No doubt Sains has been a good head, but he hasn't performed well enough as a player to warrant a place in recent times. 

Weirdly some players decline much earlier than others, whilst others mature much earlier.

Degenek and Wright are also very experienced CBs who have recently played better than Sains. 

Moreover, Sains has never been in a winning WC Socceroo team in 2018, so we've done better without him.  

It'll be interesting to see who retires. I think many know 2026 is impossible the next Asian Cup is there. If they're playing and in form they'll probably be picked. We have a food senior pool who can come in if needed.

I think we really need to start pushing the next generation forward. Gauci needs exposure to the national team set up.

I think it's time for a refresh in the preferred XI, if not the squad. Mooy looked very ponderous on the ball at times, and Leckie had his moments but also looked aged. I don't really have an issue with them being in the next squad but on the back of their performances you can't really say they deserve spots in the starting XI. Before the tournament I would have said the same about Behich but he's been tremendous and the spot is his as long as he keeps the form, although he should be looking over his shoulder at Bos.

Irvine has run around tirelessly but he does nothing on the ball, and I believe both Baccus and Devlin can play a similar role on defence while being much more useful in possession. Nieuwenhof also worth a look of he keeps his rate of improvement up. 

Before the WC I was convinced Arnie would be shown the door after the tournament, and I was excited to see a new coach select his own squad for the future. It seems we won't get that now, but I hope Arnie understands the importance of building a team for both the Asian Cup and ultimately 2026. I'm confident he will 

I don’t think it’s time for a refresh just yet. It would be interesting to see what this team can do at the Asian Cup in just over 6 months. Get Rogic and Langerak in if they want to come, and maybe a promising youngster of the day or two, but leave the core intact. It’s a united and cohesive squad that understands its strengths and limitations and obviously enjoys playing in Qatar. I don’t see why we couldn’t win it. I hope Arnie hangs around at least until then. Regenerate afterwards. 

We do lack a striker though. Cummings and MacLaren offered nothing when they came on. Duke’s ok, but you know you’re struggling if he’s your main attacking weapon.

Just a note. I believe WC suspensions carry over to the next official match. I'm not too sure if friendly games count as official. They certainly don't for locking in nationality. As we don't have a Nations League nor qualifications, we might see Degenek and Irvine suspended for the first game of the Asian Cup. 

Don't think its that soon. Was planned for that period when China was hosting, but since it's been moved to Qatar, the dates have been pulled. Expect it to be this time next year.

Regulation 9.6
"Any suspension that cannot be served during the FIFA World Cup 2022™ will be carried over to the representative team’s next official match"

Seems you're correct.

double post

Early 2024 is the current mooted date. For some players in and around the team the ages below are for January 2024 and June 2026. I can see a case for Langerak for the Asian cup but he will struggle to make the net World Cup. I suspect that that is the end of Vukovic and Redmayne's international career. as for the next World Cup I suspect Ryan will be one keeper - probably on the bench , with Gauci and Margush appearing to be the best of the young ones. We are actually quite low and decent keepers at this stage.  As far as the outfield players go, I suspect a lot will have their swansong at the Asian Cup but whoever is the manager needs to refresh the squad and starting XI again and that should start at the Asian Cup or before.      Ryan 31 34 Redmayne 34 37 Langerak 35 37 Vukovic 38 41 Behich 33 35 Wright 31 33 Sainsbury 32 34 Dougall 30 33 Jeggo 31 34 Mooy 33 35 Irvine 30 33 Rogic 31 33 Taggart  30 33 Goodwin 32 34 Duke 32 35 Boyle 30 33 Leckie 32 35  0

It's vital the younger batch notch up double figure caps in Asian conditions. Thankfully McGree is there and now a lot of others need the exposure again and again. The next FIFA window is in March and I suspect we won't do anything due to the gruelling WC campaign and return to club life. A UK camp would be a good thing. A homecoming is a bit far in a window for non competitive games.

Just browsing over the next world cup qualifying format. Round 2 with 9 groups of 4 and top 2 advancing. Provisional pots we may see Australia Bahrain Turkmenistan Myanmar in a group.

Round 3 is 3 groups of 6 teams with top two going to WC. Round 4 involves 3rd and 4th playing in groups of 3 against the other identically placed teams with the two winners going to the WC.

