There will be a lot more of this in the Socceroo/stats thread, but in the first half of Aus v Venezuela, of 8 balls played in the pen box, Goodwin played 4 of them. Most of them were very high quality too, particularly when he had sufficient time and space on the ball.In short Popa-ball is solid if we have either wingbacks who can threaten isolated fullbacks or wingers who can operate in tight central areas.
The first pen box ball, Toure read, but the others, although high quality, were not read by less experienced players, particularly Iran.
Goodwin is very experienced, and one of the smartest players Aus has ever had in the Socceroos. Iran and Toure are inexperienced ATM, and don't always anticipate quality, well weighted Goodwin balls played into space.
However, Rowles in the Left Wing Back position, is far more effective as a defender than Goodwin, or even Bos, in that position. Rowles reads where and when to make tackles and initiate contests, when to jockey, is very good aerially and has a high level of game sense to know where to run, when and where, defensively to keep the team shape compact defensively.
Of course Rowles doesn't offer what Bos, Goodwin and Behich do going forwards.
Haven't scrutinised Elder closely enough yet.
