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Australian Dual Nationals 🇦🇺🏳️

dr. bellows said:
Would be interesting to test his resolve and select him in Asian Cup squad. Early rounds could suit him. Would he warrant it? Depends how he goes next few months but you'd have to think at this stage Toure and Yengi would be way ahead. Maybe some minutes in a qualifying match at next opportunity would be better.
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Antonio Arena is one of our more promising dual international prospects though and we should be locking him in early so we don't regret losing him if he were to jump ship to the Italian federation.
 

patjennings said:
Okay - continue the love in that Popovic knows all. Remember he thought Hiddink was wring for taking him off against Uruguay and took almost eight years to admit to Hiddink he was wrong.

And let's pretend that he never represents one thing to the player and their family, gets them to waste thousands bringing the extended family from overseas, uses the guy in advertising and press conferences and then stiffs him and the whole family.

Let's just continue with haram ball and make sure that anyone that currently loves football gets totally shitted off with the style of play. We as a code don't have to worry about other codes when we set up to have no route to goal.

He set us a to fail - or more importantly - with no way to win. Part of that is his squad selections. We will look back when he is gone and wonder why we squandered the talent we had and have lost and will probably continue to lose, not only because of his squad selection but also the destruction of one of the great brands in Australian sports and the subsequent dip in male participation that it will cause.

When we play the same against against Brazil and get smashed and follow it up by being knocked out in the quarters at the Asian Cup next season will likely see male participation in the sport dip for the first time in my memory.

Do you think I'm overegging it. I think it is another example of Australian football shooting itself in the foot again.

He is nowhere near good enough as modern Socceroo manager - more akin to Brian Green or Jimmy Shoulder though with a better cohort of players to choose from (though those players were semi-pro).
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PJ, I do think you are over egging it a bit. Popa did ok. Hiddink did ok with a much more experienced and talented squad than Popa’s. Imagine your outrage if Popa hadn’t gone for the win against 10 men, and instead played for extra time and conceded a late penalty?
If you look objectively at the World Cup, how many coaches achieved more with less? Would Bielsa have got Australia out of the group when he couldn’t do the same for Uruguay? Did Ancellotti do better as a coach than Popa given the players at his disposal? Popa got things wrong for sure, but it was Popa who chose to play Bos at RWB where he’d not played before. Looked like a masterstroke, but he got no credit for that.
I think the back half of our game is really solid now. But I do think Popa needs new/better assistants who can bring new ideas to the table regarding our offense. It’s a shame Bos is out for Brazil. People forget that the Bos/Volpato combination was having its first trial on the biggest stage.
 
DDAVIES said:
A few interesting dual national players to watch this week

Cillian Tollett (18) has transferred to Bologna Primavera from Ireland
Manos Chnaris (18) was on the bench for OFI Crete in their Europa League fixture
Ilya Elichich (18) has been coming off the bench at Lokomotiv Tashkent. Same club as Tomi Juric, and son of Aussie coach, Mirko Jelicic
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Tollett had an impressive season on loan in the Irish second tier so nice to see him get a move. I'm a bit sceptical he's actually eligible for Australia though. His dad wasn't born in Australia.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
We’ve gotta swoop in soon then.

If this is anything to go by he’s on the brink of being capped for the Azzurri despite barely playing for Roma’s first team.
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We just had a post where he has said he wants to play for Italy. How can we 'swoop' in? You only pick him if you have spoken to him and he wants to be selected.
 
Cunningstunt said:
We just had a post where he has said he wants to play for Italy. How can we 'swoop' in? You only pick him if you have spoken to him and he wants to be selected.
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That’s what I’m referring to. We need to send someone over to convince him to play for us.
 
ClockworkOrange said:
PJ, I do think you are over egging it a bit. Popa did ok. Hiddink did ok with a much more experienced and talented squad than Popa’s. Imagine your outrage if Popa hadn’t gone for the win against 10 men, and instead played for extra time and conceded a late penalty?
If you look objectively at the World Cup, how many coaches achieved more with less? Would Bielsa have got Australia out of the group when he couldn’t do the same for Uruguay? Did Ancellotti do better as a coach than Popa given the players at his disposal? Popa got things wrong for sure, but it was Popa who chose to play Bos at RWB where he’d not played before. Looked like a masterstroke, but he got no credit for that.
I think the back half of our game is really solid now. But I do think Popa needs new/better assistants who can bring new ideas to the table regarding our offense. It’s a shame Bos is out for Brazil. People forget that the Bos/Volpato combination was having its first trial on the biggest stage.
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I wasn't comparing Popa to Hiddink except - just highlighting his well known 'I'm right - everyone else if wrong' belligerence. You're right about the back half but that has been building over years, The changes were a couple of personnel in the squad with Herrington and Beach which would been hard to ignore given their form and a change of formation which actually strengthens an already strong point and weakens our rotes to goal - especially against strong teams. Kudos for the Bos/Volpato combo.