I'd certainly think we'd be OK in round 4 if we slipped up in round 3.

Round 3 might see Australia South Korea UAE China Lebanon Palestine.

3 groups hopefully rules out 3 big guns in a group. I wonder how they'll do pots? 3 posts of 6 with pairs being drawn in twos? Unlikely as the ranking span would be much wider and you may get UAE and Iraq as the tops seeds from Pot 1. It'll probably be 6 pots of 3. I think we'll be ranked 4th or 5th in Asia by then. 

Could be Australia Iran Uzbekistan Oman Vietnam Syria

New system is definitely not as tough as 32 teams, dare I say I'll miss the tension though...

Regardless it won't be a cake walk. The teams in Asia I'd consider close equal or better to us over two legs are Japan, South Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. It'll be nice that we'll avoid having two of them, and automatic qualification can be the absolute expectation. We might even get none of them. That being said, as has been consistently proven in Asia there's plenty of banana skin teams. Jordan, Iraq, Syria, UAE, Uzbekistan are all good enough to take points off us, especially away, but luckily the format is so forgiving that we have two more lives if we can't make the top 2 from our already forgiving draw. 

• Fourth round: Six third and fourth-placed teams from the third round are divided into two groups of three teams each. The teams would play against each other once in a neutral venue. The winners of each group qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the runners-up of each group advance to the fifth round.
• Fifth round: The group runners-up in the fourth round will compete in a play-off tie to determine the Asian representation at the inter-confederation play-offs.

I still find it a bit icky that they just try to get as many games in as possible. I suppose that's to counter that its also doubling as Asian Cup qualifiers.
Qualify in Third round = 14 games.
Fourth round = 16 games
Fifth round (and then the playoff tournament) = Assuming the Asian playoff will be a single game at a neutral venue, 19 games.


Would have thought they could get away with playoffs to get to 40 countries total, then do 8 groups of 5: Winners auto qualify, and second and third go to the Asian Cup

Will probably be the same methodology as now (6 pots of 2 was how they did this time around).

Currently ranked 4th in Asia (as of October) - Groups could be as varied as 
Iran, Australia, Oman, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Lebanon OR
Japan, Australia, UAE, China, Syria, Vietnam

As of today we're 4th in Asia.

Japan has moved to top (up 4 to 20th)
Iran have dropped back to second (down 4 to 24th)
South Korea are 3rd (up 3 to 25th)
Australia are 4th (up 11 to 27th)
Saudi Arabia are 5th (up 3 to 48th)
Qatar are 6th (down 10 to 60th)

If Brazil beat South Korea in the morning we should take that 3rd spot though.

good to see Cahill making it all about himself - https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/world-cup/troubling-moment-tim-cahill-refuses-to-answer-question-in-qatar/news-story/81207e7a8ae19e946de4d4200dd6ae6d

saw the bloke in the stands during the game never seen someone look more like a child whinging. The fucker lives in Doha now. WOW.

Did rankings get released today? Or are you just one of the few mentally capable of actually working out their formula?

EDIT: Actually saw the formula. Much easier to work out now. I just can't be bothered working it out in relation to other countries outside Asia atm haha

C) I found a website that is capable of actually working out their formula

Huzzah!

You can view live rankings. They are being updated daily atn

I think Ryan will stay as No 1 keeper for the Asian Cup.He has been hung,drawn and quartered on social media and on this forum but at present no obvious claimant.Redmayne maybe still around for the Asian Cup but Vuka unlikely.Gauci,Glover( yes I know is error prone),Margush and perhaps Thomas are in line.Langerak unlikely to be included if Arnie and Crawley still involved.I am not sure how young keepers are faring at overseas clubs.Generally our goalkeeping stocks are at a low ebb.

At RB Atkinson,Karacic,Deng and Strain certainly should be most favoured.Deng may prefer to play at CB but if he is quicker than Atkinson and Karacic and has the abiliity to get forward he could make this his possie.Same goes for Strain who has been going well in the SPL( the league which is now an official Socceroo nursery).Rawlins and Aquilina certainly should be in view for the next WC cycle.Others would be Risdon,experienced and a tough nut ( mainly for the Asian Cup)and Lewis Miller who needs game time  and may have to move clubs.

