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

Richie said:
Is this a fair summary of our players. Some big numbers for some.

PATRICK BEACH - 8
Beach retained his spot in goal for the third match in a row. He was calm, involved in build-up play and is looking right at home between the sticks. Didn’t have a massive amount to do but was safe when called into action.

JORDAN BOS - 9
Jordan Bos can play right back. In-fact, Jordan Bos can probably play anywhere given the evidence of this performance. The Feyenoord fullback shifted flanks to cover the loss of the injured Jacob Italiano and was a constant threat. This could be the solution to a tricky problem for Popovic. He was able to drift wide or take up more inverted positions and combined well with Cristian Volpato.

ALESSANDRO CIRCATI - 9
Alessandro Circati proved why he is currently on the radar of several big-name clubs. His positioning was on point once again and he rarely lost a one-on-one duel. The guy is destined for big things.

HARRY SOUTTAR - 8.5
The captain didn’t have a lot to do with the action generally occurring to his left and right. Still, this was more minutes in the bank for a player who, in reality, is still in the early stages of his comeback from a ruptured achilles. How assured he has looked at the World Cup so far has hidden this fact a little.

LUCAS HERRINGTON - 8.5
Lucas Herrington is now the youngest player to start a match for the Socceroos at a World Cup. The new mark is 18 years and 293 days and it will take some beating. He launched into two huge challenges in the first half and won the ball both times against seasoned professionals. His decision making under pressure with and without the ball resembles a player well beyond his years.

AZIZ BEHICH - 8
What a luxury it is for Australia to have a player with the drive, experience and skill of Aziz Behich to call on. Behich started at left back with Jordy Bos shifting to the right and between them they fixed a giant Jacob Italiano sized hole in the process.

AIDEN O’NEILL - 8.5
You almost don’t notice the work Aiden O’Neill does but you’d miss it if it wasn’t there. He creates space for other players (Jackson Irvine was in large pockets for most of the game as a result) and works incredibly hard in defence. The game came to him a lot more in the second half. Mr reliable does it again.

JACKSON IRVINE - 8.5
Jackson Irvine came into the starting side for Paul Okon-Engstler. Okon-Engstler didn’t do anything wrong to lose his place in the starting side, but Irvine had also banged the door down in his appearances as a substitute. He wins balls he shouldn’t and laid off several smart passes under immense pressure.

CONNOR METCALFE - 7.5
Connor Metcalfe copped a boot to the head in the first half and was a little isolated. Most of Australia’s best moments came down the right instead of his left-hand side. He didn’t do anything wrong.

NESTORY IRANKUNDA - 8.5
The most dangerous Nestory Irankunda has looked so far at this tournament has been as a winger. He started at striker and looked lively at the beginning of the match, but in this role, he needs to rely on the brilliance of others to get him the ball in good areas and that didn’t quite happen often enough in the first 45. Irankunda got himself into the game much more in the second-half and looked a threat.

CRISTIAN VOLPATO - 8.5
This was a solid first start in a World Cup for a player who really could be something special. He’s on the way to being that already. Volpato has a superb knack of beating his man and did that multiple times. When the game wasn’t coming to him he also drifted centrally to find the ball. Pleasingly, he worked incredibly hard in defense as well.
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Love it - the only player worse than Behich was one who had been kicked in the head.
 
I don't know if its his injury or wot but Irankunda was woeful, time to use him as a sub again. Brought nothing to the table in this match and his shots (Very minimal) where schoolboy attempts.
If I had to rate him it would be a 2/10 just above Metcalfe on a 3/10.
 
NoMates said:
I don't know if its his injury or wot but Irankunda was woeful, time to use him as a sub again. Brought nothing to the table in this match and his shots (Very minimal) where schoolboy attempts.
If I had to rate him it would be a 2/10 just above Metcalfe on a 3/10.
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He's not a 9. He needs to play off the shoulder instead of chasing last causes because he isn't a hold up player. I hope for his sake Toure plays the next one.
 
Bbouy said:
Irvine was excellent in the first-half but he started to get really annoying in the second-half. He just start booting the ball every-time instead of controlling it and restarting possession, little things like those are contributing to our possession struggles. A good team like France for example would never give the ball away that easily, just offering Paraguay to attack again. I really wish Robertson was here.
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Glad for his service but can't wait for him to retire. We can then fit Robertson and shuffle the midfield.
 
What a shame Metcalfe didn't score with the black headband. We could then finally replace that blue thing Carpenter wears.
 
kiro kompiro said:
We need to move on from his type of midfielder.
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This type of midfielder is pre-packaged with this type of coach. We will never play expansive football under Popa. I really wish we didn't re-sign him up until after the Asian Cup, even if we made the WC QF's, I'd still explore other options. Because shit-housing your way with haram-ball can only be so sustainable. It would be different if we were still rocking the 2022 Socceroos but this young team's ceiling deserves more than what the future under Popa seems to hold.

Hopefully, after this WC finishes and we see a lot of big moves for players in the next year that the mentality of how we setup and play changes and adapts to the quality we have. Can't have a team of top 5 league players, having to park the bus and play haram-ball against everyone. I expect so many moves for our players over the next year.
 
Lots of people on overseas forums and X saying that Australia-Paraguay was the most boring game of the world cup, and that it was probably fixed to be a draw!
Thoughts?
 
ashtongate said:
Lots of people on overseas forums and X saying that Australia-Paraguay was the most boring game of the world cup, and that it was probably fixed to be a draw!
Thoughts?
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It's everywhere and my English mate said it best. Event fans and they're full of shit. It's true some moments weren't pretty but you can guarantee the teams involved had a lot of tension. I really enjoyed seeing our play in space and when you see the 4-5 shots we had we wanted to score.

The first Irvine chance already forgotten.
 
The one Irankunda blasted across goal could've been an easy cut back for O'Neill I think it was. Miles of space.
 
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