Playoff watch in North America, USA down 2-0 to Costa Rica with an away match to Honduras to follow. They could easily fall into the playoffs at this rate.

Playing the Yanks would be huge if we did go through the playoffs.

For me its not a question of if we win. Look at our home record, we will beat Thailand Tuesday night. If we win 4-0 we qualify, im just not confident we can score that many. Maybe if we can slot a couple of goals in the first half, the Thai's might struggle and let a few more in.

Im quite confident Japan will win, or atleast draw, with the Saudi's though. Take out the dubious penalties the Saudi's have got this campaign and they would be battling for 3rd place. I think the pressure of needing to win and the confidence hit from a couple of losses will undo the Saudi's.

Seems like there has been alot of penalties in this group as well. Just done a count and there have been 11 in total for all the games. Only been 5 in the other group.

I wouldn't be so confident of that.

I would. We are not talking Japan or the Saudi's here, its Thailand. They are a dangerous side as proven when we last played them. But they are not beating us at home. The very best they could hope for is a draw, even that would be a long shot though.

It's not just about beating them though, its about putting at least 4 past them while keeping a clean sheet. Alot of people are getting a little carried away expecting this.

I am a bit sick of the Kruse love in these discussions. Kruse had nothing to do compared to Leckie in that game. Two jobs, shoot or give it to someone who can. He did neither. He runs around a bit, falls over a lot and show ponies about, without seeming to get the criticism our other players seem to get. I often read on here that he is our best attacker in the last few years. I don't get it or see it. Leckie gets lambasted for not scoring whilst playing the same position, often on the wrong side of the park. Leckie has 5 goals from 45 appearances. Kruse the Untouchable, Saviour of the World, has scored 4 in 54 appearances. That slacker and liability as a number ten who can't be trusted to start and should only be brought on as an impact player, Rogic has scored 7 in 28. Grips need to be gotten here, people.

There is no shame reverting back to a 433. Persisting with this other stuff has had some limited success in patches but in the nitty gritty battle of qualification at least with well organised Asian teams it hasn't produced. Perhaps it can be revisited by Ange when we play Euro/S.Americans in the future. I don't think Ange is as inflex as most here may think.

Firstly he has got Spira back in, something I've been advocating for here endlessly. Spira and Sains is the way to go.
Ange reverting to 433 will allow us to play Leckie, Kruse and Burns in more natural roles where they can be very dangerous. Bit late for Burns this week but I expect him to be back in the mix shortly upon regaining full fitness. It will also reduce Leckies defensive duties. It will allow him to introduce Gerbach into a back 4 which I've been waiting for. The sooner Gerbach is in the better for me.

It might not rain goals with our natural wide guys around Juric or Timmy As we have seen previously but at least we know what we are getting. Likewise in defence, instead of watching post match pressers with everyone scratching their heads at least our defence can be solid.

I agree, i think we will struggle to put 3 or 4 past them, but all we need to do is win and then the pressure is back on the Saudi's.

That is true.

I don't want Kruse in the side to score, although it would be good, I want him in the side to provide assists. I cannot remember the exact stats I did a little while ago but Kruse had at least 50% of our assists from open play in the last two years or something like that. This was when he was not playing at club level and was generally playing crap for the Socceroos. He provided a quality ball into the box that Juric did not score from against Japan, our best chance in the match.
Kruse was played out of position against Japan, but still was more dangerous than any other forward in the team. Play him on the right wing, play Leckie at RB and we would have a very strong attacking combination down that side. Leckie is still a bit weak defensively to be a right back but we don't have a better option. Ange in his stupidity though is making it a choice between them for the only wide right position and that might suit Leckie better as he defends a lot better. However he then tries to shoehorn Kruse into the side and the result is we did not have a striker against Japan and were impotent in front of goal. 
Kruse and Rogic should not be competing for the same spot, Rogic is a goal scoring attacking midfielder, Kruse is a winger, but Ange has falsely created this competition and the team is worse.

Mexico 1-0 to Panama seems to calm Muricass nerves. On WatchESPN for those keen.

4-4-2 diamond.
Ryan
McGowan - Sainsbury - Spiranovic - Smith
Jedinak
Mooy - Loungo
Rogic
Juric - Giannou

Or something like that.

is smith a defender or winger ? 

Hahahaha there's also Millsy, Cahillsy and Mabillsy commentated on by Simon Hillsy

:D

neither

Assuming SA win then both of the following conditions need to be met:
1) Beat Thailand by 2 more goals than SA beat Japan (This brings GD level)
AND
2) Score 2 more goals than KSA score against Japan (This brings GF level)

AU then goes through on superior H2H.

