Jackson Irvine , Brad Smith, that only real players who the team will miss...Daniel De Silva, Awer Mabil coming off the bench

be interesting to see if Gallifuoco a starter...considering (I guess) he not shining the lights out at MVFC

same with Steven Ugarkovic

I seriously question if both players would be at under 23 teams, if they spent a year in A-league

I'm pissed off.

With those several now blocked players we were a shoe in for this. Fucking Ikonomidis and Jackson Irvine ?

Smith ? haha fuck it. I have been quite surprised by these teams so far, we may not have enough

we had a great chance to win it on paper, even now. But having read a few previews a lot of the earlier reports were that Iran are favourites. Even then I wasn't sure.

Tbf we haven't seen a lot of these teams play, hard to predict who is the favourite.

Amini would need to have the tournament of his life for us to have a chance. Hope he does, it's crazy to think he's playing in this .. it's like he's been overseas for 10 years

Ange has travelled with the squad and is helping the team prepare. He'll also be staying to watch all the games :)

I wonder if Pim or Holger ever did this.

i don't know any national team coaches that do this.

You can never criticize his work ethic.

I love Ange so much.

What a man.

Both were about the Olyroos since they were in Europe and even 'between clubs'., so they've been long indentified. If anything it's a 'relief' for the coaches as so long they had uncertain club level status. Atleast they are both a chance for more consistent club football?

In a way adrtho, their elevation is more a direct consequence of the absences of Dougall, Irvine and Degenek. Gallifuoco especially is more a 'squaddie' of the team and he's one of those types who benefit from all these forced absences.

Ugarkovic is a promising talent apparently and should be a good pick-up for the Jets.

but were they indentified because they was only in Europe, or because they truly are (were) above all the 22 years and under players in A-league

I'm not confident for Australia's chances TBH.

Vidmar coaching, Numerous key player blocked by their clubs and the fact that a lot of the players in this squad quite frankly won't ever be in the main national set up makes me think we are going to lose quite badly.

Edited by socceroofan4life: 14/1/2016 07:47:23 PM

In fairness to other, more established nations, they probably have a much broader, experienced coaching and scouting network which they can delegate these tournaments to. I can guarantee Ange doesn't have anything close to the same expertise available to him.

It is still an amazing effort for him to get around - shows you how much he cares about doing his job properly which is a lovely, refreshing change.

This. Guys most of the absences were not core players and replaceable. The biggest void is losing our entire left side with Smith and Ikon gone, but we have just enough quality behind them (Galloway has his chance at LB, Pain, Sotirio or Borrello for LW?). DDS would be an upgrade too, but we have the experienced Amini still about - we can be thankful that he and Antonis are still there, directing the spine of this team. If anything CB a bit weaker with Dougall's absence (And Curtis Good's immense talent still injured/MIA at club-level), but Donachie has form with the Roar and some of the others coming in have some game-time at club level, like Geria, atleast? Burgess is there and has a chance to really prove himself to his club back in Europe. Even Irvine not missed so much, the experience of Brillante there and the likes of Ugarkovic have featured in much of qualifying. Degenek did too, but was another not released. He was inter-changeable with Ugarkovic in some qualifying games, IIRC? And FTR Mabil didn't even feature in most of qualifying - still to establish himself at his new club.

Those like Taggart, Burgess, Brillante and a fair portion of the squad who are still to establish themselves at their clubs - They have a terrific chance here, on an elevated stage. If they can become an integral part of a team who qualified for the Olympics, that will certainly boost their status and value at club level.

Edited by GloryPerth: 14/1/2016 07:57:22 PM

Most of them aren't key players, just 2-3 most. Some of them like Mabil barely even featured at all in qualifying too, due to club circumstances etc.. We still have the quality of Amini, Antonis and McLaren upfront. Key areas. Borello brings form, Brillante, Taggart, Burgess, Galloway, Pain - these types should be itching to impress. Amini, Antonis, McLaren, Brillante, Taggart and some others have already been about the NT and/or are so very near to entering/re-entering the senior NT set up, like Amini and McLaren.

