ykickamoocow 0 Report post Posted May 17, 2006 I am no expect about Soccer/Football so i thought id ask people with more football knowledge than myself. My question is how far can the Socceroos go? Here is the squad. John Aloisi (Alaves, Spain) Marco Bresciano (Parma, Italy) Tim Cahill (Everton, England) Scott Chipperfield (Basel, Switzerland) Ante Covic (Hammarby, Sweden) Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven, Holland) Ahmad Elrich (Fulham, England) Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers, England) Vince Grella (Parma, Italy) Joel Griffiths (Neuchatel Xamax, Switzerland) Zeljko Kalac (AC Milan, Italy) Harry Kewell (Liverpool, England) Stan Lazaridis (Birmingham City, England) Ljubo Milicevic (FC Thun, Switzerland) Lucas Neill (Blackburn Rovers, England) Tony Popovic (Crystal Palace, England) Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough, England) Josip Skoko (Wigan Athletic, England) Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory, Australia) Michael Thwaite (National Bucharest, Romania) Tony Vidmar (NAC Breda, Holland) Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough, England) Luke Wilkshire (Bristol City, England) And here is our group. Brazil Japan Australia Croatia Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jem of the Shire 0 Report post Posted May 17, 2006 Luke Wilkshire (Bristol City, England) WAHEY someone from bristol is going to the world cup!! i'll cheer him on! My honest neutral and opinion is that aus won't make it past the group stage, brazil and croatia are both very good and aus will need to either draw or beat at least 1 of them. Aus has some good players, mainly the keeper schwarzer, but a main player like viduka is nowhere near the likes of thierry henry (or michael owen!). Depends how aus play as a team, thats what matters. But I think brazil and croatia will be too strong for them Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amjay 0 Report post Posted May 17, 2006 WAHEY someone from bristol is going to the world cup!! i'll cheer him on!My honest neutral and opinion is that aus won't make it past the group stage, brazil and croatia are both very good and aus will need to either draw or beat at least 1 of them. Aus has some good players, mainly the keeper schwarzer, but a main player like viduka is nowhere near the likes of thierry henry (or michael owen!). Depends how aus play as a team, thats what matters. But I think brazil and croatia will be too strong for them of cause brazil is going thru.... but i think second place can go to anyone ... i would put my money on japan... seen them play and they some world class players who can take on the big boys... as for the aussies.. while i'll be happy to see them get past the group stage as it will make a whole load my family members happy (i have a lot of family in aussie) but just dun see tht happenin.... on paper at least the aussies dun stand a chance against their 3 oponents Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jem of the Shire 0 Report post Posted May 17, 2006 of cause brazil is going thru.... but i think second place can go to anyone ... i would put my money on japan... seen them play and they some world class players who can take on the big boys...as for the aussies.. while i'll be happy to see them get past the group stage as it will make a whole load my family members happy (i have a lot of family in aussie) but just dun see tht happenin.... on paper at least the aussies dun stand a chance against their 3 oponents Japan has world class players? Like who? Croatia are (on paper) a much stronger side than Aus or Japan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cavallino 2 Report post Posted May 17, 2006 I am no expect about Soccer/Football so i thought id ask people with more football knowledge than myself. My question is how far can the Socceroos go? The sooner they go out, the better the coverage will be. With all the local interest this time I fear they will have a local panel like they have for F1, probably the jokers who host the football telecast on SBS. I really really hope they dont find some local commentators Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ykickamoocow 0 Report post Posted May 17, 2006 The sooner they go out, the better the coverage will be. With all the local interest this time I fear they will have a local panel like they have for F1, probably the jokers who host the football telecast on SBS. I really really hope they dont find some local commentators I remember for the qualifier we had the commentator from FIFA 2002. Neither commentators were Australian. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aussief1 4 Report post Posted May 17, 2006 We will be lucky to go through imo. But I would not rule out a draw against Japan. Fingers crossed for Australia, I hope that England can put it all together and be a challenger. Off Topic: Did any of you other Australians watch the Mundine vs. Green fight last night?? Your thoughts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amjay 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2006 Japan has world class players? Like who? Croatia are (on paper) a much stronger side than Aus or Japan Junichi Inamoto (MF), Hidetoshi Nakata (MF), Shunsuke Nakamura (MF) and Shinji Ono (MF) .... The sooner they go out, the better the coverage will be. With all the local interest this time I fear they will have a local panel like they have for F1, probably the jokers who host the football telecast on SBS. I really really hope they dont find some local commentators i dun think it will be a problem down here... we have 7 or 8 channels dedicated to the world cup hence all matches are live telecast... the comentators... i have no idea where they come from but most of the time they are brits i think .... the only slack thing though is tht most of the matches are at the insane wee hours of the morning and i'll need to produce some herculene efforts to watch matches and go to work in the morning !!