Derric is the victory guy I was thinking of

Much better.

More aggressive for starters and that professional foul is exactly the type of thing Australia need to do occasionally to break up their momentum.

great start to the second half, I think the Mexicans tired themselves out

So close, how did he save that?

Wonderful work form our boys to start the 2nd. Really should be 1 up now.

White socks today but yellow the other day. Anyone know why?

Yellow ones in the wash??

Ha. Maybe?

I do like the white.

The lads lack that killer pass and give away far too much possession.

Half-time and early first half thoughts.

It's an improvement from the math against Germany.

I agree with Decentric that they have been disorganised in defence but I think they got a bit better. I also agree that it's concerning that Rowles is being outpaced so easily. Initially, he was really struggling to get the ball out of defence and looked a real liability. But you have to take your hat off to him. He has played a really gutsy and smart game. He has been a major reason for keeping Mexico scoreless in the first half.

A couple of things especially concern me. One is that we're not clinical enough in the final third. Same with the way we were struggling to play the ball out in the first third. We lacked decisiveness and speed. We also lacked those really troublesome, penetrative passes that Mexico produced.

Speed that's the thing that really worries me. Derrick and maybe one other player is quick. But the others are being easily outpaced by the Mexican players. They're running around the Joeys without much difficulty. And when we do attack, there are always about two or three Mexican players all over our players in seconds. They're so fast in attack and defence.

Why are our players looking both less fit and less athletic? This is unacceptable. Some of the Mexican players look twice as fast.

Not every great player was super quick. But every great team must have had 5 or 6 very quick players.

I want to see Arzani play.

Now Luke Derrick. He's a gun. He actually has solid 1 vs 1 skills. I'm interested to hear Decentric's take on his 1 vs 1 ability.

There aren't many players in the A-League now with better 1 vs 1 skills than Derrick. He is ready for that level now, easily.

He needs to go to the Holy Trinity pronto. If not, the FFA should basically tell Melbourne Victory that Derrick has to play regularly for Melbourne Victory immediately. He needs to be playing against men. You can build an attack around this type of player. He could be playing left wing for the Socceroos very, very soon.

If I was Ange I'd be looking at his finishing and positioning when attacking the goal.

If he's good, he could be a contender for striker for Russia 2018. Much better skills than Taggart has thus far demonstrated. Potentially a better bet than Juric or Bulut, too.

If we have a good shot with real 1 vs 1 ability up front, sitting in front of Rogic at CAM, well the Socceroos will look a different beast.

Let's see how they close out the match.

So many sideways and backward passes.

For FUCKS SAKE. Can't even play a wall pass. Chance goes begging.

Very Leckie-esque.

Major fuck up in the final third. Just cough the ball up easily. Infuriating.

Australia could still nick this though.

Will set up an interesting 3rd game with Argentina being already beaten by Mexico and hopefully Germany.

Ha ha. Leckie-esque. Easily the biggest gumby playing for Australia. So quick his brain can't keep up.

So many players with poor technique.

Misdirected headers, underhit passes, sprayed switch balls, 1-2's that don't go where they're supposed too.

Frustrating beyond belief.


Ha, that diving mexican just got the sub a yellow. Welcome to grown up footy kiddo.

How has Armenakas been doing?

Dayum Armenakas that free kick was brilliant

Unlucky not to score

What a save. How ripped off would he feel?

Have the watch out for the sucker punch here. Boys have done themselves proud in this 2nd half.

That lad Armenakis looks the goods.

A class above.

So just done watching the game. Let's be honestkif we wanted it more we could have taken that game. I thought we did well in our 1 v1s especially with Army killing it. Our defence was solid but not perfect. I really think we needed to win this as it looks like this group won't see third place through.

\:d/

Also fucking hell Fozzie's beard really does look like he shaved with a lamington

I rate his look tbh

Strong homo.

outmuscled on the ball a lot and I thought the ref should have given us a lot more fouls.Physical disadvantage like that should fade when they get older. We had impressive 1v1 skills in attack and defence although i didn't see a lot of defence splitting passes

We actually seemed technically better than a nation known for their technique so well done.

We choked a lot in the final third and the mexican goal keeper was very good. The choking is probably because we were beaten soundly in the last match and lost confidence

The age group a year or two younger than these guys are better finishers so definitely look forward to seeing them

I thought Derric, Rowles and our GK had good games. Hope, Armenakas and Brimmer did well at times, Brimmer especially in the tackle and intercepts.
I do like Joyce from what I have seen in other games, didn't get much of a chance this game.
But a hugely improved performance, should do wonders for their confidence.

I thought a lot of fouls were missed and Mexico cought on to that and used it to their advantage. Any other day those would be fouls for days. I the back dragging players down this ref missed them all.

Pretty much agree with all of this. Hope was strong in patches as well. Really positive signs from our boys. Great to see both Brimmer and Panos being able to rip a free kick with real quality. Something we have been lacking in the senior team for some time.

I am always fascinated as to what sort of quality we have coming through in the younger generations. I remember reading that there was a real gun generation coming through are these the boys you are talking of?

They will get stronger, that's the least of the concern.
No not many defence splitting passes, also sometimes when a player whent for a run, had gone past two or three players kept going and just ran into a wall. Desicion making there needs to improve, as a pass would have been a better option at one point, but some of the ball skills in the second half were quite good.
I don't think we choked, as much as their GK was very good and their defenders were quick and defended well. Just need to improve on the final pass, I think Joyce only had 1 half chance all game.