Socceroos vs Paraguay 2026 World Cup match thread 🇦🇺🇵🇾

[Bunch_of_hacks]

Volpato is all hype, pure superstition if I think he can score goals for the national team. Id have Yengi come on as a sub then the Italian.

Mate, in the 30 mins he had on the pitch he broke the record for most successful take ons by an aussie at a world cup

 

[LFC]

It’s Nomate BOH
Curve ball entertainment

 

[JS96]

A draw means Paraguay won't be able to jump Bosnia so that's one team ahead of them for now.

 

[FeedTheBrox]

A draw means Paraguay won't be able to jump Bosnia so that's one team ahead of them for now.

We want Paraguay to try and go for the win

 

[rebelliousfeminist974]

We want Paraguay to try and go for the win

The Socceroos ideally want to be getting the job done over Paraguay though.

 

[Punchanello]

Volpato is all hype, pure superstition if I think he can score goals for the national team. Id have Yengi come on as a sub then the Italian.

I dunno. Completely writing him off based on 30 minutes is about the same level of hyperbole as hyping him as the second coming.

 

[Cunningstunt]

For some context about what we are up against.
Paraguay beat Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia during qualifying. I think Colombia was the only side they did not beat.
This is a big task.

 

[Decentric]

Now comes the part where I'll look at third places - and I'm probably going to do this specifically for Socceroos. I'm going to assume they lose to Paraguay for this to be a thing. So for Socceroos to lose AND qualify for the 32, we'd need 4 of the scenarios below to happen. This does not cover all scenarios, but merely the most simple ones (ie, ones that don't pertain to goal difference unless we are already at that point).

• Group A
  • Both Czechia and South Africa failing to win their match
• Group B
  • Both Bosnia & Herzergovina and Qatar failing to win their match
• Group C
  • Scotland to lose by either a higher margin than us, or by the same margin but without scoring more goals than us.
• Group E
  • Ivory Coast to lose by either a higher margin than us, or by the same margin but scoring less goals (eg, we lose 2-1, but they lose 1-0), OR
  • Both Ecuador and Curacao failing to win their match
• Group F
  • Sweden to lose by a higher margin than us, or by the same margin with us scoring 5 goals more (eg, we lose 7-6, but they lose 1-0)
• Group G
  • Egypt to defeat Iran, AND
  • New Zealand to defeat Belgium
• Group H
  • Spain to defeat Uruguay, AND
  • Saudi Arabia to defeat Cape Verde
• Group I
  • Senegal to defeat Iraq by up to 2 goals more than our loss to Paraguay (eg if Senegal win 1-0, we can lose by up to 3), we progress OR
  • Iraq to defeat Senegal by up to 5 goals more than our loss to Paraguay (eg if Iraq win 1-0, we can lose by up to 5-0), OR
  • Senegal and Iraq draw
• Group J
  • Austria to defeat Algeria, OR
  • Algeria to lose by either a higher margin than us, or by the same margin but scoring less goals (eg, we lose 2-1, but they lose 1-0)
• Group K
  • DR Congo and Uzbekistan to draw, OR
  • Uzbekistan to defeat DR Congo by up to 6 goals more than our loss to Paraguay
• Group L
  • Croatia to lose by a higher or same margin than our loss to Paraguay

Please feel free to poke any holes - it's 1am and I'm tired but not asleep, so may have some things a bit wrong.

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to do this, NCB.

A few interesting scenarios there.

 

[Decentric]

I dunno. Completely writing him off based on 30 minutes is about the same level of hyperbole as hyping him as the second coming.

Welcome to the forum, Punchanello.

What I liked about Volpato is he offers something different. He is a decent dribbler without relying on express speed.

 

[Robbos]

Welcome to the forum, Punchanello.

What I liked about Volpato is he offers something different. He is a decent dribbler without relying on express speed.

Yes this 100%, this is why I see that the main priority of the recent Dual internationals.

We don't have players like Volpato, 1st touch, takes on players, looks like he has time, hence doesn't rely solely on speed.

I've seen Segecic play not so much Triantis, but we have players like them, especially with Triantis, now he may end the best at it, but we have hundreds of players like him, Okon, O'Neill, Irvine, Baccus, Neiwenhof, Trewin, Yasbek, Balard, Teague, Leonard.

But we don't have many Volpatos.

 

[Toebash]

Scotland’s 3-0 loss means we’d need to lose by 4 to Paraguay to place behind them in the third place table. I really struggle to see that happening, so that’s at least 1 team we’re probably ahead of.

 

[kamaryn]

Scotland losing 3-0 means they are currently below Paraguay in 3rd place rankings (places 5th and 6th respectively). Scotland currently have a -3 goal difference and only scored one goal. So if we lost, for them to jump us they'd need us to have a -4 goal difference (if equal at -3 our goals scored ranks us higher). So should be at least one team below us.

Hopefully both Mexico and Sth Korea win (or at worst draw) and that's another guaranteed below us.

 

[kamaryn]

Scotland’s 3-0 loss means we’d need to lose by 4 to Paraguay to place behind them in the third place table. I really struggle to see that happening, so that’s at least 1 team we’re probably ahead of.

Lol. Beat me by a few seconds.

 

[Toebash]

Lol. Beat me by a few seconds.

Love where your head’s at mate!

 

[Punchanello]

Welcome to the forum, Punchanello.

What I liked about Volpato is he offers something different. He is a decent dribbler without relying on express speed.

Agree on that score for sure.

Poppa has clearly selected the vast majority of this squad for pace, endurance and to a slightly lesser extent, flexibility (with a couple of odd exceptions). All those characteristics are important, especially if we are banking on needing to hold up against more expressive teams. The central concern for me is that those things rarely result in goals or control on their own. They exist to open space for outlets. That's where a player like Volpato comes in and Irankunda offers a different type of outlet.

On that point, there's a lot of focus on those two but what we wouldn't give to have a proper metronome deep in midfield. We've scored goals when we have had opportunities but have struggled for any time or control to create them. Hopefully that's a role someone like Okon Jr can grow into (his father was certainly a master of it) but for me, that's the real weakness we have. It's why we are constantly pinned back and why we can't make meaningful incursions often enough.