This is an unbelievable write-up mate 👏 

Those "stingy clubs" pay the players wages. Why should they run the risk of injury when the player isn't playing for them?
If it wasn't for FIFA mandates most clubs would refuse to release essential players for internationals.

Without Fifa there is no Euros, Wcup, Champions League, etc etc etc. 
would you prefer the ‘super league’ model? 

Good research mate, good stuff.

Amazing write-up. I love the depth chart you did and the insights into South Korea and Japan.

I'm disappointed we don't have our best squad together. Would love to have had Irankunda, Volpato, Circati, Robertson and Nieuwenhof. What a team they'd have made!

But you're right to say the team still has a lot of quality. I really hope it's enough to get us through. 

Top research. Thanks. 

The silver lining is that japan and south korea dont have their best team either. If not for injuries and off field crisis, tilio kuol and toure probably play more minutes and we have a challenge getting clubs release them. We have some real weapons

Brilliant research, Grazor.

Thanks a bunch!

I think it  is very sad that clubs won't release players for the Olympic Qualifiers, because many players think the Olympics was the biggest occasion in  their entire careers outside the World Cup.

Craig Moore went to the Olympics, against the wishes of his club, Rangers. He was marginalised  after the Olympics and left shortly after. He thought the Olympics was his greatest football experience outside the World Cup.

Let us face it, Scottish, Belgian and Serie B clubs, blocking  Aus players are essentially playing Mickey Mouse football compared to the upper echelons of the UEFA Big Five leagues, Europa League, Champ League, Euro Champs and WCQs. They take themselves too seriously and are denying their players playing on a far bigger stage than their domestic football comps.

I'm biased. Big leagues are simply oligarchs, billionaires and sheiks, competing with each other. They buy players to solve any problems. The AL is good, because it is relatively egalitarian. Most clubs have little money and there is a salary cap in the Aus domestic league.

From another thread and the games put forward in this thread, I've watched the U 23s play 5 games against Saudi A, Qatar, Iraq, Egypt and South  Korea. I've even watched some games a few times - simply trying to get my head around so many Aus players, possibly 30 - 40 who've been trialled in these games. I'm told  off forum that these opposition teams have usually had their strongest teams available. Ostensibly, we never have.

There are even more high quality players in the senior AL haven't been selected aged 21 and under, such is the quantity of quality - Maurugic, Jelacic, Irankunda, Simmons, Priestman, Kane Vidmar, Matthews.

From the players I've seen not released by UEFA clubs these players would walk into the U 23 starting line up and make it more competitive than we are.

Circati- as a CB. Based on seeing him play one decent game against the Kiwis for the senior Socceroos.

Bos - but not as LB. I think Farrell is excellent as LB so I'd probably play Bos as LW if he was available.

Nieuwenhof -  the best as a DM or number 6. Had a good look at him in either the Saudi or Qatar game.

Irankunda - not selected. Read Tony Vidmar claims it is not to stress him out. He also adds he will be a Socceroo great!

If we've had the success we have had to date against  the 5 aforementioned at full strength, albeit the Saudi and Egyptian games may have flattered Aus, the talent at our disposal is phenomenal compared to any  epoch in the past for Aus players aged 21 and under.

There is a good reason for this. The Spanish/French/Dutch amalgam NC, has had 10 years  where elite kids have had similar coaching practices to what they would in Spain/France/Netherlands. 

Many footballer stakeholders, including a few Socceroos, who have done their coaching licences in England, have criticised the NC. They are wrong - and need to state publicly that they have been. The evidence in the last WC with a team of modest individuals achieved a lot with good tactics and playing effectively as a team unit. Th e empirical evidence of the quality of  the young Aus tyros is irrefutable. Andy Harper  stated the age of teams in  the A L is becoming increasingly younger, because the young Aus players are good enough at earlier ages to play AL. 

