Football Thread!

[Warrior]

Great effort by the Aussies, it was a top performance this morning. That is how we should play, not this defensive shit we adopted in previous games. Although Australia didn't qualify, we are all very proud of their display in the 2nd and 3rd games of the group stage. We were unlucky not to beat Ghana, and a win there would've made it a hell of a lot easier for Aus to qualify.
What really killed it for us was the match against Germany. If we had the right player selection and formation on the day the result might have been totally different, a 1-0 loss would've sufficed.

I don't think Ghana deserved to qualify. They only managed to score two goals in all 3 games, both from penalties. For the most part they also only versed 10 men. And if a few decisions from the reff went and probably should've gone Australia's way, it may be a very different story right now. I guess they need an African team in the final 16....
The Germans certainly didn't help us and I think Ghana would've been more than ecstatic with a 1-0 loss. They now face the USA as opposed to an out of form English team.

Now that Verbeek will finally head off, who will take the job?
I believe that Australia need an Australian coach for that team chemistry. Who better than Craig Foster. He is a passionate and proud socceroos fan and definitely knows what he is on about when it comes to tactics and play. Australia needs someone that cares and puts the best options on the table, not a coach that is half-assed and walks away with the cheque.

You taking the p&ss!!!

I agree with the fact that we should go for an Ozzie coach, but not him. They need the best of the best in Oz land and i dont think Aurelia Vinmar will be a bad choice, as long as they keep Arnold, Mitchell and Kosmina at length distance from the NT. They are not good enough...

[EgejskaMakedonia]

I don't see why not, he had the right approach and view on Australia's matches. There may be better Aussie choices, but you also need a coach that believes in the players. He is one of the most passionate out.

Gotta' love watching Ned Zelic on the SBS panel. Even if you don't know what he is saying, he is entertaining to watch..such enthusiasm.

[Prolet]

Warrior, Look at what Ricky Herbett did for New Zealand i'd rather Craig Foster be coach of the Socceroos then a hack like Pim Verbeek. Unless its a high profile coach like Terry Venebles or Guus Hiddink i dont want to see anymore experiments from the FFA no more.

[Phoenix]

Prolet, I've noticed you've been trying to hang Verbeek for some time now but lets look at the guys achievements...he still has a pretty impressive record during his tenure with the Australian squad...if we took away the game against Germany from his record, it would make otherwise quite impressive reading...

What happened in Durban against Germany is a total mystery and a blight on his CV, I think on that night Verbeek took the idea of 'Total Football' to a new place, an unworkable place...whatever his thinking it was a total fuckin' disaster, which we can all agree on but for the rest of his record its hard to be critical and I certainly wouldn't hang the guy.

We've heard Foster banging on about attacking football and how this is the Aussie spirit...I don't buy it, every football code has a lowest common denominator and that is the importance of the defensive structures and systems...every good football code team is based on strong defence and its what allows teams to control and alter the tempo of the game...I hope the FFA continues down the path of selecting strong technical coaches that have a solid defensive mindset...

I think the qualities that define the Ausralian players are things like physical strength, endurance, mental toughness and improving technique...what I think we still lack is controlling the tempo of the game, the ability to close down a game when it gets tight (i.e. the inability of our team to shut out Ghana immediately after we scored)

I hope the next coach of Australia's NT can take our game to the next level...and I think we should continue with the Dutch coaching philosophy...

[Daniel the Great]

SOM, Whats your opinion on Kirilica.com.mk doing a campaign to support all neighbors in the world cup??

My opinion is whats the point? would they do that for Macedonia? no way.
Big mistake by Kirilica.com.mk.

[johnMKD]

My opinion is whats the point? would they do that for Macedonia? no way.
Big mistake by Kirilica.com.mk.

No,for sure the Greeks would never do it. However, I fully support these kind of actions (of kirilica.com.mk). They simply clearly show the superiority of Macedonia in terms of culture and behaviour.

[Phoenix]

No,for sure the Greeks would never do it. However, I fully support these kind of actions (of kirilica.com.mk). They simply clearly show the superiority of Macedonia in terms of culture and behaviour.

its actually the actions of a culture that is steeped in subservience and showing a disturbing level of low self esteem.

