The Socceroos

[marc71178]

Thompson and Culina - oh well.

 

[chaminda_00]

I would say Kewell and Alosi will replace those two once they come back from injury. Culina will probably drop back in midfield infront of Emerton, unless he returns to any kind of form.

 

[howardj]

Our campaign will end in tears. I just know it.

 

[chaminda_00]

Well its Uruguay again they just beat Argentina 1-0 to book their spot against Australia

 

[Burpey]

I don't really think it matters who we play. Playing any of those teams away will be tough, as wellas the return home leg.

Hopefully they can take something from the last time we played Uruguay for this time round

 

[Cloete]

I would say Kewell and Alosi will replace those two once they come back from injury. Culina will probably drop back in midfield infront of Emerton, unless he returns to any kind of form.

No way. Aloisi isn't suited to one of those roles. I definitely think Kewell onthe left and Culina on the right behind Viduka would be the best option.

 

[andyc]

Are Uruguay any good?

 

[Craig]

I don't think they can give Oceania a guaranteed space as it would always be a no contest. Lets face it, if the Aussies can't beat the 5th best South American team, they don't really deserve to be there.

And how would you like it if England were forced to travel to South America to play in a play-off match?

And then you can include travel time (looking at a day), then the resulting jeg lag, altitude, the pitch, the crowd, then I would love to see England go in South America.

Then you can also throw in the fact that none of the club managers wouldn't be happy about it when they have play the 2nd leg in either, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Boliva etc. and then rock up in time to play for their clubs, although they won't because they will be still half asleep.

Don't gloat until your team is in that situation.

 

[Craig]

Are Uruguay any good?

Decent side. Won the World Cup twice in it's formative years (ie from the 1930's to the 1950's and you lose 6 or 7 years due to WWII) and that is about it really.

 

[BoyBrumby]

And how would you like it if England were forced to travel to South America to play in a play-off match?

And then you can include travel time (looking at a day), then the resulting jeg lag, altitude, the pitch, the crowd, then I would love to see England go in South America.

Then you can also throw in the fact that none of the club managers wouldn't be happy about it when they have play the 2nd leg in either, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Boliva etc. and then rock up in time to play for their clubs, although they won't because they will be still half asleep.

Don't gloat until your team is in that situation.

TBF, Oz played Iran to attempt to qualify for 98 & failed and (IIRC) missed out to Scotland for 86, so it's not just South American countries that they've had problems with.

 

[Robertinho]

Stop living in the past, BB..

Go Australia

 

[Burpey]

Just as hard to travel to Asia and the Uk as it is to got to South America. The huge distance is the problem

 

[Craig]

TBF, Oz played Iran to attempt to qualify for 98 & failed and (IIRC) missed out to Scotland for 86, so it's not just South American countries that they've had problems with.

That's true though.

But my point still stands though, how would Marc (or anybody else) react if England had to travel half-way around the world to qualify?

 

[Burpey]

Thoughts on Australia competing in Asia? Personally, I think we should be able to qualify through Asia with our best team. However, seeing as most of the Aussie players play in Europe, the fact that the Asian and European seasons aren't in sync might mean players might not be released. I'm not sure if this is true or not though.

 

[Craig]

IIRC I believe clubs have to release players, but they will put pressure on managers to leave them out if they feel the match is pointless.

Asia is atop idea IMO, at least when teams like Japan, China, South Keora travel here, we will get a very good crowd, then what we got against the Solomons.

 

[BoyBrumby]

That's true though.

But my point still stands though, how would Marc (or anybody else) react if England had to travel half-way around the world to qualify?

Well admittedly this time we had a rather creamy qualifying group (which we still managed to make a bit of a horlicks of), but in qualifying for 98 & 02 we had to finish above Italy & Germany respectively (& did so despite losing at home to both). I'd far prefer an effective bye & a two-legged play off against a second-rank South American country.

 

[benchmark00]

Australia should stop wasting money on our soccer team and buy some cattle and export them or something... i mean, its not like anyone normal cares about the sport in Australia anyway

 

[Simon]

I really dont know what to make of this, im glad we avoided colombia cause that would have been nearly impossible to win imo, Uruguay have a strong side but Australia's team is the best we've had in a long time, the system Guus used against Jamaica was efficent, entertaining and it got the result we were after, its the type of formation i can see us using if we need goals in the home leg...
Culina looks to have improved out of site, hes recently signed for PSV after scoring quite a few goals for twente last year, will be interesting to see how and if he gets used...
my concern is the lack of matches guys like Moore, Kewell, Grella, Schwarzer etc... have played recently, we definately need to tighten up the defence before anything else too...

 

[vic_orthdox]

Is the return leg being played in Sydney?

Off the record, I hope all you Sydneysiders go feral and give the South Americans hell, after the treatment we copped last time. On the record, as a mod, I strongly recommend that you all behave very well and applaud all good play by either side.

 

[chaminda_00]

No way. Aloisi isn't suited to one of those roles. I definitely think Kewell onthe left and Culina on the right behind Viduka would be the best option.

He plays a similar role at times for his Spainish club and is effective, but wouldn't be as effective as Culina or Kewell. But it is a option that should be looked at if Emerton doesn't return to form or Kewell is still injured.

My biggest concern for the quailfer is our defence, i still haven't seen anything that gives me confidence that we can effective stop their attacking options. With Recoba likely to start behind three strikers at home (if they play the same system as against Argentina) its going to be a massive job for our defenders to stop. Im not really sure if Neill, a half fit Moore and whoever else are up to it. But if we are going to win the tie its going to be through our midfield, which appears to be a lot stronger then their.

On the issue of ties and our current quailifcation patch, in truth its a lot easier then Europe, Africa or South America. But im sure any of the European countries that are involved in the playoff, would tell you its just a lottery, who ever turns up on the day wins.