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ykickamoocow 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2006 Australia is really going Football crazy at the moment. Ive seen 3 interviews with Harry Kewell today on 3 different TV shows. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wez 0 Report post Posted May 19, 2006 I am no expect about Soccer/Football so i thought id ask people with more football knowledge than myself. My question is how far can the Socceroos go? Honestly Ykick, as a football guru, I would say your chances are rather slim... Brazil will destoy all three other teams in the group, so your best bet after that defeat, would probably be to try scrape out a draw against Croatia who are not too bad a team and try beat the Japs who are no mugs themselves though and made the top 8 at the last world cup. Be glad though that your group is probably one of the easiest groups in the World cup, unlike Group C which includes Argentina (one of the favourates), Holland (have very good odds), Ivory Coast (best African team), and Serbia (have one of the best defenses in the world). What ever happens, enjoy the greatest show on earth!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cavallino 2 Report post Posted May 20, 2006 I just hope its not as bad as last time, with hopeless referees, all the good teams / players burtn out, but I guess its the same since it follows the European season . Based on the jokers that made the quarters / semis last time Australia would have a chance. The last tournament was miserable, I'd rather watch club football. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ykickamoocow 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2006 Here's the penalty shootout for Australia vs Uruguay which gave Australia its first birth in the FIFA world cup since 1974. Also for Cavallino, they are not Australian commentators. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uncKOlgvJEM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nojvnof1 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2006 I honestly think we can get out of this group in second place, but it all depends on the first game against Japan. If we lose that, then we've got a major uphill battle to qualify. If we draw, it's OK, but not great, if we win then we stand a big chance to qualify. I feel we can get results against both Japan and Croatia, whilst a draw against Brazil would be as good as a win. I've seen worse teams perform well at the World Cup, and I see no reason why we cannot be the surprise packet that emerges in each World Cup. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cavallino 2 Report post Posted May 20, 2006 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uncKOlgvJEM Saw the match already, you have to watch what you can get here when hardly any quality football is telecast, instead you get the sydney maggots vs the melbourne skunks or something Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blueboots 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2006 I honestly think we can get out of this group in second place, but it all depends on the first game against Japan. If we lose that, then we've got a major uphill battle to qualify. If we draw, it's OK, but not great, if we win then we stand a big chance to qualify. I feel we can get results against both Japan and Croatia, whilst a draw against Brazil would be as good as a win. I've seen worse teams perform well at the World Cup, and I see no reason why we cannot be the surprise packet that emerges in each World Cup. Agreed. Remember Senegal? They came from nowhere last World Cup and did surprisingly well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amjay 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2006 Agreed. Remember Senegal? They came from nowhere last World Cup and did surprisingly well. dun 4get korea, japan ... they topped their groups the last time around.... also the african countries... all newcomers but to kick out the likes of nigeria, cameroon and south africa they must be good ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taku 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2006 of cause brazil is going thru.... but i think second place can go to anyone ... i would put my money on japan... seen them play and they some world class players who can take on the big boys...as for the aussies.. while i'll be happy to see them get past the group stage as it will make a whole load my family members happy (i have a lot of family in aussie) but just dun see tht happenin.... on paper at least the aussies dun stand a chance against their 3 oponents i'm here in tokyo and japan played against bulgaria (lost 2-1) and scotland (0-0 draw) and are in woeful form. their strike team particularly is looking pathetic and only have 3 or 4 players that are of first team league standard. australia looks much stronger on paper and i think it will be between them and croatia, rather than japan for the second group spot. crotia besting argentina recently doesn't look good and australia's only real weakness is lack of match play as a team unit. i recall lowe was trying to rectify this by holding european camps and friendlies, has this happened? what has australia's recent form been like? