It's going to be a massive affair in that excellent modern stadium. They'll hit capacity at 34k I reckon.

It'll feel like those Saudi away games and hopefully we can be concentrated and score to silence the crowd. 

Please get to Indonesia lads! This bunch will hopefully get us there and will deservedly be selected for the tournament. Yet there are some others who could join in and be a real boost. Irankunda among others and I'd have to do my research. A proper CB so Rawlins can play at rb

⏰ FT | 🇮🇷 IR Iran 0⃣-1⃣ Iraq 🇮🇶

Ali Jasim's late goal sends the Lions of Mesopotamia through to the semi-finals and the FIFA U20 World Cup Indonesia 2023 👏

#AFCU20 | #IRNvIRQ

Warhawsky(Niuwenhuzen/Hall/Pavlesic)
Rawlins(Madanha) - Triantis(Majekodunmi) - Circati(Donnell) - Chipperfield(Dench/Forde)
Bozinovski(Yull/Girwood-Reich) - Robertson(Lopane/Badolato)
Rodrigues(Hammond/Dukuly) - Volpato(Segecic/Simmons) - Irankunda(Oliveira/Drew)
Kuol(Toure/Goodwin/Popovic)


I know I’ve missed quite a few, can’t think of them off the top of my head

Would appear we've named our best performing 11 for this. Can't argue with any choices. Go for it! 

Drew maybe

Goalless at HT. Uzbekistan with better chances but Australia growing into game. 

Can we get that right fullback off the pitch before he turns the ball over again please?

Straya utterly woeful. The skills, technique, passing accuracy absolutely appalling. If this is our future we are fxcked

Point blank chance for Australia blocked. 

Uzbekistan swift through and shoot wide. Massive chance. 

Get in!! 1:0 Australia off a corner. Headed down and Popovic runs through to put it in. Is there VAR? Felt maybe he was just off but we'll take it. 

1:1. Ffs. Led for 2min 

Uzbeks look far more likely to score. We can’t string more than two passes together without misdirected pass or cheap turnover. 

Extra Time hurts more at 3am 😓

Extra time we go. Uzbekistan have been closer to the goal and are bouyed on by a big home crowd. Australia have shown intent and definitely win their battles on occasion. A tight game. This playing group at least seems much more switched on than the previous ones. 

Hmmm. Australian shot parried. Follow through sees keepers hand hit his boot and he goes down
Goal kick given. I don't know. We tried to milk it in think but certainly risky by keeper to reach at it. 

We've been outplayed and outclassed and we don't look like we're on their level.  But I'm hoping it's the impressive and very boisterous home crowd mostly responsible for that.

Uzbekistan are famous for being good at youth level. Our players have beaten their man numerous times too. It feels like a 9 round boxing match and yes, we'd lose on a decision. Thankfully we showed a lot of good play in the group stage. 

Penalties we go! Come on boys! Sure Uzbekistan are good but I'm pretty happy how we've stood up. Previous generations have given up earlier. Lotto now

☹️

Uzbekistan win 5:4 on penalties. Segecic hit the bar with the 5th and they converted. Gutted. A great experience for this playing group but missing this world cup sucks big time. 

Lost 5-4 in the shootout. Uzbeks better. Like all Australian teams at all levels our first touch, ability to retain the ball under pressure and creativity in the final third is appalling. Until we can improve on those areas we will continue to stagnate.

So disappointed. I just feel this bunch drove forward a lot more than past teams. Yes, there was a lack of end product and we need to fix it.

These payers also need more and more club minutes. 

One way is to change the visa rules. No team can 3 forwards as visa players
The following could be used
Visa 1 foward
Visa 2 Midfielder 
Visa 3 Defender
Visa 4 can be FW, MF or DF
Visa 5 can be FW if visa 4 is FW etc

And one player on the field must be u23 at all times.

https://youtu.be/GoYQu_sRNw0

Highlights

Probably a penalty there if Var was available 😞

I had lots of thoughts whilst half asleep watching this shambles of a match.

Obviously always a difficult match against Uzbekistan at this level, add to that the home ground advantage and huge support. Would've been difficult for any senior National team let alone a group of 18-20 year olds.

In saying that, what a shambolic performance that was by our boys, not once did we look threatening as a system going forward, crossing was horrible, and I think Popovic didn't help with that, by not really being in good enough attacking positions. Obviously I think a lot of blame should be on Morgan for his selections and subs, because it was glaringly obvious that the game was being lost in midfield, yet Donnell visibly fatigued played the full game. It was screaming out for Yull to come on and control the game. I counted 4 passes in succession where Donnell passed it straight to Uzbekistan or resulted in a direct turn-over late into the second half.

This game required some leadership, someone to hold the ball, and get in the faces of the opposition.

Other individuals were not quite at it, I thought Segecic was actually off the pace considering his recent performances, and Bernardo was invisible, Forde was out of position a little, and Badolato was too careless in and out of possession.

This is not to take away that this tournament was actually a mini success considering our woeful performances for the last decade at this tournament, and the fact most of these guys haven't played football for the last 6 months and still got that close... just a huge disappointment that the WC was in our grasp and we let it slip due to some odd tactics and substitutions. 

the Uzkbeks acted like they won the tournament... it shows how good we are... if u have watched these last few u20s tournaments... this team has been by far the most promising... but we seem to always get fkd by Asian refs. These smaller nations are starting lift when they play us. 

But fuck me how many horrible ref calls have cost us underage world cups? Need to at least make a formal complaint this time. The u20 WC is biggest shop window behind the Olympics and WC.

Chuck Kuol and Irankunda in there and we score more goals.

That’s a very reactionary response given they lost by a single kick…come on.

They didn’t deserve that ending.