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Socceroos vs Mexico/Switzerland - Pre-World Cup Friendlies 2026 🇦🇺🇲🇽🇨🇭

HonestSpursFan said:
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poor showing early on that match from the referee.

By rights (to me) that is a red card and a free kick, so not sure why no VAR intervention (considering they made it clear it was in use). Only thing I can think of, is that Herrington did clearly foul Mexico about 5 seconds before this clip starts - so if they go by how VAR is usually used - if the referee awarded the free kick, they probably would have called it back to that original foul. Also could probably argue, by the time the foul actually occurs, the keeper is at the ball - so not really a DOGSO.

Amazed the referee missed both to be honest.
 
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JRD said:
O'Neill was much much better in the second half. He struggled badly until half time.

Probably to be expected coming off an injury.

We barely touched the ball for 45 minutes in the first half, and looked a completely different team after the break.

Circati and Souttar will make us very hard to score against. I think Burgess will ultimately get the nod as the third CB.
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Agree we will very hard to beat defensively, which is why the opponents are quite wary of us not only that but because we got a bit of quality up front to hurt teams.

Not pretty to watch, but something to worry about after the World Cup when discussing the overall direction and coach etc.

For me a midfield of Okon Jr along with Yazbek in terms of ball progression but we have to live with Irvine and O'Neill for now, so let's see how they go.
 
I wished we played a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1/4-2-2-2, we got the players in the final third to make a difference and with a better midfield set up we might actually cook however its a shame with team's tactical shape is so much on the conservative side.
Let's hope they find a way to get out of the group from this approach though.
 
American/Mexican reporter asking Popa some strange questions in the post-match interview. Someone asked about how Leckie was Australia's best player in the first half which is genuinely insane. Popa said he struggled physically in the first half but showed quality in the second as well as Metcalfe. Someone then asked "do you believe Mexico could win the World Cup". Lmao... I'm going to be honest, if they play like that against any big nation, they will get slaughtered. Zero chance winning the World Cup. Very mid-team.

As for the Metcalfe and Leckie comments, though they did improve, you can't just excuse 45 minutes of bad play from them. We see the same thing every single game, our starters are always struggling, obviously the CM's and AM's aren't doing well enough.

My only gripe with this game is the lineup choices. With the perfect lineup we can be competitive for 90 minutes but we don't have depth so the best lineup has to be picked, anything else and it becomes a disaster-class. I think the lineup we play against Switzerland will be more of an indicator for what to expect against Turkey, US and Paraguay, so I'll save my concerns for after that game.

Popovic reiterated how nobody in this lineup really had anything to prove to make the squad, so it seems like confirmation at the very least Gauci, Borello, Yengi and one other will be exited.
 
Bbouy said:
American/Mexican reporter asking Popa some strange questions in the post-match interview. Someone asked about how Leckie was Australia's best player in the first half which is genuinely insane. Popa said he struggled physically in the first half but showed quality in the second as well as Metcalfe. Someone then asked "do you believe Mexico could win the World Cup". Lmao... I'm going to be honest, if they play like that against any big nation, they will get slaughtered. Zero chance winning the World Cup. Very mid-team.

As for the Metcalfe and Leckie comments, though they did improve, you can't just excuse 45 minutes of bad play from them. We see the same thing every single game, our starters are always struggling, obviously the CM's and AM's aren't doing well enough.

My only gripe with this game is the lineup choices. With the perfect lineup we can be competitive for 90 minutes but we don't have depth so the best lineup has to be picked, anything else and it becomes a disaster-class. I think the lineup we play against Switzerland will be more of an indicator for what to expect against Turkey, US and Paraguay, so I'll save my concerns for after that game.

Popovic reiterated how nobody in this lineup really had anything to prove to make the squad, so it seems like confirmation at the very least Gauci, Borello, Yengi and one other will be exited.
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I thought the line-up was close to full strength but Leckie was way left field.

I still hate our 5-2-2-1 formation.
 
To be fair Mexico looked very beatable it just sucks that our players were so woeful in the first half and not having Irankunda come on sooner really shows Poppas dismanagement of the squad. We deserved to lose FACT playing so badly like that. Just like my High School year 10 report card says, Minimal effort produces minimal results
 
One might shed light on Mexico. They aren’t a bad team at all. They’ve consistently qualified for World Cups and have regularly, but not always, made the last 16, even the WC quarters.

Only secured a stream from 30 mins. As usual, the Roo second half was better than the first.

Trewin surprised at Right Wing Back.

The defensive organisation at set pieces can improve. It is the first time Souttar, Circati and Herrington have played together.
 
JS96 said:
Velupillay looked positive. Hrustic minimally involved. The players also know how to manage practice games to converse themselves.
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If anyone played himself out of the squad surely it was Hrustic - absolute garbage.

Notable that Devlin looked pissed off when he got off the bus (as opposed to his usual smile)... suspect he'll be dropped.

Popa's an idiot.
 
We’re not going to be able to snatch 1-0 wins. All three group stage teams have the ability to score goals on us. We need to find a way to put the ball in the net and we have none.

We haven’t been able to score against Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. Only one goal against Cameroon, USA and Canada. Curacao are too far beneath our group opponents to count.

I’ve seen nothing to think we’re going to start scoring 1-2 goals a game now and our defense won’t be able to keep these teams out. I’m feeling pretty negative now, but I see us going out with 0-1 points.
 
NicCarBel said:
poor showing early on that match from the referee.

By rights (to me) that is a red card and a penalty, so not sure why no VAR intervention (considering they made it clear it was in use). Only thing I can think of, is that Herrington did clearly foul Mexico about 5 seconds before this clip starts - so if they go by how VAR is usually used - if the referee awarded the penalty, they probably would have called it back to that original foul. Also could probably argue, by the time the foul actually occurs, the keeper is at the ball - so not really a DOGSO.

Amazed the referee missed both to be honest.
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Where was the pen?
 
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