Behich should be No 1 pick for LB.King hopefully benefited by being in the squad but also needs to getting minutes on the pitch.Smith and Elder ,barring injuries ,should press their claims and Bos and Farrell of the younger ones are in the mix.

Souttar  and Rowles have definitely staked their claims to be the CB pairing.Sains if he could settle at a club is still young enough to be around for the next WC and was unlucky not to be in this squad.Degenek and Wright are dependable  and experienced but lack pace.Deng is strong and there is the big imposing frame of JRB .

Mooy had a mixed tournament but there is no-one like him at present.Francois could grow into the role and I hope is getting game time in Croatia.Kalik has never been given a chance and I have not seen him play for years so don't know if he could play the anchor role. Brimmer is more of a 10 but might find playing as a 6 would help his representative chances.Irvine put in some big shifts and for such a limited player has overachieved but I think his time is done.Likewise Leckie who ran his heart out and showed that he can score at the highest level but his technical shortcomings are more evident as he loses his speed.Goodwin was a pleasant surprise and should certainly be around for the Asian Cup.Baccus and Devlin are definitelly there for both the Asian Cup and the next WC.

McGree and Hrustic are in the pole positions for the No 10 role and at present McGree is ahead.Brimmer as mentioned if he has a good A-League season will be looked at with interest.Rogic is stiil the most skilful of those mentioned by a long way but who knows what is going on there.Danny da Silva can be impressive on his day and in a good team could thrive as a no 10.
Garang Kuol has the pace ,skill and hopefully the mental strength to cope with top level European football and if he makes it will be a potent weapon for the NT.Mabil did not do himself any favours when he came on as a sub and this may count against him.Piscopo,Folami,Ikonomidis and Peupion need to be consistent and play plenty of minutes.Hopefully Boyle can regain his sharpness and pace after doing the rehab following his ACL surgery.We missed his directness and willingness to take on opponents in the recent games.Tilio did not get a chance but should get a go soon.

Duke deserved all the plaudits which came his way,especially as most of the time he was playing with out the ball.MacLaren is not up to this level and probably Cummings is in the same boat but he has more variety to his game.D'Agostino needs plenty of goals  to stake his claims.Alou Kuol needs to play first team football in Europe and Yengi and the Toure brothers need goals and game time.Iredale should be given a go at some stage to see whether he is the answer as without a proper striker( and no reflection on Duke) our chances of doing well at the Asian Cup let alone the WC are limited.

Others will hopefully come through in the next couple of seasons in the A-League( Parsons ,Segevic and Hore) come to mind) and overseas.

The 3 players I like to see retire are Mooy, Leckie and Ryan.

They've had their day in the sun.

You're right, dad's army. Next batch of keepers should be Lawrence Thomas and Paul Izzo.

I forgot Izzo as a possible keeper ,Gianni Stensness as No 6 and Irakunda as a possible striker.Izzo is at a strong club and is experienced.Stensness is a tough competitor but not a great passer.Irakuna has pace and strength and we are crying out for a strong spearhead

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has been officially notified by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) of their decision to withdraw their bid from the AFC Asian Cup 2027™ host selection process.

Thank fuck for that. We need a modern times Korea or Japan tournament! 

No cuz knocked out stage ,,,the losers won't lose any points on FIFA ranking and so do Australia. Sth Korea still stays on 3rd.

The FIFA rankings take time frames into account, so points from games past a certain point in time get dropped. I think it's 4 years?

Saudi Arabia apparently 

Keepup put together this team. I know we only see 2-3 actually kick on but I find this a pretty exciting bunch and it excludes so many more out there who should make the grade. I'm personally getting a little concerned with Watts, AMB and Teague. They've got to get playing and then advance. 

Gauci 22
Talbot 21
Popovic 20
Triantis 19
Bos 20
Niewenhof 21
Yazbek 20
Thurgate 22
Bernado 18
Wood 20
Irankunda 16

I'm pretty annoyed how stacked we are in midfield because it hinders alternatives getting minutes. 

We need more teams and more minutes, im sure there are more talents around.

We seem to have alot of midfileders and defenders and not many creative and attacking talent, I think the foreign rule of 5 players hinders young Australian creative and attacking talents getting a chance.

I think Watts is going ok. Getting regular starts now at League 1, but did have a slow start to life at Morecambe this season.