Here is a list of some possible SA wins and the minimum result AU would need:
SA          AU
1-0        3-0
2-1        4-1
3-2        5-2
2-0        4-0
3-1        5-1
4-2        6-2
3-0        5-0
4-1        6-1
4-0        6-0

Looks like Ange should show the team some glory days of Oceania videos to get them in the mood

Hey guys. Japanese poster here, here to tell you some things from our end.

- Our captain Makoto Hasebe announced his withdrawal from the Japanese team flying to Saudi Arabia. He underwent a major knee operation during the off season at Eintracht Frankfurt so the management will not risk anything in a dead rubber game. Significant loss for us due to his big game experience and composure in midfield.

- Shinji Kagawa withdrawn and returning to Borussia Dortmund. Management not risking aggravating his recent shoulder injury.

- Vahid Halilhodzic will be with the team in Saudi Arabia. Strong rumours circulating post-Australia game that he was planning to temporarily flying back to France due to personal reasons (Illness in close member of his family).

- Keisuke Honda most likely to start in Saudi Arabia but given he is obviously short of match fitness and recent poor form at club level I am not sure this will be a positive inclusion to the team.

- Manager is strongly pushing for a changing of the guard (Kagawa/Honda/Okazaki) and remains to be seen whether inexperienced Ideguchi can back it up two games in a week. Many in the team may be making their national team debuts so it will be interesting as no one (Except maybe Maya Yoshida) are guaranteed a ticket to Russia.

- Weather forecast 38 degrees in Jeddah on Tuesday.

- Japanese media worried about the influence of the (Corrupt?) referee on outcome as Saudi Arabia have received countless dubious penalties this qualifying round.

99% of us want to see Australia in Russia 2018 over the Middle East. Best of luck against Thailand!

With all due respect, I reckon that's slightly wishful thinking. We're even more ill-suited to playing 433 (the way Ange wants us to) than with playing with three central defenders.
 Playing 433 resulted in our central defenders being even more stretched. The one positive from the Japan match was the central defenders did an okay job, by and large in terms of containing things. But that was because there were three of them. If there's two of them, they're sitting ducks.

Playing 433 (at least the way Ange wants it) didn't work that well either against decent opponents. Ange wants both fullbacks pushing forward as far as the opposition box and he wants an offensive central midfield triangle.

It didn't work as we just don't have the cattle. Every outing against a world-class opponent resulted in us conceding 2, usually, 3 goals. Against crappy Asian sides, we still battled to score many goals. Why? Because they sat back and we just don't show the skill and the speed to break down congested defences. With so many of our lot forward, it tends to encourage the opponent to sit back. And it's fairly easy for them. We just pass the ball around side to side. There's precious little diagonal movement.

They wait until we cough it up and then attack on the counterattack. Then what happens? They have fullbacks out of position. They have one central defensive midfielder to contend with. If it's Jedinak, he excels in coming into that space in midfield to break up play. But if he loses out, it means we have two central defenders exposed and trying to delay while covering the width of the pitch.

As a result, we got caned with this approach. You need the cattle if you plan on playig 433 with aggressive wingbacks. Our fullbacks aren't technically strong enough or smart enough. Then in central defence, there's Sainsbury and Spiranovic. Both are underrated defenders who can do a great job. But neither are very fast. So it doesn't suit our strengths.

There is, however, another alternative. Play 4-2-3-1 but with a flat back four. No rushing fullbacks. That would be defensively sound. And it would leave things a bit less crowded in the final third.

ありがとうございました

It's good to have an update from you guys.

Happy hunting, my friend!

Thanks mate

Smells like a multi.

Yes, Scott.

? Scott who.

Why would any serious Japanese fan want to come and post on here of all places. 

99% of them want to see Australia through :laugh: Yea, right.

Strange response.

Are you suggesting this forum is not serious and is actually substandard and therefore not worthy of fans supporting another country? Not very uncommon to see fans of different countries post in football forums of a specific nation. 

The rivalry between Japan and Australia is built on mutual respect (Unlike our political rivalries against South Korea and China). We would rather see Australia qualify over Saudi Arabia who (As a generalisation but an accurate one nonetheless) rely on time wasting, diving and winning questionable penalties. So yes, many players (Kawashima in the media today), pundits and fans in Japanese football would like to see Australia over Saudi Arabia. 

Whatever you say Decentric, welcome to the forum.

LOL!

The heat could be tough for Japan.

Interesting how the Saudis and ME teams in general are perceived as guilty of gamespersonship.

Thanks for the update.

Welcome to the forum, Mayeda. You have outstanding English for a foreign language.

Honestly cant see the japanese really caring too much. They have done what they needed to do.  Its also 10 months away from the world cup, this game won't have any bearing on who makes the final squad, hence a couple of withdrawals already. 

Heat will be a factor for the Japanese and the Saudi's haven't lost at home all qualifying. However pressure will be on the Saudis if Australia win big. 

Australia can only control its own destiny, so they need to show up on Tueday night.