I'll be really interested to see the other big teams against bus parkers. They also take some time to score and always get there.

They're friendlies so a bit hard to gauge but I also think Ecuador and Mexico underestimated us and didn't defend as much as they needed too. This led to all the good space and our better players were also out there. 

Thankfully we saw massive improvement with our better players on and hadn't had McGree on for significant time since Mexico. If we can get Atkinson in he'll link up more with Boyle. Iredale, Yengi and Fornaroli also need to feature at some point. 

You look at Uzbekistan 2019 and games against the rest of the mid level AFC. They're good at packing the defence because they know and fear Australia as a big team. We just can't cope with that. The selections for such situations are often horribly wrong.

If Arnold wants to insist on inverted fullbacks to add to the midfield then Baccus is perfect for the right and Rowles can cover the left nicely. In turn you can drop Behich, Jones and Miller and add Irankunda, Teague and Arzani to address the packed defence issue for example. If Irvine is going to go at a snail's pace then Nisbet can come in right away and show him what transition is. 

I think things can only get better as the opponent level improves gradually in the tournament. Still, Syria and Uzbekistan have a much better balance in positioning us out of the game compared to what the big opponent friendlies did last year. I get the impression big nations take the risk of spreading their players way out with the trust their one on one ability to defend against our players will suffice. I'm referring to space afforded to us by Japan in Sydney, Mexico and Ecuador certainly allowed us a number of opportunities. 

Also not much point in complaining about squad selection before we know the plan

Arnie could keep it largely the same to have the glue set in defensive combos or he could be rptating to keep it fresh. If the former we will only know if the selection is right when we face a stronger team, if the latter why would u complain he didnt select the best team against india?

I think we'll see the better players as the tournament goes on. I think Jones is an early pawn before bringing Atkinson and Miller. There was a decent spread of players yesterday. Way early but we should aim to not exhaust anyone. 

Japan have it good that Indonesia is their third game so expect heavy rotation there. 

If we only draw with Syria it puts us under massive pressure. 

I think you could be right, it was also a mid season WC which meant guys like Goodwin, Leckie and the a-league guys were all in form and had been playing and scoring, We usually dont have that at WC's as the a-league boys have been off a few months by then. Also Souttar had an unbelievable tournament. All this together and Arnie kinda of turning them into a gritty team helped but we got a lot of luck.

There's a huge and hugely respected sports newspaper in France called L'Equipe (= the Team). They awarded Arnold with Coach of the Qatar WC Award,  because of his achievements (beating Denmark and Tunisia, scaring the Argies in round of 16) with players none of whom were playing  in the top 5 European Leagues. They don't give prizes away easily the French... 
But something's not working - the recent Palestine, Bahrain and India games betray a lack of attacking creativity, which was finally produced by McGree when he came on, easily the best of the bunch. We need the Arzanis, Irankundas, Kuols - and Bos could well be in their ranks soon too

Japan Vietnam on now

1-0 Japan 

Amazing flick header by Vietnam to make it 1:1.

Jaoan goal came from a poor catch attempt. A quick cross shot deflected into Minamino's path.

Both keepers are foreign born with Japan's born to an African American father in Arkansas and Vietnam's born in the Czech Republic. 

@Muz, big celebrations there? 

That header was the by best header since Duke scored against Tunisia. Absolute peach. Degree of difficulty off the charts.

If I recall correctly Turkmenistan scored first against Japan in 2019 with a belter too. Two more games to come today. This game is compensating those goalless draws nicely but I found Syria Uzbekistan a tense affair. China Tajikistan less so.

Still early but draws may or may not be handy for 3rd place rankings