The amount of experience at club level and via prior NT tournaments at youth and even senior level, this helps bring a stark contrast to the previous couple Olyroo generations atleast. Taggart was in the 2014 World Cup squad AND featured in the final game against Spain! We can argue whether he deserved that chance in hindsight, but fact was he has experienced that and some of his lead up comments to this tournament reflect his experienced head!

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/article/no-second-chance-vows-olyroo-adam-taggart
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/olyroo-taggart-turbulent-transfer-window

Stefan Mauk even talks of 'revenge' (His U20 Exp vs UAE). Mauk also brings recent 'form' - best time of his career and can rightly expect to feature and help in exacting some of that justice he seeks against the UAE tonight.

Edited by GloryPerth: 14/1/2016 09:18:43 PM

Hopefully it's just a whole lot of more added pressure for them to perform;)

Amini might miss this game, shit ill or somethin

attn: TheSelectFew, time to update your OP with links to the Socceroos and Olyroos pages from the FFA's website? \:d/

http://www.socceroos.com.au/

http://under23s.footballaustralia.com.au/article/olyroos-v-uae---live-stream/arm0uhm0pcln115lpjtv47dr8



According to one lead up article from today, he should be right for the game, he's well enough to play? Phew :)

But Jason Geria on the other hand, last I heard, 50/50 - which is a concern for our already light defensive stocks. A few of those rejected call-ups were defenders like Brad Smith, Kenneth Dougall and Milos Degenek amongst others. Apparently Scott Galloway hasn't seen much senior football this season with Victory, but we'll be relying on him to play one of the full back possies.

Well, from memory Gallufuoco has been rated for a while - he has been in the set-ups since the Joeys. He was with Tottenham then or had just joined Tottenham around then. He was still rated, even at club level, as recently as his move from Tottenham to Swansea aswell. Clearly these clubs saw something in him - he was around Tottenham the same time Luongo was. He was clubless for a period but now in the A-League. Perhaps he's still adjusting to the league and he missed pre-season too. Maybe with a full pre-season in Australia he can impress better in the next season of the A-League?

Ugarkovic broke through and featured in the Croatian leagues a couple years ago, so still quite a young age. To be honest he was one who featured with another NT, Croatia's U19s in this case, before making the 'switch back' so in your measuring, one might factor that in. But he only saw call ups to that team and even our Olyroos later, on the back of his featuring at top tier club level in Croatia. Out of the two, Ugarkovic seems more promising, has proved himself more at club level and again, I feel he could be a good pick up for the Jets who could impact quite quickly. For a player of only 21 years of age, he has good experience, a good resume already and should add some quality to our DM area this tournament?

lol The FFA sites just link to the AFC's live event YT link? So it seems they are just sharing the telecast/stream, rather than having their own on the site. I guess we got a bit too excited? Still, better than before!

Edited by GloryPerth: 15/1/2016 02:35:49 AM

Here's the link, for when it's time, less than an hour away now:

[youtube]WaM1v6USRNI[/youtube]

Edited by GloryPerth: 15/1/2016 02:37:10 AM

So are we fucked or not

I dare say we're not - we have goal-scoring form and nous this generation, a big difference, aside from the other differences like more senior club experience, regular football and arguably some better quality and depth this generation. The latter we will obviously be relying on, this tournament.

Ange at the game.

Stream is up

Kickoff in under ten minutes
[youtube]/watch?v=WaM1v6USRNI[/youtube]

Edited by socceroofan4life: 15/1/2016 03:22:25 AM

Oh god hopefully the youtube chat provides the entertainment again :lol:

A few hyper anxious faces there, lack of sleep and too much coffee = early sub hehhe

how good is this fucking stream rofl gold