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Socceroos vs Venezuela/ Colombia Nov 25

How should Australia do November?

  • European based camp

    Votes: 23 71.9%

  • Australian based camp

    Votes: 6 18.8%

  • Middle East based camp

    Votes: 2 6.3%

  • Nothing

    Votes: 1 3.1%
  • Total voters
    32
grazorblade said:
one thing that really stands out the last two games is columbia and venezuala have backs that can match toure and irankunda's speed. Canada and USA has pretty quick backs too. There is a 1-2 in the 56th minute between toure and riley mcgree where toure is in space running onto a ball, but the columbian back is too quick for toure to take advantage.

In general our athleticism has been really poor for ages
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Agree. Our players generally lack pace. Irankunda will hopefully pick up up a metre as he hits his 20s, but right now he's not that quick. I don't think we've a player with genuine elite pace since Kewell.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
Agree. Our players generally lack pace. Irankunda will hopefully pick up up a metre as he hits his 20s, but right now he's not that quick. I don't think we've a player with genuine elite pace since Kewell.
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I saw something recently, footage showing that Irankunda recorded 36.7 kph - the fastest by any player in the English Championship this year.

Bos has searing pace too.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
Agree. Our players generally lack pace. Irankunda will hopefully pick up up a metre as he hits his 20s, but right now he's not that quick. I don't think we've a player with genuine elite pace since Kewell.
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Irankunda is pretty quick, mate.

  • Recorded speed: In a 2022 A-League game, he reached a top speed of 37.02 km/h.
  • Premier League comparison: That speed was higher than any player in the English Premier League in the 2022/23 season, except for Kyle Walker.
  • Current club speed: In November 2025, he was reported as Watford's fastest player in the Championship, reaching a top speed of 36.34 km/h.
 
verrelli said:
Irankunda is pretty quick, mate.

  • Recorded speed: In a 2022 A-League game, he reached a top speed of 37.02 km/h.
  • Premier League comparison: That speed was higher than any player in the English Premier League in the 2022/23 season, except for Kyle Walker.
  • Current club speed: In November 2025, he was reported as Watford's fastest player in the Championship, reaching a top speed of 36.34 km/h.
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37.02 kph is quick - only bettered by Usain Bolt in the AL!
 
Haven't looked at a replay yet, but I thought the first half was good against Colombia.

It was only when Roos were subbed off, Irvine and Rowles, that Colombia got their soft penalty.

It was a debacle after that, but Popa rolled the dice and sent Iran, Boyle and Okon Jr on.
 
verrelli said:
For mine he is a long way out of the conversation. I hope you're right, but since he was an A League player, he's barely kicked a ball in 2 years.
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Sad, but true.

I thought Farrell was very good in the AL, but was mediocre at the U23 Asian Qualifying tournament.
 
There are a few schools of thought about Popa's selections.

Some think he should have concentrated more on selecting a smaller group of players and tried to make them international football match-fit for the WC.

The other is select many players to give them a run. I think I've read Popa has selected 60 plus players in his tenure for camps.

I agree with the latter.

Just recently I think young AL players, Okon Jr, Trewin and Beach, all newbies, have displayed some very promising qualities.

Moreover, one never knows the club scenarios of players for the 7 months between now and the WC.
 
verrelli said:
For mine he is a long way out of the conversation. I hope you're right, but since he was an A League player, he's barely kicked a ball in 2 years.
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Not saying your not right, but how many senior games has Overy played?
 
Decentric said:
There are a few schools of thought about Popa's selections.

Some think he should have concentrated more on selecting a smaller group of players and tried to make them international football match-fit for the WC.

The other is select many players to give them a run. I think I've read Popa has selected 60 plus players in his tenure for camps.

I agree with the latter.

Just recently I think young AL players, Okon Jr, Trewin and Beach, all newbies, have displayed some very promising qualities.

Moreover, one never knows the club scenarios of players for the 7 months between now and the WC.
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Now let's look at players he has refused to give a go.

Nisbet - whilst in SPFL, as the incumbent JWM.
Triantis - could have included in the team and blooded in the Indonesian match being 3 up for large chunks of it.
Devlin - current the in form DM in the SPFL.
Segecic- still the top scorer for Portsmouth besides being injured
Balard - not cap tied to Australia, besides being in the Eriedivise for 18 months.

But they managed to pick a coaches son that has 4 a-league games under his belt, for one assist.
 
Quicky said:
Rowles shouldn't be our LWB. Not when we rely on that position for all our width. A LCB yes. A LB in a back 4 yes. Otherwise not a fan at all. Unless we're keen to offer even less offensively than we currently do.
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Absolutely and it was the same with Arnold playing him there at Wembley. He actually had a top game but I felt we wasted another chance to put someone there for long term gain. still laugh at those young Australian lads behind me moaning that someone like Bos was a Socceroo.
 
huddo said:
Now let's look at players he has refused to give a go.

Nisbet - whilst in SPFL, as the incumbent JWM.
Triantis - could have included in the team and blooded in the Indonesian match being 3 up for large chunks of it.
Devlin - current the in form DM in the SPFL.
Segecic- still the top scorer for Portsmouth besides being injured
Balard - not cap tied to Australia, besides being in the Eriedivise for 18 months.

But they managed to pick a coaches son that has 4 a-league games under his belt, for one assist.
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Yep and I think these are the players that would alleviate a lot of our issues but Popovic would stifle them anyway. It makes perfect sense. Popovic sees his system and these bokes as the wrong fit. That's probably correct. It' so frustrating we aren't drawing on our best. Robertson to be added here.
 
grazorblade said:
first 18 minutes of the 2nd half we apparently have had only 15 percent possession. It looks like we have tired a bit, hopefully it was the virus lol

2nd half had 22% possession compared to 46% in the first. That's a pretty remarkable drop

part of that might be the virus, where we are at in terms of quality, poppas tactics etc

part of that though is probably mcgree and irvine who were key to getting a semblance of control on the game but aren't match fit
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Wouldn't mind hearing from some of the players about how bad the virus was. Not doubting them and we know ourselves that a bug drains any type of performance but I'd like to know how much of a factor it was in their conditioning that night.
 
DandyCasey said:
Popas attacking phase (a box midfield with the wingers drifting in) and leaving wingbacks solely to provide width clearly did not work against Colombia. Am afraid Popa-ball has become predictable, Bos aside opponents know our other wingbacks provide little threat when running at fullbacks and can comfortably flood central areas.
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In short Popa-ball is solid if we have either wingbacks who can threaten isolated fullbacks or wingers who can operate in tight central areas.
 
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