Just think hes a better defender than most of the current squad... hes not Marcelo but he knows how to play a fucking offside trap at least...

Folami is there because we literally have no one else... Maclaren ain't going to hold up the ball like Folami does... he's starting to get game time now at only 18... both of his rivals are now 30.. he will be getting plenty more time next season too...at the highest level of any striker we got.

We don't have anyone else who can actually breeze past defenders... we you can beat players this is called creating chances and creating space for people to run into... do you idiots watch the socceroos? we got fkn no one near this guys level.. Rogic doesn't take people on anymore... that's been coached out of him now.. same will happpen  to Arzani even he doesn't move.. I hope he ends up at Girona next season. 

He reminds me of that u20s team that did well and moved the ball quite well at pace... yet they all get into the a-league and slow right down to snails pace again...he plays at different tempo to everyone else..

He's a cam who can't defend and isn't a threat on goal. He's about as useful, or useless depending on how you look at it,  as Troisi.

433 ? 
rekn Milligan would have much to do in that scenario ? He'd barely touch the ball with Yedi doing what he does best. lol
Still rekn Milligan pairing is better when we're trying to counter as opposed to Jedi playing counter... is that counter-production at its finest ?

I think the Chile game, all you need to do is watch that to know Mooy will be useless against France's speed in attack

Worry that Milligan is in decline, although at the World Cup isn't the time to be passing the baton on to Dougall or someone else. This last year he seems to be in a slump. If we are playing 4231 with 2 DMs Luongo is pretty much a shoe in. 
With Mooy, not sure if the slowing down of attacks was just him or Ange  because in the last Honduras game he seemed totally different. I do worry though that playing him next to Jedi means that most attacks will end being funneled through him, and if any team double teams or closely marks him he we will cough up possession constantly in a dangerous position.

https://youtu.be/Vf4Dig-Mjeg

Never seen this. Uruguay footage from 2005. My YouTube suggestions have a lot of home made videos celebrating 06. Kind of miss those days before all this smartphone stuff. 

Haha at 49 seconds in that clip. You can  see Aloisi celebrating on the TV in the far corner. The text description of each scene is great. 

Troisi has been useless his whole career though

Most DMs diminish in their ball winning ability from 30 onwards. However, their distribution often continues to improve.
 
In Jedi's case, his distribution has been pretty bad for a long time. His positional play when the other team has the ball and his ball winning is still good.

Milligan's ball winning seems to still be fine apart from heading duels against taller central strikers if he plays CB.

Both are over the optimum age of the most effective World Cup players, which is considered to be 28.

One recurring theme is that players are enjoying the fact that BVM involves himself in training in a hands on way. He is perceived to be more jovial than Ange and far less serious. 

Ange's style is to observe from the sideline with his assistant coaches running training sessions.

I know it’s a little while down the track but Pasquali is playing now (albeit sporadically) and is another one of those CM.

Say in two years he’s good to go. That’s him, Irvine, luongo, rogic, mooy.

Not to mention dougall, Jeggo etc.

It’s a good time

mcgree and caletti have both impressed me at times

de silva might come good too. A lot of these players take till mid 20s to come good since we dont play enough games year round

Relevant enough here as our opponents affect the national team.
Japan have sacked their coach.

Oh wow, while he didn't have them playing that well surely he is better than getting in a manager last second.

Australia is such a trend setter

Had we beaten them or even drawn in Japan, he'd likely have been fired. 

Japan Football Association (JFA) technical director Akira Nishino will replace Vahid Halilhodzic as head coach of the Japanese national team just two months before the World Cup finals, the JFA said on Monday.Nishino, who spent 10 seasons in charge of Gamba Osaka and became the JFA’s technical director in 2016, will have little time to prepare for the World Cup, where Japan are drawn in Group H alongside Colombia, Poland and Senegal.Japan have three friendly matches scheduled before opening their World Cup campaign against Colombia on June 19.Halihodzic, who took over in March 2015, led the team to their sixth straight World Cup finals after they finished top of Asian qualifying Group B ahead of Saudi Arabia and Australia.However, pressure on the 65-year-old had been building and a draw with Mali and defeat to Ukraine in friendly matches last month did nothing to ease concerns about the team’s form heading into the World Cup.Kyodo news agency quoted JFA President Kozo Tashima as saying the Bosnian had been informed of the decision to replace him on Saturday.He is the third coach to depart from one of the five Asian sides heading to Russia after they had secured qualification.Australia and Saudi Arabia also changed coaches soon after they booked their places, while South Korea replaced German Uli Stielike with Shin Tae-yong for the final two matches of qualifying.Japan’s next warm-up game for the World Cup is against Ghana on May 30.(Reporting by Jack Tarrant; Editing by John O’Brien)

Despite limited time this coach has got some good experience. 

hmm Colombia, Poland.. don't like their chances of going through. Could surprise however. Have Japan ever gone through the groups... guess we have that on them if that's the case. They seem to do well against us..

Yeah 2002 they did well in the home tournament making the last 16. 2010 they got through the group with Netherlands Denmark and Cameroon only losing to Paraguay on penalties in the next round. 

That's no easy group. Perhaps suggesting that both Japan and Australia have both performed well when switched on.

No distractions and when the manager has them focused / organised etc 

yeah Japan beat rusia and tunisia in 2002 and drew with belgium

South korea also made the round of 16 in 2010 and were unlucky in 2006 where they got a win and a draw. In their incredible 2002 run they beat poland and portrugal drawing with usa before beating italy and spain in the knockouts

It's easy to understand we being the new kids on that stage would be more nervous and error prone.

Obviously the European teams and players are well programmed to capitalise on errors. 

How many friendlies do we have before Russia?

I think we have 2 more friendlies, against Czech and Hungary, planned in the first week of June 

Patrick Shick from Roma is a great young striker. Will be good to face him in the Czech friendly. 

Rewatched some Arzani footage
It's hard to believe he doesn't have 30 assists by now some hopeless finishing in some of those clips from teammates but it reminds me of a young rogic treating players as traffic cones. It's hard to dispute he could add something to the national team

In terms of World Cup squad selection, how many spots remain up for grabs?

You'd think Ryan, Vukovic, Sainsbury, Jurman, Behich, Jedinak, Milligan, Luongo, Irvine, Mooy, Rogic, Leckie, Cahill and Juric are guaranteed selection barring injury. 

One more spot you'd think is between Jones vs Langerak for the 3rd GK position. 

That leaves 8 spots still open with the defence and our wide positions perhaps most open.

I imagine Degenek, Wright and Risdon are all in with a strong chance, whilst only one of Meredith and Gersbach will get the call up. I'd personally like to think Williams, Chapman and Susnjar would be considered too with Williams in particular perhaps favourable over Wright or Risdon. 

If only 4 spots remain I guess it's a battle in the final third between Kruse, Nabbout, Petratos, Arzani, Rukavytsya, Troisi, Maclaren and Borrello. I'd really like to see Borrello and Arzani in the squad, with the remaining 2 positions coming from Kruse, Maclaren, Nabbout and Petratos. I think this would be dependent on who performs in the next month at club level.

smart. getting a local coach in for the world cup experience rather than a short term foreign coach.

japan beats us again, even in a shit situation.

Fran Karacic, RB for Lokomotiva Zagreb, is apparently in the frame for a Socceroos call up for the World Cup. Van Marwijk is keen to have a look at him and is in line to be a real WC bolter. He's played for Croatia's U/21s recently and is 21 years of age. David Davutovic wrote an article about it for News Corp but I haven't been able to get access because of BS access restrictions. 

for those interested he has played 1700 minutes for 1 goal and 4 assists