We played against Honduras last WC playoff and because we had some questionable results against asian teams, many people said that Honduras was going to win as they are from a 'better confederation'. The same thing happened this WC cycle. By now, can we at least give Asia some respect?

Japan and Korea have done well in Kirin cup games just gone. Saudi very poor in friendly games. AFC had wins last world cup except Australia. 

Asian teams have to better in the World Cup, outside of Japan the rest have been meh.

I think it also shows how Peru over achieved with its squad, they got a talented coach who yielded the best results possible so credit to their coach and for Peru for getting this far when more established teams like Colombia under achieved with more talent at their disposal.

 it will always be seen as 2nd/3rd tier until nations from the confederation consistently make the final 8/4 of the world cup last
world cup the only team to make it out of the group stage was Japan in 2018
In which Japan were knocked out at the round of 16 
i think the 'confederation' as a whole has improved in the past 10 years though so hopefully this world cup a few teams get out of the group 
it is a bit unlucky japan probably the best team in the confed is in a group with Germany an Spain 
S.Korea have a real shot of progressing so do we and SA to a lesser extent  

Too true, but as shown in the Peru thread, our supporters even down play the value of our team. Time for a wake up call all round! Remember, Hrustic is only 24, still a few years from his peak. Same with several other of our players.

I agree.
I think one problem is that, especially for the big teams, we don't play enough competitive games against each other compared to other confederations. I would love to see the Asian Cup every two years instead of four like in Africa and North America, although there was talk of an AFC Nations League before the lockdowns happened.

I was going to start a thread on something like this topic. Thanks for doing it instead, Pasquali.

I'm out of the coaching loop now.  I think when I was still doing coaching courses in 2013 or 2014, often our coach educators from FFA/Football Australia, were constantly stating that  our Asian opposition were often far better technicians than us in Australia, but naive tactically.

The race was on for us to improve technically, because as our Asian opposition improved tactically, it would not be long before they would be too good for us they said. Of course it takes a lot longer to build technique than tactical nous.

Even though we didn't score today, I thought we had more scoring chances than Peru. I thought their ability defending set pieces and crosses was inferior to most of our recent Asian opposition.

Today's victory was not only fantastic for the Socceroos, but it demonstrated by the 5th ranked Asian team defeating the 5th ranked South American powerhouse Football Federation, generally recognised as second ranked in the world after Europe, the Asian Confederation has improved relative to the rest of the world.

Many Eurosnobs in Australia  perceive only Europe and South America as having any semblance of football quality. They also think we only won against Uruguay in 2005, because we had lots of players playing in big European leagues.

 Apart from Hrustic playing for Eintracht Frankfurt, mainly as a  sub, and Ryan as a reserve La Liga keeper, none of our other  Socceroos play in the European big five leagues ( England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain) do they?

If that is the case, it also  demonstrates how much  better the Socceroo team unit is than the individuals who comprise that team.

Today's Socceroo victory refutes the notion Asa is a football backwater. I think every 5th ranked South American country has won every other intercontinental  WCQing play off, apart from us in 2005 and 2022?

Im as happy as anyone but lets not get too carried away with one off games (decided on penalties no less) bearing any credence on Asia being a better confederation than Sth America.....

Re the playoff history of South America, I was interested in that too and checked it out. The only other time a South American team has lost a World Cup playoff was back in 1978, when Hungary beat Bolivia and only 16 teams were in the World Cup finals.

Agree.

The only other sport I follow as closely as football is cricket.

Rather than denigrate our own national players lacking quality,  like football Eurosnobs, it is more an issue of cricket supporters from big states failing to recognise qualities of cricketers from smaller states as worthy national representatives.  There is also a fair bit of value attributed to English county performances by Aussies in red ball cricket.

Thanks for researching this.

What a record for South American teams!

And in that scenario they were defeated by a European team.

All true.

However, reading Keeper' 66's post, apart from 1978 where a South American team lost to a 1978 European team in a sudden death WCQer, it is only in 2005 and 2022, that a South American team has been beaten in WCQing play offs.

Also, I think we were the better team in the 120 minutes. I think we had more scoring chances in the 120 minutes. 

