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Aussies abroad šŸŒšŸ¦˜

JS96 said:
Is that why Polkinghorne was around for so long?
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No thatā€™s because Tony Gustavsson didnā€™t like letting go of players. We also brought an injured Kyah Simon to the 2023 World Cup and didnā€™t play Clare Wheeler once at that tournament despite her class. Sheā€™s barely played at all since. Nowadays weā€™re definitely fine for CBs though. Goalkeepers is our worst position.
 
JS96 said:
Is that why Polkinhorne was around for so long?
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Clare Polkinghorne has always been a stalwart of Australian football but it's been the case more so in the past couple of years that we've had plenty of defensive depth as players were promoted from the farm system to the senior national team setups.
 
JS96 said:
Fiji but hasn't been called up.
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Which is very odd cause heā€™d be their best ever player, surpassing their current GOAT Roy Krishna. Must be still waiting on a passport or something.
Mr Cleansheets said:
Very good player but no better than what we already have.

We're fine for CBs
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Yeah heā€™s a player the Bula Boys need but we donā€™t. Good player though, just not Socceroos level at the moment.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Goalkeepers is our worst position.
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The only reason why the Matildas have no depth between the sticks is because the selection policy is continuing to prioritise keeping Mackenzie Arnold in goal instead of turning to youth like Popovic has done through starting Patrick Beach during the most recent World Cup cycle for the Socceroos.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
No thatā€™s because Tony Gustavsson didnā€™t like letting go of players. We also brought an injured Kyah Simon to the 2023 World Cup and didnā€™t play Clare Wheeler once at that tournament despite her class. Sheā€™s barely played at all since. Nowadays weā€™re definitely fine for CBs though. Goalkeepers is our worst position.
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Looking at the list there's only a handful there. A few injuries and it gets tight again. Regeneration is so important and regularly starting Polkinghorne and Van Egmond and even Carpenter for that matter doesn't encourage players to fight for a spot and brings complacency to the veterans.

Popovic rightly benched Behich and Irvine and I think we got a bit more out of them due to that.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Which is very odd cause heā€™d be their best ever player, surpassing their current GOAT Roy Krishna. Must be still waiting on a passport or something.

Yeah heā€™s a player the Bula Boys need but we donā€™t. Good player though, just not Socceroos level at the moment.
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I thought I even saw some NZ eligibility. You'd think he'd fancy some international football one day.
 
JS96 said:
Looking at the list there's only a handful there. A few injuries and it gets tight again. Regeneration is so important and regularly starting Polkinghorne and Van Egmond and even Carpenter for that matter doesn't encourage players to fight for a spot and brings complacency to the veterans.
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Not a heap get regularly picked but there are players who are or could be good enough. Itā€™s a bit like how the Socceroosā€™ (and Matildasā€™) midfield looks thin but then if we add guys like Marcus Younis it gets bigger.
JS96 said:
Popovic rightly benched Behich and Irvine and I think we got a bit more out of them due to that.
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Unfortunately the Matildas are worse at that. To his credit, while he got bad results against good teams, Tom Sermanni knew we had to rotate. Joe Montemurro needs to learn to adapt.

Tony Popović wasnā€™t a heap different either even when we lost Nektarios Triantis. It wasnā€™t till we lost Adrian Segečić that he woke up which is when we finally got Cristian Volpato and added in guys like Lucas Herrington and Tete Yengi before eventually starting Pat Beach. Pepe needs to get his Popa moment and start giving more time to players like Daniela Galić.
 
rebelliousfeminist974 said:
If Dan Hall is also eligible for New Zealand then there's little to no chance he'll get called up by the All Whites either though.
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Two NZ WC centre backs are 36 or over and they have very few reserves at that standard. Hall won the league with Auckland and is now in the J League. Any lack of a call up suggests the reported eligibility link is weak.
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Not a heap get regularly picked but there are players who are or could be good enough. Itā€™s a bit like how the Socceroosā€™ (and Matildasā€™) midfield looks thin but then if we add guys like Marcus Younis it gets bigger.

Unfortunately the Matildas are worse at that. To his credit, while he got bad results against good teams, Tom Sermanni knew we had to rotate. Joe Montemurro needs to learn to adapt.

Tony Popović wasnā€™t a heap different either even when we lost Nektarios Triantis. It wasnā€™t till we lost Adrian Segečić that he woke up which is when we finally got Cristian Volpato and added in guys like Lucas Herrington and Tete Yengi before eventually starting Pat Beach. Pepe needs to get his Popa moment and start giving more time to players like Daniela Galić.
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Bloodbath in Brazil is the likely headline. Good luck to them but the Matildas train is really running out of steam.
 
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