Sainsbury suspended. Still a job to do. A draw will suffice for 2nd.

                       Ryan 
Grant Milligan Degenek Behich 
                      Luongo 
Mabil     Irvine    Rogic  Ikonomidis 
                      Maclaren 

Game should be better for Maclaren with Syria attacking. Mabil and Ikon are going to be feeling it. Risdon and Nabbout should be ready. Let's see. 


       

I'd rather see Giannou than Maclaren but its unlikely to occur.

What Bosnich just said about 3rd placed teams. They'll be ranked according to how they go against the top 2 in their group? Losing to Syria we'd be absolutely stuffed then. 

I don't see anything in the regulations about that, seems it's based on results against all teams, not just the top two.

Jordan locked in for 1st now, any win or draw against Syria gives us 2nd, regardless of the Jordan Palestine result.

Exactly and the current 3rd placed table has Thailand on 3 points and Syria on 1.

Group A 3rd will have at least 4 points. If we lose to Syria we'll have a very nervous wait. Today was a good response but we're far from healed. 

Section in question:


That being said, 3rd place isn't a guarantee. 3 points may very well not be enough to advance. 

No idea what bosnich was on about. Everyone on the panel was confused and it sounded odd to me. 

Assuming we will try win? but a draw should see us 2nd? 

If we come 2nd the +ve is we dont play Japan who would tear this Socceroos squad to bits 

Yey 2nd!

if palestine smack the second string jordan team we might need more than a draw.  

if we draw and palestine win - very likely outcome - it will come down to goals scored/difference etc

Chapter 11 is what you want to look at specifically regarding 3rd place qualifiers, but no mention of not counting results against the last place team there either.

We beat Palestine so would be fine on H2H. 

Yep but if we lose and Palestine beat Jordan we're dead last.

No, I gather head to head is considered before goal difference. 

This game is massive. 3rd would be embarrassing and probably won't be enough anyway. Gotta avoid defeat then go into the knockout stage switched on. 

I think Bozza got confused with European WC qualifying. IIRC, one group has one less country, so when they determine the 8 best of the 9 second places (for the playoffs), matches against last place in their group don’t count, because of one group being disadvantaged with less games.

Exactly my thoughts. 

Pretty nerve wracking thinking about this one. Syria aren't exactly what they were when we last played but the fired coach situation could clear their heads and they'll be going all out.

The positive is they must play and that should open things up. 

Oddly, last time with Russia hosting and the addition of Kosovo and Gibraltar they actually had even groups, but even then I think they didn't count the bottom team, which is probably fair enough considering it shouldn't all be decided on who smashes San Marino the hardest.

What happens if Syria and Palestine win in the final round?

Then we're out in 4th place.

Jordan 6
Syria 4
Palestine 4
Australia 3

Exactly. Jordan can rest their entire squad since they have nothing to play for. We still need at least a point from this game and Syria need a win. 

Yep, even in Jordan lose 10-0 they're locked into first place, and Palestine need the win too of course.

Id be keeping Milligan in midfield hes doing well there. Nabbout will probably be fit to give us more attacking options too.

Bosnich May have been confused with the Asian Cup qualifying stage. When Indonesia were suspended, that left one group a team short and they then excluded results against the last place team to determine who went through to the next round when they needed the 4 best 2nd place teams and 4 best 4th placed teams.
Although that relevant Appendix 2 is missing from the publicly available comp regs.

Regardless of any permutations, if we lose to Syria, we absolutely deserve to go out. We won't lose. I can see a 2-0 win. Syria seem quite poor now. 

If Leckie and Nabbout are fit, regardless of who are the more effective players atm, I'd be looking at giving Mabil and Maclaren a rest. Mabil looked tired by the time he came off, and I'd be interested in seeing how Nabbout or Giannou go. For me:

--------------------------Ryan-----------------------
Grant--------Milligan-----Degenek----Behich
----------------Irvine-------Luongo----------------
Leckie----------------Rogic--------------Ikonomidis
------------------------Nabbout----------------------

Alternatively, if we are looking at giving Rogic a rest too, maybe place Ikon centrally, Nabbout out on the wing, with Giannou up front. I'm feeling indecisive about where to play Milligan. He was very good last game, and it is quite tempting to just slot Jurman at the back, with then Luongo replacing Rogic to allow the latter a rest. Irvine would then obviously operate further forward. 

Nabbout over Leckie for me full stop with Ikon Macca, < he'll be on a high.
Yes Mabil was tanked before the end of last nights game he needs recovery.
I'd give Jurman a run leave Milly in the mids, he played a good game last night effective.

1 Group is confirmed to have a team on 3 points or less with shit GD. Very likely for the other groups to be the same they way they are set up.

I've not really caught any Syrian games this tournament, what's gone wrong since the qualifiers?