melbcityguy said:

I think new Zealand have a better squad on paper then us but we probably have better depth upcoming players

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I know it's just your opinion mate, but there's no way the Kiwis are better than us on paper or otherwise. We could only dream of having a striker as good as Wood, but apart from him we're better

SocceroosFan said:

I know it's just your opinion mate, but there's no way the Kiwis are better than us on paper or otherwise. We could only dream of having a striker as good as Wood, but apart from him we're better

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I guess we will have to see after the two matches are played, but i agree NZ have the better players in top leagues who are getting more game time then most Socceroo's. The Socceroo's wont be at full strength ever will NZ with a few players out injured but Imm expecting either a narrow draw in the first game and a white wash for NZ in the 2nd game.

Looking forward to a new era now we have qualified.

Ryan will start and captain with Irvine injured.

With injuries the I think the CB pick themselves. Yazbek and Balard will provide a solid pairing with both playing regularly and both very intelligent playing forward. Bos at LWB also picks himself as do the front three particularly with Segecic with the U23s.

My only question is RM. Miller is the obvious one particularly with Strain out. Deng I see as more a traditional RB. But I'd toy with Silvera or even Nisbet. Miller seems to be an aerial threat which neither of those two are. But the feeding of those front three by an intelligent midfield is something that I see that can take us to the next level.

------------------Ryan----------------
----Circati------Degenek--------Burgess
----------Yazbek-------Balard-----------
???-------------------------------------------Bos
-----Irankunda-----------------Boyle-----
------------------Toure------------------

patjennings said:

Looking forward to a new era now we have qualified.

Ryan will start and captain with Irvine injured.

With injuries the I think the CB pick themselves. Yazbek and Balard will provide a solid pairing with both playing regularly and both very intelligent playing forward. Bos at LWB also picks himself as do the front three particularly with Segecic with the U23s.

My only question is RM. Miller is the obvious one particularly with Strain out. Deng I see as more a traditional RB. But I'd toy with Silvera or even Nisbet. Miller seems to be an aerial threat which neither of those two are. But the feeding of those front three by an intelligent midfield is something that I see that can take us to the next level.

------------------Ryan----------------
----Circati------Degenek--------Burgess
----------Yazbek-------Balard-----------
???-------------------------------------------Bos
-----Irankunda-----------------Boyle-----
------------------Toure------------------

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That's a very handy run on team. Lacks a little in experience, so I agree with the Ryan selection. Otherwise Izzo would be a good choice. We need him playing games in the NT setup for when Ryan is injured/absent. Could Bos switch to the left and play Silvera on the right?

Hillbilly55 said:

That's a very handy run on team. Lacks a little in experience, so I agree with the Ryan selection. Otherwise Izzo would be a good choice. We need him playing games in the NT setup for when Ryan is injured/absent. Could Bos switch to the left and play Silvera on the right?

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Agree with Izzo - but picked Ryan because of the absence of Irvine. I do have Bos on the left.

patjennings said:

Agree with Izzo - but picked Ryan because of the absence of Irvine. I do have Bos on the left.

Click to expand...

After I posted I thought maybe you had. Easily slip Silvera in on the right then.

patjennings said:

Looking forward to a new era now we have qualified.

Ryan will start and captain with Irvine injured.

With injuries the I think the CB pick themselves. Yazbek and Balard will provide a solid pairing with both playing regularly and both very intelligent playing forward. Bos at LWB also picks himself as do the front three particularly with Segecic with the U23s.

My only question is RM. Miller is the obvious one particularly with Strain out. Deng I see as more a traditional RB. But I'd toy with Silvera or even Nisbet. Miller seems to be an aerial threat which neither of those two are. But the feeding of those front three by an intelligent midfield is something that I see that can take us to the next level.

------------------Ryan----------------
----Circati------Degenek--------Burgess
----------Yazbek-------Balard-----------
???-------------------------------------------Bos
-----Irankunda-----------------Boyle-----
------------------Toure------------------

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Nearly salivating at this team. Agree Silvera should easily be able to move to the right, especially being right footed.

That front three - with Irankunda and Boyle drifting here there and everywhere and Toure playing centrally....I mean come on you'd have to be an absolute idiot to not see how much these types of selections make sense.

If Popa was focused on qualifying after being fed a shit sandwich by Arnold when he took over then fair play to him. HOWEVER if he doesn't now use this opportunity to test some untried players and combinations out....his idiocy is proven.

The needing to use familar players excuse due to his system being 'complicated' has expired. Popovic will have the the longest time to prepare after qualifying other than Pim Verbeek and this squad announcement will be huge in my eyes.

Yes we might not have as many players playing in the big 5 as we did for the 'Golden Generation', but all those lads were in their peak and towards the end of their careers...the average age of all our players in the Championship alone is 23 so the way I see it there seems to be plenty of time for at least some of them to kick on. Not to mention the other younger talent that will come through within the next four year Wolrd Cup cycle.

Come on Popa you have an opportunity to inject some excitement into Australian football and these very deserving young Aussies play without fear and they want to take it to the rest of the world....let them.

Popovic's squad for the NZ series has just dropped. In no particular order:

Luke Brattan
Anthony Caceres
Jason Geria
Nishan Velupillay
Daniel Arzani
Aziz Behich
Lewis Miller
Jackson Irvine
Aiden O'Neill
Mitch Duke
Paul Okon Engstler
Gianluca Okon
Kristian Popovic
Gabriel Popovic
Hayden Foxe's Son
Frank Juric's Son
Frank Juric's Other Son
Frank Juric's Other Son's Mate
Frank Juric's Other Son's Mate's Brother
Kane Vidmar
Oliver Kalac
Brendon Santalab
Mark Bridge

verrelli said:

Popovic's squad for the NZ series has just dropped. In no particular order:

Luke Brattan
Anthony Caceres
Jason Geria
Nishan Velupillay
Daniel Arzani
Aziz Behich
Lewis Miller
Jackson Irvine
Aiden O'Neill
Mitch Duke
Paul Okon Engstler
Gianluca Okon
Kristian Popovic
Gabriel Popovic
Hayden Foxe's Son
Frank Juric's Son
Frank Juric's Other Son
Frank Juric's Other Son's Mate
Frank Juric's Other Son's Mate's Brother
Kane Vidmar
Oliver Kalac
Brendon Santalab
Mark Bridge

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Nearly smashed my screen until half way down.

The Australia vs New Zealand match in Auckland is on 5:00 on. Weekday which is a bit anooying

HappyGuus said:

View attachment 3081

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I was literally just about to post this haha.

If that leaked squad is true, me likey a lot.

Only gripe I think would be no Luongo, but that's nitpicking.

HappyGuus said:

Degenek, Boyle and Hrustic our most experienced. What a time to be alive!

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Not sure why Hrustic gets another chance. He has been underwhelming in most of his appearances.

Ryan given a break. Plus no Yengi, mind you he hasn’t set the world on fire at Aberdeen.

I'd be pretty happy with that - again Luongo missing and Hrustic in is probably the only talking point.

So happy with this squad apart from Duke missing out and Botic coming in. Botic is already proving me correct that he is useless like McClaren unless it's served on a platter for him in the aleague

I'd be interested to see Kalik. Was always a bit disappointing when he played as a youngster in Australia. Plays for a dominant team so not really sure of how he will go at this level.