 Even though not available,  from what I've seem to date from the five U 23 games played, including senior Socceroos, I would not play Triantis as a CB or Yazbek as DM or even in midfield. In clubland some players get lucky breaks. Just because one player gets a good club gig, doesn't mean they are superior to other players who don't. There is just so much talent  in greater quantity of quality than I've ever seen before in Aus.

I concur with Andy Harper where he states that many of the A L stars are the 21 years and younger players - some who aren't even selected for the Olympic squad.

For the record I think Jake Hollman is a better player than Yazbek as a versatile 6, 8 or 10. Moreover, Nieuw is better as a number 6 than Yazbek too.

Even without the U 23 Euroroos, I think Farrell,  J Hollman, Toure, Garang Kuol ( more based on potential), Milanovic,  are high quality players who should excel for Aus. 

My major worry is two many heading duels have  been won by opposition forwards and opposition defenders at set pieces. Circati would have redressed some of this weakness. 

One player who I've seen excel for the senior Socceroos and in the AL, has been Tilio.

 He was simply awful when he played against either Jordan or Saudi for the U 23s though. Couldn't believe it was the same player?

I'm also finding the U 23s are playing a better brand of football than the senior Socceroos ATM.

They are not copping deep defensive blocks as much in U 23 games, but they have been used to playing slick possession football at a much earlier age in their development. Mor e of them seem to move quicker and more proactively  to support the ball carrier.

I was surprised D'Arrigo was selected? He is a good ball winner, but isn't on the same wave length as many of his team-mates when we have the ball.

I believe the NTC v1 was introduced in 2009 and rolled out in 2010. That means that anyone that has gone through the full SAP phase would now be u23 which explains the jump in quality. There is a 13-14 year delay between a new innovation at youth level and the effects being fully felt at olyroo level. A generation is not in their prime till 26-30 so the full effects of ntc v1 on the national team will be felt in 7 years
The NTC v2 included sample sessions since apparently a lot of coaches were confused by the principles of v1 so they needed to give explicit examples. I believe this was introduced in 2015. So in 5 years we will see the benefits of that

I'm not sure how important the game development phase is but that will also take a few years

in this time, the a league academies have been built. I'm not sure the time line for that though my understanding is that some are quite recent. But again a 14 or so year delay from the academies being built to seeing the full fruit of it at olyroos level

we are also introducing a national second division and a few more a league sides which potentially also helps with youth development. So I suspect that we should keep improving until about the mid 2030s

There's been a massive jump in quality from all levels as well, like U20's and U17's. The scouting for academies has been huge because it's centralised a lot of the talent and that's why we probably the best u23, u20 and u17 team coinciding at the same time that we've had for like 20+ years, if ever.

Who is our best u20 side? Off the top of my head

Wingers: G kuol and irankunda still qualify with benny and taylor competing for starts.

Strikers: Mo toure is u20 along with waddingham jelacic and caputo
Mids: probably yull, lopane and segecic getting game time as well as di pizio. Not sure who else
Rbs: bovalina and simmons
Lbs: not sure beyond lino?
Cbs: sfcs cb pairing and kikianis? Anyone else

Curious how this compares to our best ever u20s. We have had dukes, aloisi and kewell all do well at club level before 20 and i dont see anyone in that class. But maybe the team as a whole is comparable

For future reference the Olyroos are 2001-onwards, the Young Socceroos (U20) is 2005 onwards and the Joeys are 2008-2010 born. I believe the Olyroos and Young Socceroos may also have a minimum-age but I'm not 100% and it's pretty far fetched to have someone overly young. 

Basically none of the 2003/04 kids that you mentioned are able to play for the U20's. So that's Bovalina, G Kuol, Mo Toure, Taylor, Jelacic, Segecic, Girdwood-Reich, Matthews, Lopane and Simmons are all ineligible. 

This is a good starter to get the know the current team that beat France, Denmark, Norway and Netherlands and had close games against Portugal and England.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_men%27s_national_under-20_soccer_team

This is just the beta team, the 2025 U20 Asian Cup will be much stronger hopefully:

Younis, Irankunda, Esposito, Bonetig, Yull, Jovanovic, Waddingham, Musa Toure, Okon Jr, Youlley, Caputo, Lino, Steven Hall, Mazonne, Di Pizio, Bennie, Skoko?, Pavlesic, Badolato, Valkanis, Agosti. 

