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U20 WC 2025 Australia match thread

grazorblade said:
he is getting minutes every week which is a good sign. Are there cup games to come? As long as those minutes are around 1000 and he plays 25+ games (including NT) in a season he shouldn't go backwards
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One cup game to come. If you don't have European football, a bigger squad can be tough to satisfy in Germany. Liga 3 has 20 teams but the top 2 tiers have 18. It's good not to exhaust players but extended squads can be used and I find it exciting how clubs manage their resources.
 
grazorblade said:
It is interesting how opinions to converge after watching replays

a couple of exceptions - @JS96 and @Decentric still disagree about how positive Behich's passing is after watching a replay. I also disagreed with him once on a club game where I thought Geria struggled to get into positions quickly enough to win aerial duals which I put down to jetlag slowing his reactions down and still agree with myself :D

will be curious if people change their mind about okon! He looks great apart from 1 mistake so far
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I trust all of this is being forwarded on to Popovic? There are certain things he still can't see.
 
grazorblade said:
will have to rewatch in chunks, but rewatched the first 20 minutes

Youlley better on rewatch
Okon has made one mistake in possession so far but has been our 2nd best player, fantastic with and without the ball
Esposito even better on rewatch. Some key tackles, good long pass, difficult intercepts
kikianis messed up for the goal but we knew that
Inserra better on rewatch
Toure not combining well. Will try and figure out why
Bennie incredible too
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Rewatches are always interesting.

Live - I thought the whole Aus team was good in the first 45 mins. I was pleasantly surprised - and - wondered if the slick surface of the pitch helped?
 
grazorblade said:
I dont think the fact some people don't reach their potential contradicts anything I said about ceiling being a statement about potential rather than ceiling. At the moment Triantis and robertson are roughly as good as balard and O'Niell but younger so I would say that they would usually develop into stronger players. I don't think a single scottish cup game is much to go on

Having said that, I disagree with the list of players you gave

Chris herd - probably the best example from that list had his best season as a u23 where he managed 20 games in all competitions, including games where he came on as a sub. I wouldn't yet call them an epl player, but clearly playing often enough to be optimistic about his future
Brilliante played 2 seri a games 1 season and 1 the following. I wouldn't count him as a seri a player.
Ursum Gulum ended up a good player but played for turkey rather than us. Managed to make the national team and wouldve been a good player. I think he met expectations
Stu Musalik - not sure why he is on that list
Kaz Patafta - ditto
Ben Kanta - ditto
Kristian Sarkies - ditto
Trent Sainsbury - Ok player, best season played 24 games in the eredivisie and that was his peak

I wouldn't pay as much attention to uefa rankings, which can be as flawed as fifa rankings, as elo. Clubelo.com has most teams and leagues
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Not a definitive list but food for thought.

If one revisits senior Socceroo team sheets 2, 3, 4, 5 years ago there are often players who have disappeared from the radar of the national team.

Or they go in and out of favour - Wright, Hrustic, Degenek, Nisbet.

Also, some youngsters don’t kick on as expected.
 
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Quicky said:
This a pretty wild assessment. Having read quite a few of your posts I feel you heavily weight in favour of players you've seen play well in youth tournaments for Australia or in the AL. You heavily weight against players who play poorly in youth tournaments, who play in Scotland or have questioned their national allegiance. You don't weight heavily enough a players senior club form and club level. That's just an observation.

The careers that Robertson and Triantis are having outstrips contemporaries like Teague, Hollman, Nisbet, Thurgate et al. It's too early to predict with Valadon, Bozinovski, Deli et al. Segecic is the guy in the coversation based on playing qualities and club career.
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Probably all the first paragraph is true, Quicky.

Unlike most current UEFA leagues I have seen more Scottish club football. And Italian football.

Also, Triantis and Robbo’s club careers may be currently better, but they don’t want to be Socceroos.

I’m seeing superior skill sets in many younger players than their predecessors. Superior body shape, first touch and handling speed - plus superior off the ball movement in possession.

One has to credit you for comprehension, Q!

I’ll also quote you as stating that I could be at fault for extolling the virtues of young tyros by potential, over performances at senior level. I constantly consider this excellent point you’ve made.

