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

NicCarBel said:
Very similar to how I felt about the selections for the Turkey match (initially - before the great work happened) - I don't think the selection issues were our backline - other than perhaps Herrington in for Burgess, I believe that's our best back 5 in this squad. Italiano was a bit suspect in the first half, but that was exacerbated by Leckie's absolutely shocking performance. When Volpato and Metcalfe were on in front of him in the second half, he looked much much much better.

The selections of Leckie and Nish in particular were the baffling ones.
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Nish is better defensively and more disciplined than Iran.

Leckie - 3 WCs under his belt. Put on for the first 45 mins to negate a US team with a massive home crowd. In previous carnations, Leckie has been a superb defensive, immensely strong player when the other team have the ball.
 
Hounddog said:
Ideal result for us this game is Turkey win. But a draw is ok.
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Hmm.. I don't know about that. Paraguay win means Turkey is 4th no matter what they do against USA. And provided that Paraguay win by less than 3, we will progress in 2nd with a draw against Paraguay, and only the result of our Paraguay match will affect our placing
 
4 hours of sleep. What a bloody nightmare! Why put yourself in a hole? The first hour was a disaster.
 
Decentric said:
Nish is better defensively and more disciplined than Iran.

Leckie - 3 WCs under his belt. Put on for the first 45 mins to negate a US team with a massive home crowd. In previous carnations, Leckie has been a superb defensive, immensely strong player when the other team have the ball.
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Pre 2026 LEckie, 100 percent. Don't think he is up to that role anymore at his age unfortunately.
Decentric said:
Not quite sure what you mean by half-space, NCB?
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I probably use 'half-space' different to what you are. I guess that AM 'hole' is what I'm referring to - that space between the forwards and the midfielders
 
NicCarBel said:
Hmm.. I don't know about that. Paraguay win means Turkey is 4th no matter what they do against USA. And provided that Paraguay win by less than 3, we will progress in 2nd with a draw against Paraguay, and only the result of our Paraguay match will affect our placing
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Yep, don’t mind a Paraguay 1-0. What we don’t want is a 3 goal win for them.
 
mkxx said:
If Souttar or any other guys in that position it wouldn't be an own goal. This is like copy and paste to the Japan away game.
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This own goal is worse because he's miskicked it. The Japan one was a rocket off his knee. He thought he could use his left boot and tripped up. Silly.

The situation shouldn't have even eventuate with Circati getting rounded and Souttar not closing it down.
 
Decentric said:
More of a question of USA doing better homework on breaking the cohesion between the Roo wide CBs and the Roo CBs.

Turkey didn’t.

The Popa plan was plausible, but the onfield players struggled to execute it in the first half.

They often kicked rushed straight balls in hope.

It may have been a question of the biggest, most vociferous away crowd some players had ever performed in front of?
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No it wasn't plausible - we had seen it before and we only had Toure as an outlet. It was a poor managerial exhibition that exactly showed the limit of his coaching. As the CCM members here will agree hearing Okon say just do plan A better is proof that the manager has no idea and having Okon parrotting the same shot he always did just confirmed it.

We looked at who came into the various camps, who he brought into camps and who he let go that Popovic has one way to play - that is just incredibly poor tournament management. If you think that I'm only saying that now go and have a look at I have previously. Seen it all before and has been his downfall as a club manager over the years. Not necessarily the formation - just the one plan always works - it never does.
 
JS96 said:
This own goal is worse because he's miskicked it. The Japan one was a rocket off his knee. He thought he could use his left boot and tripped up. Silly.

The situation shouldn't have even eventuate with Circati getting rounded and Souttar not closing it down.
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Yeah, I thought Harry let the player come too close.
 
mkxx said:
Why are we moaning about the ref and VAR?. Compare to the Arab ref in AFC this ref is fantastic. The reason we lost got nothing to do with the ref.
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Guranteed one of the 3 moments go the other way if it's against us. Offside for a goal, clipped in the box and a handball.

I don't like clutching at straws but valid points for each scene have been raised.
 
patjennings said:
No it wasn't plausible - we had seen it before and we only had Toure as an outlet. It was a poor managerial exhibition that exactly showed the limit of his coaching. As the CCM members here will agree hearing Okon say just do plan A better is proof that the manager has no idea and having Okon parrotting the same shot he always did just confirmed it.

We looked at who came into the various camps, who he brought into camps and who he let go that Popovic has one way to play - that is just incredibly poor tournament management. If you think that I'm only saying that now go and have a look at I have previously. Seen it all before and has been his downfall as a club manager over the years. Not necessarily the formation - just the one plan always works - it never does.
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I’ve read a heap of criticism of Popa on G and G that is unwarranted.

The guy has tried so many young newbies - and - turned around a malfunctioning team under Arnie into a better team.

One bad half on a huge stage against a pretty decent home team should not equate to assassination of Popa’s 5-2-3, 5-4-1, 3-4-3 game plan, and, the players he has selected.

It all comes down to a question of opinions.
 
Ange's high line said:
Don't you hate when nasty american pundits including ex players turn out to be right about your national team. It shits me.
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It's not like they've pulled out some wonderous, groundbreaking ideas. The USA are very determined at home while we pick an 11 that ties one hand behind our back. We saw some vulnerabilities later in the game and if we picked a better side and actually fought from the start it'd be more even.

If we think about it both American goals were scrappy and they didn't really set up many more chances. An effective enough result with the performance of peripheral matters nudging them ahead.
 
JS96 said:
If we think about it both American goals were scrappy and they didn't really set up many more chances. An effective enough result with the performance of peripheral matters nudging them ahead.
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I agree with this - I thought we did well in a sense that we didn't give many chances - and they goals we did ship were mostly down our own fuck-ups or just the way things go (as in the second - outside of the offside debate).

I do think if Popa got the selections right for the first half, we could have snuck a draw still.
 
JS96 said:
It's not like they've pulled out some wonderous, groundbreaking ideas. The USA are very determined at home while we pick an 11 that ties one hand behind our back. We saw some vulnerabilities later in the game and if we picked a better side and actually fought from the start it'd be more even.

If we think about it both American goals were scrappy and they didn't really set up many more chances. An effective enough result with the performance of peripheral matters nudging them ahead.
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I certainly hope Popsi picks Irankunda, Toure & Volpato as the front three next match.
Geria ahead of Burgess as well for his speed.
May I add, I'd like to see Metcalfe alongside O'Neill in the mids.
 
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