Arnie really pisses me off with his selections sometimes! Why not play Circati?!!! 

Would allow us to blood some youth

im wondering if ill miss the drama of qualifying now that it seems so much easier

Wow Bangladesh Lebanon ends 1:1. Just want 3 points here to really pull away then get it sorted in March.

               Ryan
Strain Souttar Rowles Behich
          Baccus Irvine
Boyle   Metcalfe   Goodwin
             Duke

Seems to be Arnold's preferred 11.

I'll miss first half. Hope there's the rewind on paramount. There was for A League but not for Matildas.

Don't play Japan too often , we don't want our H2H against Japan becomes too ugly and also losing a lot of FIFA points. Should look for some teams in Europe or some teams from other continent we are capable of winning like Costa Rica, USA, Canada, Ireland, Wales etc . We got no chance against Japan.

This is only 2nd stage of qualification btw. What do you expect Australia vs Japan? 

In CONCACAF , those high ranked teams they don't even have to play as they are waiting in the last stage.

Got to get a valuable away win tomorrow. Can expect Lebanon to beat Bangladesh and we can't allow any complacency. Arnold is right in saying the players have set their own high standards in camp so that is comforting. The last thing I want is to make the Lebanon clashes in March any more demanding than they need to be.

fark asia is a boring confed....rarely a game you'd want to see.

To me this shows how significant that game against Argentina was in the Cup back in November. It increased our credentials far above our ranking and has enabled us to have the quality friendlies this year that we have had. Arnie needs to be proactive and continue to arrange similar friendlies every chance we/he can.

Someone suggested that we should arrange friendlies with Japan/Sth Korea on a fairly regular basis. Not a bad idea, either, particularly when we only have one game in a FIFA window.

It’s only just hitting me now how easy qualification is this time (and from now on) with the expanded format.

We’ve  got 8.5 qualification spots. Can you imagine if we failed to be in the top 8 in Asia? Would be a travesty. With some very bad luck I could maybe have seen it ~5 years ago in our dark generation. But we’re really starting to produce good national talent again.

We’re 1/6 games into the group and I feel like we’re already out of the group. +7 GD and the other teams drew nil nil.

Then at the next stage we just need to finish in the top 6 out of 18. And even if we somehow failed that, we’d get another chance. And if we fail that we get another chance.

The bar to get into the World Cup is just be better than the level of Oman and China.

These are basically friendlies now. After the Asian cup, I hope Arnold starts using them to test young new talent, which will make the games more interesting from that standpoint. Otherwise it’s like being back in the OFC during this group stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avn4GDDmXLQ

Saudi Pakistan. Pissing down in Hofuf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9IVqKx3PCY

Malaysia Kyrgyzstan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWemub25JXQ

Thailand China 

Strong come back for Uzbekistan to win 3:1

Palestine Lebanon ends 0:0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Eril-OlqpQ

Iraq Indonesia live. What an atmosphere in Basra.

3:1 down to win 4:3 for Malaysia over Kyrgyzstan. Turkmenistan with a 1:0 lead over Uzbekistan at the break. Thailand led but China came back to win 2:1.

no good man, drop them pills hope you make it.

Yer not surprised, typically a minnow of minnow with all due respect will also have the loudest of the supporter groups.
We de best lol - don't let out your passion loudly or madly its frowned upon in our kulcha.

got a ticket tonight with some mates but feeling really shit at the moment.... FFS.... was looking forward to it, should be half decent crowd... lots of Bangladeshis are going according to a work colleague.

so nice we koff with a home fixture tonight......hope the Roos get a sell out - any idea of the current pax ?
We haven't played them since 2015 x 2 good wins and I'd really expect us to really go after them and score a few tonight.
Bangladesh last 5 played
Maldives
2-1 win and a draw
Afganis
Draws 1-1 0-0
Kuwait
Loss 0-1

We have had harder lead up games last 5 as we all know and who.
Come Roos lets go tonight.

We're first up in a massive opening day of AFC qualifying. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan hosting Uzbekistan and Jordan respectively are interesting ties.

Will Malaysia finally get into gear as they host Kyrgyzstan? Philippines Vietnam for AFC socialmedia banter value.

Thailand have dropped off but he's hoping they can upset China.

Probably prefer Lebanon Palestine draw which is being played in UAE. 

Interesting is Rowles and Behich tend to excel in a green shirt while having some clumsy issues at club level. Law of averages permits that though. We've filled the vast majority of windows but I just wish we could play more and more.

I say Rowles as for left back emergencies. You're right. I think he allows for a bit of extra defensive balance which permits attack or focus on the right side. We saw that against Mexico and England. Basically what I'm saying is I don't expect Rowles to be overlapping and weaving into the penalty box.

Ever since he has started as a Socceroo, in the late rounds of the Qatar WCQ campaign, Rowles has been our most consistent CB. I doubt Arnie would drop him now, given what he has done to date.

He has held his own playing against the best teams in world football - France, Argentina, England. Plus Denmark and Mexico are/were highly ranked in FIFA world rankings when we played them.

Rowles only for emergencies?
From the games I’ve watched, I think he’s hardly put a foot wrong. I can see him keeping his place in the 11 all the way through 2026. Be it LB or CB he’s contending for.
Probably LB so that we can be more aggressive in midfield choices.

Also, it’s seeming like Bos may end up more of a midfield option rather than a Leftback.

Boyle but for tomorrow with knee issue but should be fine for second game. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtNAgVKtq1M

Behich press conference

I think Maclaren will start against Bangladesh. Won't rest easy until we secure that win against Palestine. They'll be either so hyped or s demoralized. Just got to get it done. 

Not this round but for the love of god can teams in our group have some draws against each other this time?

I thought Arnold was setting it up. Degenek and Rowles as RB and LB back ups while being there for the centre. Circati though is a CB mainstay so Degenek has to make way.

I like that idea. An opportunity to add another midfielder or striker. That squad seems light on AM to me. The striker selections missed the mark too, but there were reasons for it with how early the squad needed to be selected. The guys outside that squad I want to see are Toure, Kuol, Mabil, Irankunda, Robertson and Volpato. More attacking options mostly. 

I'd use Behich's omission to add someone in another position. Rowles is fine for emergencies and I'd focus on Bos. At least at this stage. Rowles is way more defensive but that could balance to see attacking elsewhere on the pitch. 

I've always wanted Elder to come in but that ship has sailed. Farrell is looking good for the future. 

Who would you have picked ahead of Behich in the squad?