Scotland

Their off the ball movement to support the ball carrier is worse than the AL and Serie A.

Their 1v1 ball winning capacity in heading, tackling, body on body, may be second to none.

IMO Scottish skill set doesn’t extrapolate well to international football. Too much transitional football and second ball duels.

Apart from Celtic, I’ve seen no Scottish club teams move the ball as quickly as Aus u20s.
 
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grazorblade said:
It is interesting how opinions to converge after watching replays

a couple of exceptions - @JS96 and @Decentric still disagree about how positive Behich's passing is after watching a replay. I also disagreed with him once on a club game where I thought Geria struggled to get into positions quickly enough to win aerial duals which I put down to jetlag slowing his reactions down and still agree with myself :D

will be curious if people change their mind about okon! He looks great apart from 1 mistake so far
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JS was correct in about 1 out of 6 criticisms about Behich! Not guilty for the other 5 though. He had actions listed at specific minute and seconds actions.

In the replay Strain was having a few probs.

I stand by the Geria critique. I blame artificial intelligence!
 
I think we have unprecedented depth in Aus football ATM.

Any coach has a tough job with so many players in a diaspora all over the globe.

I know some will say RB or WB is an issue, but all of Miller, Bos, Bennie, Adamson, Karacic, Inserra, Italiano, Metcalfe at RWB, could kick on quickly. Geria is good for the role.

I’ve currently discounted Gethyn Jones and Strain, but they might have a purple patch.
 
Paul01 said:
If the team finish in 3rd, I think we could play either 1st or 2nd or 3rd from group A but I could be misreading the knock-out phase.
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Or Group B. So at this rate, provided we get there, either Japan or the winner of Ukraine/Paraguay.
 
Decentric said:
Not a definitive list but food for thought.

If one revisits senior Socceroo team sheets 2, 3, 4, 5 years ago there are often players who have disappeared from the radar of the national team.

Or they go in and out of favour - Wright, Hrustic, Degenek, Nisbet.

Also, some youngsters don’t kick on as expected.
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But again a statement about ceiling is not a statement of "this player will definitely be this good in x years". It is a statement of where their potential is if they reach it
 
Decentric said:
Probably all the first paragraph is true, Quicky.

Unlike most current UEFA leagues I have seen more Scottish club football. And Italian football.

Also, Triantis and Robbo’s club careers may be currently better, but they don’t want to be Socceroos.

I’m seeing superior skill sets in many younger players than their predecessors. Superior body shape, first touch and handling speed - plus superior off the ball movement in possession.

One has to credit you for comprehension, Q!

I’ll also quote you as stating that I could be at fault for extolling the virtues of young tyros by potential, over performances at senior level. I constantly consider this excellent point you’ve made.

Scotland

Their off the ball movement to support the ball carrier is worse than the AL and Serie A.

Their 1v1 ball winning capacity in heading, tackling, body on body, may be second to none.

IMO Scottish skill set doesn’t extrapolate well to international football. Too much transitional football and second ball duels.

Apart from Celtic, I’ve seen no Scottish club teams move the ball as quickly as Aus u20s.
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Interestingly scottish football looks to be finally changijg. More than half the clubs this season average 300 plus passes per game
 
Having a look at replay.

Kikianis culpable for pen conceded.

At 10 min mark, Okon made 1 poor touch turnover, but has done plenty of other good things - on the ball and off the ball.

Agree Esposito has done some first class defending.

Okon sitting whilst Youlley goes forward, to make a 4-3-3 attacking midfield triangle Okon, then Youlley and Badolato in an attacking midfield line - or - a 4-4-2, 1:3 midfield formation.

Bennie playing better than I thought live.

Full backs better too.
 
At 20 min mark know players better than live.

Okon much better than I thought live.

Grazor bang on about Esposito! Good game so far .
 
grazorblade said:
But again a statement about ceiling is not a statement of "this player will definitely be this good in x years". It is a statement of where their potential is if they reach it
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The comparative ‘ceiling’ can be hard to predict ‘relatively’.
 
Surprised at number of straight balls played?

Diagonal balls induce better body shape if marked.
 
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