Instead of Macedonians striving to be better than the shit that surrounds us, certain media outlets promote this garbage, whereby our failures are compensated by supporting the successes of others...

There's some tosser over at Maknews called "AVERMAN" who reckons the Macedonian's should be supporting the serbs because they're our "brothers"...I can't even begin to tell you how sick that makes me...we're being sold out from every corner of our society.

[Prolet]

Phoenix, You know alot about football i do agree with you however Verbeek shut the doors on the A-League players and the fact that he couldnt produce one standout has cost us dearly in the long run.

Look at Terry Venables he gave the then young Harry Kewell a start against Iran in Teheran in 1997 who scored and hasnt looked back since, Australia is blessed to have players like Kewell and Cahill but they are in their 30s now new players have to come out and take their place.

I think young Tommy Oar should have got the nod, i would prefer him to Rukavica for sure. The kid would have got alot of confidence while in return Pim shut the door on the A-League players while look at the players at New Zealand the majority of them are in the A-League.

Lets also keep in mind that Australia has an aging squad, the majority of the stars are in their 30s. Schwarzer is 37 he's not going to be around for much longer so we need a solid keeper who will replace him.

[Prolet]

Craig Foster has absolutely slaughtered Verbeek just then, i must say i agree with him.

[Phoenix]

Phoenix, You know alot about football i do agree with you however Verbeek shut the doors on the A-League players and the fact that he couldnt produce one standout has cost us dearly in the long run.

Look at Terry Venables he gave the then young Harry Kewell a start against Iran in Teheran in 1997 who scored and hasnt looked back since, Australia is blessed to have players like Kewell and Cahill but they are in their 30s now new players have to come out and take their place.

I think young Tommy Oar should have got the nod, i would prefer him to Rukavica for sure. The kid would have got alot of confidence while in return Pim shut the door on the A-League players while look at the players at New Zealand the majority of them are in the A-League.

Lets also keep in mind that Australia has an aging squad, the majority of the stars are in their 30s. Schwarzer is 37 he's not going to be around for much longer so we need a solid keeper who will replace him.

Prolet, the talk was that we were too old, too slow, no strikers and out of our depth...and yet we kept up with Ghana playing almost 70 mins with just 10 men, we scored more goals than Ghana and Serbia in our group, we ran both Ghana and Serbia off the park and we created chances in all 3 games...we didn't play a single group game with our best 11 on the park, thats the reality, the rest was merely speculation and negativity from a sports media in Australia that is fearful of what the World game will do to the AFL and NRL if this sleeping giant stirs to life...

World Cup 2010 is now over for Australia...its up to the FFA to appoint a new coach asap and start the transition period that will see the retirement of some senior socceroos...I hope the squad for the Asian championship will contain both current socceroos and fringe players like Oar, Kantarovski and Spiranovic...I hope a new coach will find a place for McDonald, Holman, Rykavitsa (sp?) and Vidosic...we've got enough talent, it needs nurturing and the bigger picture has to be about Brazil in 2014...

[Phoenix]

Craig Foster has absolutely slaughtered Verbeek just then, i must say i agree with him.

Prolet, football has more "what if" moments than any other sport...our "what if" moment was that Germany game...what if Verbeek played Kewell, Bresciano or Kennedy in a formation resembling those against Ghana or Serbia...the reality is we will never know so its pointless for clowns like Foster to bang on about it...

For me, Foster is trying to be the new Johnny Warren, a self appointed custodian of football in Australia...coaches live and die by their results, no coach is going to come to Australia and play the way Foster wants, the modern coach is essentially anti-football because each loss on his CV is a bullet for his career...even the "special one" has had his moments of anti-football to achieve the desired results...

[TrueMacedonian]

Looks like the Italians will be knocked out of the Cup. 1-0 against Slovakia near the end of the first half.

[Spartan]

^^Why would you jinx it!!!!!!!
If the Italians advance, im holding you personally accountable!

[Spartan]

2-0 to the Slovaks in the 74th.

[Spartan]

Arivaderci paizanos.
3-1 Slovaks 87th.
Bravo to the 'little guy' !