No idea but expect maybe 8 changes from the last 11.

I think it's a lot simpler than that. I think Popovic felt he had better players available in his position. NB: I can't comment on if I think he should be in the squad or not. I don't watch League 1 football and have only seen him for the 10 minutes or so he got in Melbourne where he showed me...

Lets not downrate him either. I think he was one of our 3 best players in the 90's.

You don't think he was?

Don't forget the intermediate plan to replace the temporary stands at QEII stadium with brand new temporary stands, although that one had a pretty short lifespan.

Next time the Asian Cup may be two years after the world cup so it will have its own cycle. By the next world cup cycle guys like Circati, Bos Toure, Irankunda etc should be the tried and tested players. If they are still fit and playing well then yes we should go with them.

I understand your point here and pretty much agree. I read the original post I repled to more as a lets retire the old brigade and start looking at the 2030 World Cup and use the Asian Cup as a development tool which I don't agree with. This is how I would handle it if I was selecting a squad...

National vote share is pretty important in the House of Reps. If you only poll 5% nationally you don't end up in the final two candidates very often. With 25% nationally you end up in a few of them. With 30% you end up in the majority of them. Unless you make it to the final 2 candidates...

The Asian Cup is the natural end of this cycle. Sure some of the older players in this squad won't be there, but the focus should always be on winning the Asian Cup. It's the only major trophy we have a chance of winning. We should be picking the best available squad for this.

Whilst I think around 8 of yesterdays starting 11 will start at some point in the 3 games I think he was deliberately putting match minutes into the legs of those who had injury interrupted seasons. Popovic seems to like rotating players. Has he ever had less than 4/5 changes between matches...

Yep. It's what we've been discussing the last few hours.

It's pretty hard being a midfielder under Popovic. He only has spots for 2 at a time and they need to be defensive ones.

Surprisingly quickly as it turns out. Posted by Fifa only a few hours after you posted this.

Maybe he would have had more time if he didn't spend two years deciding if he wanted to play for us or not.

Whilst it's nice to have a start towards the next cycle the Asian Cup is an international tournament that we have a chance of actually winning. We should pick our strongest squad in this tournament (although the squad you suggested is a reasonably solid one and I think most of the players you...

No we would have missed out on goal difference. Tunisia was 0 and we would have been -2. Goal difference was before head to head in 2022.

Been around about a year or so but thought I would add some background stuff on me. Currently 65YO. Been a football fan all my life but at times it was my second or 3rd sport. Played until around age 14 but unfortunately I was a football player trapped in a Rugby forwards body and switched to...

Only Popovic and the coaching staff know. The players still to arrive should also know as the date for the Preliminary Squad list being given to FIFA has passed.

It was a resonse to you saying Irankunda would start in any serious football side. I'm struggling to see how it wasn't addressed at the point. Maybe you meant something else and I misunderstood.

I think the main contention here is that some posters prefer other players than the ones Popovic has picked. That's OK. As I've said before its all just opinions but in the end when it comes to team selection the coach gets the final say.