Mate - dont forget South Korea already made it to Semis in 2002 WC, hunted big teams while doing so. 

20 years ago..... and they were playing a home.... 

Got to do this every world cup to 'build respect' - not saying the final 4 but at least final 8 

North/Central America isnt rated highly for the same 'reason' they almost never have anyone get past the rd of 16 - with Mexico generally the side that consistently makes to out of the group only to go home straight after 

I'd even say Africa is over 'rated' although they do have a 'fair few' big names that gives them a bit more pedigree (Salah, Mane etc) but if anything i'd say they are a bit 'over-rated' as they rarely perform at the big Dance - with that said i think Senegal will do well this time around 


i do think we are a 'little' under-rated but the only way to change this is to consistently have performers at the big Dance otherwises it wont change. 

Agreed BUT ...... again, we won on penalties both times... lets keep a sense of perspective here.

i think in the 90 we were better in Extra time i reckon Peru could of done us they had a few chances and 'hit the post' 

i think we deserved the win so credit were it is due we are going to Qatar keep in mind they also had the vast majority of the crowd it almost would of felt like a 'home game' for them. 

So we do deserve a bit of respect 

It is amazing how little respect our national football team has in Australia.

Watch all the fans turn out for the European pre-season clubs taking it easy in their pre-season games in Aus soon.

ON the whole, the record of Asian teams in the WC over the last half century borders on absolutely pathetic.

although this is true the confederation the past 10-15 years has probably improved more then any other confederation

I'd Back Japan and S.Korea over Any team outside of Europe and South America (bar Maybe Senegal and Mexico) 

 

enjoy the morning for pity's sake

Ah yes.. Bolivia thrashed by Hungary. Bolivia was coached by ex Adelaide City Juventus and Melbourne JUST bad boy Eddie Virba in the Budapest match.

Yes, but that is not reflective of the current standard today. For example, if you ask anyone from an average European nation such as Scotland how they would fare in Asian world cup qualifying, they think they would breeze through when in reality they would struggle to get past Iraq, Syria, UAE, let alone Japan, South Korea etc. Just my 2 cents.

I think Scotland probably would qualify if they were in Asia but i dont think it would be a 'breeze' but they do have a better side then the majority of the confederation 

scotland would give away 2 red cards and a penalty every match, then start a fist fight the first time a middle eastern country wasted 20 minutes of time :D

I think we underrate ourselves

what's interesting is how hard it seems to be to get good "on paper" these days for non euro countries

South korea, Japan and the 5th best south american team used to have a ton of players in the big 5 leagues. Peru are still ranked 22 in the world, so not far from uruaguy 05, yet on paper look way worse.

If we compare where people play in 05 compared to 2022 it might be comparing apples and oranges

Also, if you want to play for a big club, it seems a huge advantage to be born in europe somewhere. Some 2nd tier euro nations are packed with players who play in the big 5 yet would struggle to get through asia judging by the wc performances (looking at you poland). And denmark looked only slightly better than us (if that) last world cup. So looking at how teams are on paper needs to take that into context

I would certainly like to see afc improve at the world cup. It was interesting to see Japan last year be better technically than belgium but then conceding in the air late before that tragic counter

The last Roos v Japan game in Sydney showed real world class quality from Japan - who would have troubled many Euro/South American sides with the skillful tactics and techniques they showed that game- so yeah not close to Europe and South American levels overall but still worthy of respect here in Asia. 

Interesting post, Grazor.

At home in that WCQ fixture, Japan played us off the pitch.

It was depressing afterwards to admit Japan were just too good. They outclassed us in Sydney.

We can only speculate, but  where would Japan have placed in South American WCQs if they  had played in them? They were much tougher opposition than 5th placed Peru.

they played belgium off the pitch for 80 minutes last world cup until belgium focused on an arial attack and scored 2 quick ones. 

If afc can handle a physical approach better they could do very well. Spain for years struggled having a technically superior team who failed to make an impact at the world cup. So world cup results don't tell us everything about how tough a team is.

If we played a hoofball physical tactic domestically, I reckon we win most games against Japan and south korea even though we are weaker against most other teams