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Socceroos vs USA 2026 World Cup match thread 🇦🇺 🇺🇸

What are these delusional comments online about Burgess being beaten for pace? At no point did that happen. He got tangled up but to track back it was a half jog most of the time. The USA didn't really penetrate down the middle.
 
Popovic knew the USA would be aggressive and swift and he says we looked sluggish. There is no way we were lacking energy in the tank. He needed to instruct the players to move more. If not then mass changes were needed. Herrington, Devlin, Irvine. He picked a 35 year old overweight winger. Mabil should have started instead then or even Hrustic. A lot in hindsight but the worst swaps were made.
 
Any other coach wouldn't have made the selection mistakes to begin with. Subs would've have prevented the second goal but I guess making 2 subs on 30min may see the play sway in our favour and that stupid free kick for the 2:0 doesn't happen.
 
The US players are humble in their interviews. They're developing players well and getting them early into the MLS and then they benefit even more by going to those great clubs abroad. Meanwhile Brisbane sign a 27 year old 3rd tier striker. Just play the kids. Every Joey needs to be in an A League squad on match day.
 
Idiotic play style too that we didn't keep the ball on the ground. How many times did their centre backs just head it away? Meanwhile they played it on the floor which meant Souttar couldn't clear it.
 
We played that poorly that it made out kit ugly. Stupid banana kit. I'll watch the game again later today.
 
rusty83 said:
WTF what Plopovic thinking by starting Nishan and Leckie? Why does it take a crucial World Cup fixture to figure out that A league players cannot effectively compete against European based players?

If you look through every nations World Cup squad they almost always pick players who are playing in either England, Italy, Spain or Germany. Only after these spots have been exhausted do they recruit from their own leagues, and usually just to fill gaps in the squad.

Instead Plopovic does the fkn reverse. He drops the Euro based players, players who play 50+ games per season in the worlds most hostile atmospheres, and opts for a couple of plodders in a part time semi pro competition. And one who is closer to 40 than 30.

I hate losing to the USA but I hate even more that we never stood a chance , because of our jackass moron coach. Knowing Popa he will probably start Nishan and Leckie next match because he will want to prove that he made the right team selection.

Ffs
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This post is so spot on. Popovic is so bloody stubborn and would sooner double-down on his stupid decisions than admit that he got it wrong. Starting Vellupilay and Leckie and leaving Irankunda and Volpato on the bench is inexcusable. Like fighting with one arm tied behind your back.
 
Seems like the plan was 2 new inside forwards to empty their tank while we hold to 0:0 then bring on the subs after and hour to win.

A decent enough plan if we don't concede to avoidable goals. The problem was Leckie was the wrong choice and Velupillay did very little. it should have been Mabil and Hrustic for a mix of speed and ball play. We should have played with a flat 3 mid and 2 up top. This would create easy triangles with the wingbacks and put more pressure on the US play.
 
verrelli said:
This post is so spot on. Popovic is so bloody stubborn and would sooner double-down on his stupid decisions than admit that he got it wrong. Starting Vellupilay and Leckie and leaving Irankunda and Volpato on the bench is inexcusable. Like fighting with one arm tied behind your back.
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I'll admit I thought Velupillay was worth a start but he just didn't get the ball or put in the work rate.
 
jas88 said:
Just don't get it.

Could of been a massive shock if Poppa went 4-5-1 could of got devlin in there and still used defensive wingers but at least go man for man and give us a chance.
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I really think some kind of packed midfield box and 2 up top really forces the USA to play it wide. The actually didn't break through the middle but upsetting the service to their widemen probably means we retain the ball in the middle and can grind out over time then swapping to more attack later in the game.
 
kiro kompiro said:
I was shocked Velupillay made the squad. I don't see him as international standard.
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Good in Asia but not elsewhere. Good on him for delivering in fire times during qualification. We've picked a few in this squad who are just wasted.
 
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