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taku 0 Report post Posted May 20, 2006 I honestly think we can get out of this group in second place, but it all depends on the first game against Japan. If we lose that, then we've got a major uphill battle to qualify. If we draw, it's OK, but not great, if we win then we stand a big chance to qualify. I feel we can get results against both Japan and Croatia, whilst a draw against Brazil would be as good as a win. I've seen worse teams perform well at the World Cup, and I see no reason why we cannot be the surprise packet that emerges in each World Cup. i agree, japan's form has been very patchy and their coach looks like he has no solutions to their scoring problems. he made one surprising striker choice which should shake up their frontline and bring unpredictability but i would say that australia can definitely win their first match. i'm going to go back home for the world cup, but will stay in tokyo for game 1 to cheer the boys on in hostile territory! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ykickamoocow 0 Report post Posted May 21, 2006 what has australia's recent form been like? Well we are playing Greece on Thursday with our world cup team (minus Harry Kewell) so that game should be a good indication of how good Australia is. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cavallino 2 Report post Posted May 21, 2006 Well we are playing Greece on Thursday with our world cup team (minus Harry Kewell) so that game should be a good indication of how good Australia is. That should be interesting, but are Greece sending at least part of their international team? Is it going to be on TV? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aussief1 4 Report post Posted May 21, 2006 That should be interesting, but are Greece sending at least part of their international team? Is it going to be on TV? Yeah, SBS @ 7.00pm (25/5/06). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jem of the Shire 0 Report post Posted May 22, 2006 Well we are playing Greece on Thursday with our world cup team (minus Harry Kewell) so that game should be a good indication of how good Australia is. Greece are the european champions so I will be impressed if Aus win. Having said that, its only a friendly so Greece will probably just experiment different players and formations Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nojvnof1 0 Report post Posted May 23, 2006 Greece have brought a very strong lineup with about 8 players who played in the Euro 2004 lineup set to play. I doubt they'd muck about with formations too much as this is their only game in a while (prior to Euro 2008 qualifiers) and would want to make amends for not qualifying for the World Cup. It should be a great game, but it'll be tough without Kewell and Aloisi. australia's only real weakness is lack of match play as a team unit. i recall lowe was trying to rectify this by holding european camps and friendlies, has this happened?what has australia's recent form been like? No form to speak of mate as we haven't played since that game against Uruguay in November. We've got a hectic schedule in the leadup to the World Cup mate. The team has been in Melbourne for a few days preparing for the friendly against Greece on Thursday at the MCG. They'll go into camp in Holland after that and play Holland on the 4th of June and Liechtenstein in Germany I think on the 8th of June. With Hiddink off to Russia after the World Cup, it'll be interesting to see who we get as a coach. I read that they're tyring to get Gerard Houllier. That would be good as he was technical director for France once. In my opinion, we need a world class technical director to appoint a top coach. This would be beneficial for both the Socceroos and our youth teams. It would be good if Houllier is hired as we could then offer him the job of Technical Director after a couple years of him coaching. Sorry for that rant at the end, but I've been a staunch fan of football for ages now and I'm really excited about how it's starting to (finally!!!) take off here!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pumpdoc 2 Report post Posted May 23, 2006 We are in a brutal draw (E) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BradSpeedMan 6 Report post Posted May 23, 2006 dun 4get korea, japan ... they topped their groups the last time around.... also the african countries... all newcomers but to kick out the likes of nigeria, cameroon and south africa they must be good ... Amjay, South Africa are on such a low we did'nt even qualify for the World Cup... 3 nights ago we lost againts Botswana, ranked 103. Seems everyone can beat us nowadays....it's going from bad to worse this side. Luckily we automatically entered in 2010 because we're hosting... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites