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Socceroos vs Paraguay 2026 World Cup match thread 🇦🇺🇵🇾

A draw means Paraguay won't be able to jump Bosnia so that's one team ahead of them for now.
 
NoMates said:
Volpato is all hype, pure superstition if I think he can score goals for the national team. Id have Yengi come on as a sub then the Italian.
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I dunno. Completely writing him off based on 30 minutes is about the same level of hyperbole as hyping him as the second coming.
 
For some context about what we are up against.
Paraguay beat Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia during qualifying. I think Colombia was the only side they did not beat.
This is a big task.
 
NicCarBel said:
Now comes the part where I'll look at third places - and I'm probably going to do this specifically for Socceroos. I'm going to assume they lose to Paraguay for this to be a thing. So for Socceroos to lose AND qualify for the 32, we'd need 4 of the scenarios below to happen. This does not cover all scenarios, but merely the most simple ones (ie, ones that don't pertain to goal difference unless we are already at that point).
  • Group A
    • Both Czechia and South Africa failing to win their match
  • Group B
    • Both Bosnia & Herzergovina and Qatar failing to win their match
  • Group C
    • Scotland to lose by either a higher margin than us, or by the same margin but without scoring more goals than us.
  • Group E
    • Ivory Coast to lose by either a higher margin than us, or by the same margin but scoring less goals (eg, we lose 2-1, but they lose 1-0), OR
    • Both Ecuador and Curacao failing to win their match
  • Group F
    • Sweden to lose by a higher margin than us, or by the same margin with us scoring 5 goals more (eg, we lose 7-6, but they lose 1-0)
  • Group G
    • Egypt to defeat Iran, AND
    • New Zealand to defeat Belgium
  • Group H
    • Spain to defeat Uruguay, AND
    • Saudi Arabia to defeat Cape Verde
  • Group I
    • Senegal to defeat Iraq by up to 2 goals more than our loss to Paraguay (eg if Senegal win 1-0, we can lose by up to 3), we progress OR
    • Iraq to defeat Senegal by up to 5 goals more than our loss to Paraguay (eg if Iraq win 1-0, we can lose by up to 5-0), OR
    • Senegal and Iraq draw
  • Group J
    • Austria to defeat Algeria, OR
    • Algeria to lose by either a higher margin than us, or by the same margin but scoring less goals (eg, we lose 2-1, but they lose 1-0)
  • Group K
    • DR Congo and Uzbekistan to draw, OR
    • Uzbekistan to defeat DR Congo by up to 6 goals more than our loss to Paraguay
  • Group L
    • Croatia to lose by a higher or same margin than our loss to Paraguay
Please feel free to poke any holes - it's 1am and I'm tired but not asleep, so may have some things a bit wrong.
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Thanks a bunch for taking the time to do this, NCB.

A few interesting scenarios there.
 
Punchanello said:
I dunno. Completely writing him off based on 30 minutes is about the same level of hyperbole as hyping him as the second coming.
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Welcome to the forum, Punchanello.

What I liked about Volpato is he offers something different. He is a decent dribbler without relying on express speed.
 
Decentric said:
Welcome to the forum, Punchanello.

What I liked about Volpato is he offers something different. He is a decent dribbler without relying on express speed.
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Yes this 100%, this is why I see that the main priority of the recent Dual internationals.

We don't have players like Volpato, 1st touch, takes on players, looks like he has time, hence doesn't rely solely on speed.

I've seen Segecic play not so much Triantis, but we have players like them, especially with Triantis, now he may end the best at it, but we have hundreds of players like him, Okon, O'Neill, Irvine, Baccus, Neiwenhof, Trewin, Yasbek, Balard, Teague, Leonard.

But we don't have many Volpatos.
 
Scotland’s 3-0 loss means we’d need to lose by 4 to Paraguay to place behind them in the third place table. I really struggle to see that happening, so that’s at least 1 team we’re probably ahead of.
 
Scotland losing 3-0 means they are currently below Paraguay in 3rd place rankings (places 5th and 6th respectively). Scotland currently have a -3 goal difference and only scored one goal. So if we lost, for them to jump us they'd need us to have a -4 goal difference (if equal at -3 our goals scored ranks us higher). So should be at least one team below us.

Hopefully both Mexico and Sth Korea win (or at worst draw) and that's another guaranteed below us.
 
Toebash said:
Scotland’s 3-0 loss means we’d need to lose by 4 to Paraguay to place behind them in the third place table. I really struggle to see that happening, so that’s at least 1 team we’re probably ahead of.
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Lol. Beat me by a few seconds.
 
Decentric said:
Welcome to the forum, Punchanello.

What I liked about Volpato is he offers something different. He is a decent dribbler without relying on express speed.
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Agree on that score for sure.

Poppa has clearly selected the vast majority of this squad for pace, endurance and to a slightly lesser extent, flexibility (with a couple of odd exceptions). All those characteristics are important, especially if we are banking on needing to hold up against more expressive teams. The central concern for me is that those things rarely result in goals or control on their own. They exist to open space for outlets. That's where a player like Volpato comes in and Irankunda offers a different type of outlet.

On that point, there's a lot of focus on those two but what we wouldn't give to have a proper metronome deep in midfield. We've scored goals when we have had opportunities but have struggled for any time or control to create them. Hopefully that's a role someone like Okon Jr can grow into (his father was certainly a master of it) but for me, that's the real weakness we have. It's why we are constantly pinned back and why we can't make meaningful incursions often enough.
 
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Korea have gone behind and into third place with a -1 goal difference. A -1 loss for us would put them level with us, likely equal on goals scored (if it's 1-0) and then down to fairplay.
 
Punchanello said:
Agree on that score for sure.

Poppa has clearly selected the vast majority of this squad for pace, endurance and to a slightly lesser extent, flexibility (with a couple of odd exceptions). All those characteristics are important, especially if we are banking on needing to hold up against more expressive teams. The central concern for me is that those things rarely result in goals or control on their own. They exist to open space for outlets. That's where a player like Volpato comes in and Irankunda offers a different type of outlet.

On that point, there's a lot of focus on those two but what we wouldn't give to have a proper metronome deep in midfield. We've scored goals when we have had opportunities but have struggled for any time or control to create them. Hopefully that's a role someone like Okon Jr can grow into (his father was certainly a master of it) but for me, that's the real weakness we have. It's why we are constantly pinned back and why we can't make meaningful incursions often enough.
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We know Paraguay are very good at defending 1-0 leads.

If we are leading 1-0, we know they need to attack and take risks.

First goal scorer in this game has a big advantage, they probably win or at least draw.

I'm expecting Paraguay to try to press us and get an early goal, we only need to play through that press a few times, or simply boot the ball downfield, and have our attacker run onto it via a combination of luck, speed, and anticipation.

What we can't afford to do is over commit to attack early, or turn over the ball at our end. We can press, as long as we don't over commit.

One game at a time, a few good passes early can set up a crucial early goal for us.

Turkey build slowly, fast attack is better against Paraguay.

One game at a time.
 
ClockworkOrange said:
Weird that the English, German, Scandinavians etc play in freezing cold European leagues and can still play more than 45 mins on a warm day.
Btw. You do realise the English season did not end in the middle of winter?
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I guess Popa holds players to a different fitness standard? His system ideally relies on counter attacking in numbers and sprinting back to the low block.

Fair enough Leckie was selected for his valuable world cup squadie experience but unsure how measured up to starting player standard.
 
From looking at what's gone on today - Scotland likely gone, which essentially consigns us to Germany should we lose to Paraguay and get through.

Bosnia confirmed ahead of us. As noted earlier by someone, a 1-0 to Paraguay will mean we finish equal with Korea and be decided on fair play points - though a 1 goal loss where we score will see us ahead on goals scored.

Scotland already 7th of the 3rd placed nations, with 9 to play - so to finish ahead of them, we'd need no worse than a 3 goal loss
 
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