s just if you are aware of the occasion possibly getting to players and of the opposition’s speed, is a young kid from the ALeague and an aging ( and slowing) veteran the best bet. I absolutely understand the Irankunda decision, but Metcalfe would have been brimming with confidence … Wonder how he felt, being dropped for Leckie?
Surely at the end of a season, with a few weeks training, a player like Metcalfe can go another 70 minutes with 6 days rest after a night match? Surely?
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That is a fair point, but Leckie was pretty good.

I would say given the hot weather the coach may have also considered the up coming games?
 
rusty83 said:
WTF what Plopovic thinking by starting Nishan and Leckie? Why does it take a crucial World Cup fixture to figure out that A league players cannot effectively compete against European based players?

If you look through every nations World Cup squad they almost always pick players who are playing in either England, Italy, Spain or Germany. Only after these spots have been exhausted do they recruit from their own leagues, and usually just to fill gaps in the squad.

Instead Plopovic does the fkn reverse. He drops the Euro based players, players who play 50+ games per season in the worlds most hostile atmospheres, and opts for a couple of plodders in a part time semi pro competition. And one who is closer to 40 than 30.

I hate losing to the USA but I hate even more that we never stood a chance , because of our jackass moron coach. Knowing Popa he will probably start Nishan and Leckie next match because he will want to prove that he made the right team selection.

Ffs
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WELCOME FELLOW YOOGALI
 
Barca4life said:
It was only 23 degrees out there lol
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Why were they having drinks breaks which the US coach thought were necessary?

We were timid rather than sluggish, but with the drinks breaks and player rotations, it is hard to judge.

IMO the coach is a smart dude, but sometimes plans don't work out.
 
Haven’t seen all the comments yet. But it was a game of 2 halves.

The game plan was sound in the first half, but the USA exploited both Circati and Burgess forced to go wide, and their lack of pace - relatively. USA were too good - enough to deserve to win 1-0.

Whilst the second goal should not have been counted, and the ref might have been bent, the Roos were poor in the first half. USA deserved to win.

Second half Aus were better than USA, and ref gave heaps of dodgy decisions, including a definite pen. I’ve read that the ref has a dubious past? Is this from credible news sources?
 
Hounddog said:
Why were they having drinks breaks which the US coach thought were necessary?

We were timid rather than sluggish, but with the drinks breaks and player rotations, it is hard to judge.

IMO the coach is a smart dude, but sometimes plans don't work out.
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The thing about the drinks break isn't the drinks break (considering they are doing it all games) its the ads.

Although - I did notice at this game (which I hadn't at others) is that the sprinklers were out during it. Surely that shouldn't be allowed?
 
We were better in the 2nd half but could we have been any worse than the 1st half? Maybe my expectations are too high but by international standards the 2nd half wasnt that great either. The US settled on a mid to low block and stopped pressing after the hour mark, the difference is they came out and did the damage when the game was up for grabs. Its not like their keeper had any saves to make either.

I just saw a replay of the passage of play when Irankunda broke in behind. 4-5 American players all neae midfield track back and swarm the box and they snuff out the danger. Incresible speed and workrate without needing to be sitting on the edge of the box.
 
Hounddog said:
That is a fair point, but Leckie was pretty good.

I would say given the hot weather the coach may have also considered the up coming games?
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Like I said I get it, but there’s that line between being worried about upcoming games, and ensuring you you actually qualify fior upcoming games, and build momentum.At any level, when you’re not starting your best players, it can affect the confidence of the side. They know that there’s less chance of scoring and hence less chance of winning.
 
Decentric said:
Haven’t seen all the comments yet. But it was a game of 2 halves.

The game plan was sound in the first half, but the USA exploited both Circati and Burgess forced to go wide, and their lack of pace - relatively. USA were too good - enough to deserve to win 1-0.

Whilst the second goal should not have been counted, and the ref might have been bent, the Roos were poor in the first half. USA deserved to win.

Second half Aus were better than USA, and ref gave heaps of dodgy decisions, including a definite pen. I’ve read that the ref has a dubious past? Is this from credible news sources?
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No sure about the ref, but I noticed around 5 50/50 calls we didn't get, the big home crowd was a factor.

We made 2-3 fairly good scoring chances in the second half and didn't convert. 2-1 was more of an indication and i think we could have stopped at least one of their goals.

But some of our starting players couldn't match the opposition, we struggled to hold on to the ball early. The US guys were anticipating and moving fast, we were hesitant and moving slow.
 
Decentric said:
Haven’t seen all the comments yet. But it was a game of 2 halves.

The game plan was sound in the first half, but the USA exploited both Circati and Burgess forced to go wide, and their lack of pace - relatively. USA were too good - enough to deserve to win 1-0.

Whilst the second goal should not have been counted, and the ref might have been bent, the Roos were poor in the first half. USA deserved to win.

Second half Aus were better than USA, and ref gave heaps of dodgy decisions, including a definite pen. I’ve read that the ref has a dubious past? Is this from credible news sources?
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The ref accepted a $500 bribe 20 years ago and also was the one who reported a co-referee accepting a bribe. Since then he's refereed in some big games in Europe.

The reality though is that host teams will always get the rub of the green. If it wasn't him that "missed" the handball it would have been someone else. The US 110% gets that penalty if the other way around.

This is a massive tournament for FIFA to grow the game in one of the biggest unconquered sporting markets. FIFA will make sure they make the last 16 at least, but I'm not buying the hype around their quality. They're second tier.
 
kiro kompiro said:
The ref accepted a $500 bribe 20 years ago and also was the one who reported a co-referee accepting a bribe. Since then he's refereed in some big games in Europe.

The reality though is that host teams will always get the rub of the green. If it wasn't him that "missed" the handball it would have been someone else. The US 110% gets that penalty if the other way around.

This is a massive tournament for FIFA to grow the game in one of the biggest unconquered sporting markets. FIFA will make sure they make the last 16 at least, but I'm not buying the hype around their quality. They're second tier.
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Welcome to the forum, KK.

Can’t believe what I’m reading?

How did this guy ever get to ref again?
 
ClockworkOrange said:
Probably too much of an experiment at this stage, but maybe in future, Volpato playing as a 10 behind Toure and Irankunda? He’s potentially a more silky Mooy.
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I actually think this is our best formation for the players we have.

Nestor and Toure can run the channels with the counter, Volpato floats as a free role behind them. Hrustic to backup Volpato
 
Hounddog said:
No sure about the ref, but I noticed around 5 50/50 calls we didn't get, the big home crowd was a factor.

We made 2-3 fairly good scoring chances in the second half and didn't convert. 2-1 was more of an indication and i think we could have stopped at least one of their goals.

But some of our starting players couldn't match the opposition, we struggled to hold on to the ball early. The US guys were anticipating and moving fast, we were hesitant and moving slow.
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If SBS keep the Aus WC games on for a while, I’ll go over the game compiling comprehensive stats.

Live - on the balance of play, USA did enough in the first half to win 1-0 despite the awful ref. I doubt it, but it might look different on replay - viewing slowly.
 
I'm usually pretty unkind to refs especially in the heat of the moment but blaming them is a cop out. Popovic got it wrong and some players didn't show up plain and simple.
 
Quicky said:
I'm usually pretty unkind to refs especially in the heat of the moment but blaming them is a cop out. Popovic got it wrong and some players didn't show up plain and simple.
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Even as a ref - I think he had a very, very poor game.

But - refs can have a bad game, and so can players at the same time - they don't have to be mutually exclusive. I think we lose 1-0 probably, or 2-1 regardless - so not much of a difference.
 
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