Definitely agree. Duncan was appalling with too many errant passes directly to the opposition or out of the sideline. I counted 4 sloppy under hit passes and easy dispossessions within the first 10 min. No way this player should be out there. He did not improve at all through his time and should have been subbed at half time. This was not good enough management from Arnold. Duncan should not play again and is out of his depth. Buhagiar is a sprinter not a footballer, period. D’Agostino should be replaced by Toure and Najjarine by Italiano. Metcalfe as a natural left sided player should be in the mid field Would like to see O’Neil and Metcalfe fill those roles over Baccus and  Duncan.  

Totally agree with this. As I said in an earlier post Metcalfe is perfectly suited to replace Duncan. Metcalfe and O’Neil I say. 

No to Duncan starting, O'Neill or Metcalf to start.
Toure as a sub only

Brilliant work, not the best game to watch very cagey and chess match like.

The attack was very predictable but credit to Arnie for changing with Buhagiar and Folami as wide wingers as opposed to the inside forwards of Piscopo and Najjarine who on the day were largely ineffective.

Once again the midfield is Australia's biggest problem, very predictable with Baccus and Duncan as the twin No.6 who offered very little in passing and movement but mainly the structure was at fault too with the inside forwards but once O'Neill came on with the Toure and the wide wingers we looked effective for the first time in the game as we played with more width.

The subs were the key here, whether it was tactical or due to fatigue it worked for Australia. 

I would like them to play with more width as their is little space to work centrally when teams sit off us.

Defensively it was quite sound at the back, Ryan was very good but apart from the early chance where Syria had a 1v1 with Glover, they were limited to little chances due to the quick rest defence.

2 shots at the cherry now, here we go! 

By none other than Gillett

Looks like the Arnie model of pace and power is having an effect with this team, little guile and class on the ball and we looked to rigid when we attack.

Trying to copy the Sydney FC model.

I question why he left the likes of De Silva, Kalik out of this team.

The midfield options goes like this,

Baccus, Duncan (who started), O'Neill (subbed on), Metcalfe, Genreau (injured), Pasquali, Kalik, De Silva, Brimmer, Francois and Mcgree.

Plenty of options chosen and could have been involved. 

We know that there are 2 better referees in the A-league than Gillet, Alireza Faghani and Kate Jacewicz 

Bouman, d'agostino and piscopo for AM as well if we are including that positon. The switch of bouman to mcgree at AM should improve our play no end.

Piscopo out to RW and Arzani cutting in from left will be lethal.

Toss up between Toure, Dagostino and Iredale over the striker role.

Agree with this. Looked much better with outside wingers, playing on the break. Need a better baller next to bacchus to help control the game. 

After yesterday I think Toure should start. 

D’A looks a little off his rhythm although getting shots away. He seems to be rushing things atm.

Toure was really close to connecting to the Deng cross and looks to be getting into more  dangerous positions.

How is it that Duncan can do well in Europe but looks off the pace here? The majority of his play was bad but there were a few good passes and moments of awareness and vision. 

Korea v Jordan on now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPxhjnkBiv4

yeah agree about Toure. He fucks up a lot but really gets into dangerous positions and always feel like he is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat like he did last game. Striker version of piscopo i suppose. Lot of fuckups then something exquisite. My team Middlesbrough used to have a guy called Hamilton Ricard same thing. Get in good positions, then make so many basic fuckups but then score a worldie. Looking back at his record he was very underrated

South Korea lead 1:0

1-1.  76'  Here we go..

3 to go. Extra will be massive as we'll have another day off and they'll need to run it out as we did. 

Holy crap. No extra time 😡

Nice free kick in the 95th minute.  So we face Korea on Wednesday.

UAE led early but Uzbekistan made it 3:1 by half time. Uzbekistan are very good at youth level and will only give us more issues over the next decade. 

Uzbekistan are winning 4-1 now didn't expect this result as UAE were quite good in their group. But the Uzbeks do look like a strong side and are looking to go back to back as well (I think there's around 5 or 6 that was in the winning squad from 2 years ago)

So it will be Australia v South Korea and Saudi Arabia v Uzbekistan in the semis. Three tough sides with all different styles I think whoever we come up against in the final or third place playoff will be difficult and we can't afford to be putting out average/mediocre performances at this stage of the tournament. 

Hopefully Uzbekistan beats Saudi, I much prefer our chances with the latter for the third place playoff, unless the referee is suckered in or complicit with their act. 

Would be easier to watch if match coverage used Wilhelm scream as sound effect

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf8aBFTVNEU

How come Uzbekistan are so consistently strong at underage levels but that doesn’t carry over to the senior team?

There doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason to me like Nigeria with the fake birth certificates. 🤔 

I've asked myself the same. One thing is that their own players seem to plateau and don't go abroad while the top 4 in Asia see many players raise their game in Europe. Nevertheless they did alright at the last AC.

They aren't terrible at senior level, they really should have qualified for the last two or three World Cups but always bottle it on the last day. I'd probably have them up there in the top 6-7 Asian countries tbh. 

A lot of their players also remain in the Uzbek league which probably hinders their development a bit. The only player in Europe is Eldor Shomurodov for Rostov who looks like a pretty good player the rest are in Uzbekistan or other Asian countries like China and South Korea. Also I believe it is not a very rich country and the association can't afford to make massive improvements like some of the other Asian countries are doing however there is a few academies/schools opening up recently with an ex-Barcelona among others coach on board.

i think Uzkekistans best teams (bundyonkor and the other forgot the name) pay their players very very handsomely but being in an exotic and faraway part of the world they dont atrract many foreign players so all the best uzbek players end up at these 2 clubs and dont really push themselves further.

one thing i forgot to mentiin from the game is just how good Bacchus is off the ball. Covers every blade of grass and with speed and is a weapon tackling his man. Lost count at how many tackles he won as well as one v ones. The Austrakian Kante. If only he was bit better over the ball. 

This is why we need a kalik, pasquali, de silva or Genreau next to him.

was very tall for his age when he was 15-16... average player at best.

Is metcalfe a 6, 8 or a 10???