I think we were all so shocked that no one has ever used it as an extra excuse among the net going down. 

It's a terrible call most assistant refs would pick that up immediately. The white uniform stands out big time. 

What would your ideal Roos squad be (no injuries, player doing as well as we've seen or hoped)?

I'm going to go one step further and do it as a post Asian Cup squad with some regeneration. 

Ryan, Vukovic, Langerak

Risdon Deng Sainsbury Degenek Wright Behich Gersbach 

Mooy Luongo Rogic Irvine Antonis McGree 

Leckie Mabil Ikonomidis Arzani Borrello Maclaren Giannou

Grant Jurman Susnjar Elder Jeggo Amini Boyle Nabbout Juric would all be in immediate standby. 

I still have high hopes for Borrello despite Nabbout and Boyle already showing for the national team.

Good list but not sure about Wright and Borello. Maybe Susnjar and Boyle instead?

They're good options. It's a very hypothetical situation I put out. I'd hope Borrello gets some decent bundesliga minutes and Wright has a Bristol spot cemented. Boyle and Susnjar are very exciting and will feature. 

From what I have seen so far, Boyle offers us something that our other players currently do not. That is an eye for goal, and penetration. His first instinct is find a goal, so for me it’s not a question of whether he is in the squad or not but whether he starts. I’d be taking Boyle over Borrello or possibly Deng, with Degenek, Wright and Leckie possible options should we go a RB down. Depending on how Grant goes rest of the tournament he could overtake Risdon too.

Solid squad IMO, just a real shame we have so many injuries.

who would be your first 11 right now?

i would have

-----------------------ryan
grant ---sainsbury--- degenek ----behich
------------irvine-----------milligan
---------------------mooy
---------------------rogic
-------ikon-------------------------boyle

The ages of our attacking players is pleasing. Everyone should be around peak age for 2022.

ST:
* Giannou - 32
* Leckie - 31
* Nabbout - 30
* Maclaren - 29

WING:
* Boyle - 29
* Ikonomidis - 27
* Mabil - 27
* Borrello - 27
* Arzani - 23

2022

Ryan 30
Thomas 30
Duncan 29

Behich 32
Grant 31
Sainsbury 30
Degenek 28
Chapman 28
Deng 25
Gersbach 25

Mooy 31
Luongo 30
Rogic 30
Antonis 29
Irvine 29
Ikonomidis 27
Mcgree 24

Leckie 31
Nabbout 30
Boyle 29
Maclaren 29
Mabil 27
Arzani 23


Reserve
Giannou 32
Goodwin 31
Petratos 30
Risdon 30
Dougall 29
Taggart 29
Borello 27
Izzo 27
Elder 27
Susnajr 27
Other.
Youth.

Mooy will be 32 I believe.

Which is an age that central midfielders can perform at good level. Scholes,pirlo,xavi,iniesta

Mooy can play at the next world cup

@jonhszasz, good squad, and our attack is looking pretty positive. I worry whether Arzani will ever be the same again, given how sharp twists and turns are part of his game but hope like hell he will be fine. And Ryan Grant has impressed the hell out of me since joining the national team, especially some of his lungbusting runs in the second half against Palestine, so he stays in my top two right backs for now and the immediate future.

Yeah Boyle well ahead of borello atm. 

Time is flying. Seemed like yesterday all the players were 20. Atkinson will hopefully be a good RB.

I think they should try to get Awer Mabil to play up front. That propensity to attack is sorely missing up front. He's one of the best in 1 vs 1 and he is way more likely to score goals than most of the other options.

The notion that wingers can't play up front is fallacious. If the winger has certain skills, he can adapt. And we already have plenty of other options for the wing. Mabil up front would give our attack an edge when it comes to breaking down opposition defences.

Eventually, I hope Arnie or whoever approaches the next WC qualification with the following sort of side (praying that the guys recover from their injuries).



-----------------------------------------Mabil----------------------------------------------


Arzani----------------------------Rogic/Luongo----------------------------Leckie


------------------------------Mooy------------Irvine--------------------------------------


Behich--------------------Sainsbury-----------Deng-----------------------Atkinson


---------------------------------------------Ryan--------------------------------------------

Deng? Nope.

2022 qualification

-----------------------------------------Leckie/Nabbout/Maclaren--------------------------------------


Ikonomidis/Boyle--------------------------Rogic/Mcgree----------------------------Mabil/Arzani


------------------------------Mooy/Luongo--------------------Irvine/Antonis-------------------------


Behich/Gersbach-----------Degenek/Chapman----------Sainsbury-------------Grant/Deng


---------------------------------------------Ryan/Thomas/Duncan---------------------------------------

Excited to see if Folami kicks on, he looked a class above at youth international level

Good call. My hope is that one of Ben Folami, Awer Mabil or Martini Boyle can be a clinical striker. If more than one do, it's better yet.

Leckie rogic or espiecially Irvine could play striker

Would love to see this one day

                                 Ryan 
Atkinson  Sainsbury Degenek Gersbach 
                          Chapman 
Arzani                 Rogic         Ikonomidis 
                   Mabil     Leckie 

If we scored 7 goals in two games in the post Cahill and Jedinak era, any other coach would be getting a lot of praise for reinvigorating the attack.

Worth remembering Ange needed Cahill to best Syria and just about every national team manager has struggled playing in the gulf

It's just occurred to me that all the goals were from open play. That's something after so many spot kicks or set plays. 

Who is shaping up as our opponent in the next round?

Either Japan of Uzbekistan.
They play each other Thurs.
If they draw or Japan loses, it will be the Japan, if Japan wins, then the Uzbeks.

Next match:

Ryan
Grant - Sainsbury - Degenek - Behich
Irvine - Milligan
Mabil - Rogic - Ikon
Giannou

Wonder how long itll be til the petro clubs/China come after Mabil and Ikon.

More than anyone bar Sainsbury and maybe Spira, those guys should have confidence that they can make that money in Europe.

Our attacking stocks and tactics are looking much healthier under Arnie, even with injuries such as Arzani and Nabbout. But we are missing Jedinak and Mooy in midfield and have no ready answer yet - maybe that's Chapman but i don't know enough about him. And both Sainsbury and Degenek can be very inconsistent - i prefer someone like Jurman. 

Geez...I thought finishing second wasn't meant to be the easier draw, at least that was discussed at the start of the tournament.