As for bringing in new assistants the 'my way or the highway' attitude does not attract people who offer ideas.

As for how many coaches achieved more with less - that is not the question. The question is an Australian one. Did Popovic get the most out of an exciting cohort, including those not selected for the squad?
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Fucked up if true.
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I know it's been the case for a long time and unlikely to change (and probably there is not real push for it to change), but I've never been entirely convinced that being eligible to play for a country based on grandparents nationality is appropriate. It just seems like too big a jump to be able to play for a particular country because a relative two generations earlier was of that nationality. And potentially it could mean that an individual was eligible for seven different countries in the most extreme circumstance (player born in country A, parents born in countries B and C, grandparents born in countries D, E, F, G).

Maybe because my parents and grandparents are all Australian-born I don't see the grandparent rule in the same way as those of different heritages, especially their grandparent's heritage, see it. I'd be interested to know how those of you who do have grandparents who aren't/weren't Australian see it.
 
Somebloke said:
“I want to play in the Champions, the World Cup, and the Euros with Italy!“


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We've seen this all before. My family situation is the same, parents both born here but from Italian immigrants so I get the appeal but you're born and raised Aussie ffs.

Italy's at a bit of crossroads, so who knows where this'll go.
 
Just like king Volps he would be silly to not say that. Trying to forge a career in Italy and all
 
patjennings said:
I wasn't comparing Popa to Hiddink except - just highlighting his well known 'I'm right - everyone else if wrong' belligerence. You're right about the back half but that has been building over years, The changes were a couple of personnel in the squad with Herrington and Beach which would been hard to ignore given their form and a change of formation which actually strengthens an already strong point and weakens our rotes to goal - especially against strong teams. Kudos for the Bos/Volpato combo.

As for bringing in new assistants the 'my way or the highway' attitude does not attract people who offer ideas.

As for how many coaches achieved more with less - that is not the question. The question is an Australian one. Did Popovic get the most out of an exciting cohort, including those not selected for the squad?
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I agree that perhaps he could have got more in some areas. My biggest criticism would be that he took the foot off at a time we were dominating Egypt.
I think he was too concerned with Ira and Volpato not being able to pull their defensive weight at the end, rather than seeing them as our main threats offensively. He has not explained his thinking on Ira at all. He definitely chose to not lose over trying to win before penalties.
It was still a very young squad. Imagine if we’d been able to select McGree, Goodwin, Bos and Italiano to the side that played Egypt.
My point about the performance of other coaches, is that there are no guarantees of a better or different outcome with a ‘better’ coach.

A lot of coaches would not have dropped Ryan - despite Beach’s form - you gotta give that plus to Popa (even if he ruined it with the bizarre penalty shootout decision).
 
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JS96 said:
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“My two parents were born in Australia but they’ve always had links with Italy. My grandparents came from Calabria. At Christmas and in the holidays, we always went to their house and ate Italian food.”

So he’s literally much more Australian than Cristian Volpato but doesn’t wanna play for us.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
“My two parents were born in Australia but they’ve always had links with Italy. My grandparents came from Calabria. At Christmas and in the holidays, we always went to their house and ate Italian food.”

So he’s literally much more Australian than Cristian Volpato but doesn’t wanna play for us.
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Volpato said similar things to be fair

Fa should contact regularly like croatia did with Sega and wait till the fat lady sings
 
HonestSpursFan said:
“My two parents were born in Australia but they’ve always had links with Italy. My grandparents came from Calabria. At Christmas and in the holidays, we always went to their house and ate Italian food.”

So he’s literally much more Australian than Cristian Volpato but doesn’t wanna play for us.
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Just goes to show it's about committing yourself amicably and not being a dickhead gets you into people's good books. Here I think he's shared an experienced based opinion and that's ok. It's dickheads who have to stick the boot in that aren't welcome.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
“My two parents were born in Australia but they’ve always had links with Italy. My grandparents came from Calabria. At Christmas and in the holidays, we always went to their house and ate Italian food.”

So he’s literally much more Australian than Cristian Volpato but doesn’t wanna play for us.
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My understanding is that both of Volpato’s parents are Australian-born with Italian-born grandparents. So both Volpato and Arena are the “same amount” of Australian.
 
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