It'll be predominantly made up of 2005-2006 with sprinkles of 07 and possibly 08 in the final stages. I think players like Treffiletti and Amlani Tatu will push for positions next year in the U20 squad but may be prioritise with just the Joeys. Unlikely Irankunda gets released for any U20 tournament whilst at Bayern. 

We will get the first proper taste of this team in September when the u20's look to qualify for the U20 Asian Cup. 

97 looks our best ever squad

Think cahill and kewell were eligible that year too alonh with the epic squad we selected

Ah so the u20 world cup is next year with the u19 asian cup later this year?

There is only u17, u20 and u23 asian cup, no u19. It's still an u20 asian cup qual this year for the tournament proper next year. 

The reason 2004 born 19/20 year olds aren't eligible because by the time the U20 World Cup comes along they'll be 20/21 and all the U20 tournaments are in succession to qualify for the U20 World Cup. 

Same reason why the Joeys squad we have in Italy right now is 2008-2009 which right now are aged from 14-16 and they're listed for the Joeys which is an U17 team because by the time the final U17 tournaments come around next year they'll 15-17 and of age. 

Vidukas year looks weaker despite dukes being amazing
97 was outrageously strong but looking through our old u20 wc squads this really might be our 2nd best ever

When is the u20 asian cup? Mid year next year?

Playing this tournament in a non fifa window is a bad own goal from the AFC, what did they expect to happen when nations like Australia, Japan, South Korea and others who have European based players that can’t be released.

And they want to help AFC confed nations close the gap to the top nations? They are a mess and don’t have best interests for growing the sport in the region and they only there for own selfish interests.


Just got news from the Irankunda story that D’Arrigo is also not available to go too! Where does the team go from here I don’t know. 

Now Irankunda has knocked back an offer to join as an injury replacement player!

I  don't think D'Arrigo will be missed at all. I just wish we had Nieuw and Yazbek in the squad too for more enforcing quality in mid.

Sometimes we've had the likes of Segecic, Youlley and Voladan playing on the pitch at the same time, with none being great ball winners a this stage of their careers,. D'Arrigo has been on the pitch and won some big tackles - which were much needed.

I'm going to post what I see as a best eleven who've been selected - with both off the ball (Ball Possession Opposition) and on the ball ( Ball Possession) quality taken into  consideration. The best team off the ball, would look quite different to the best team on the ball.


............................................Hall

Italiano.........Girdwood-R.............Natta.........Farrell

.............................................Teague
.....................Jake Hollman
...................................................Segecic

Kuol/Brook.......................Toure....................Milanovic

This is a rotating midfield triangle in a 1-4-3-3. The U 23s have played it very well, given their young age.

From viewing players I've seen, the players not allowed to leave their UEFA clubs, I'd have Circati as CB instead of GR.

Nieuw instead of Teague.

Possibly Yazbek as a DM and move Jake H to AM.

Bos instead of Milanovic. Although Milanovic has scored a lot of recent goals.

Another from left field is to play Farrell as Left CB, move Natta to R CB and play Mauragis as LB. Can't believe Mauragis hasn't been selected at this stage? I think he is an injury replacement.

I thought Perkins struggled defensively at LB, but was better with his defensive skills at CB. Perkins is a very versatile player, as he was good going forwards at LB.

Still haven't seen all the UEFA based U 23s, like Peupion and Chipperfield.

 

The NC V2 actually got released in 2013, so in theory those players from age 10 would be 19 to 20 years old.

Apparently Merrick mentioned in the Asian Cup review article by Vince Rugari that they will be releasing a new technical plan so im assuming they will be replacing the curriculum, I wonder how it will look like and how it compares from the document which was created 10 years ago will be interesting.

Okay I've finally downloaded The National fooTball Curriculum (NTC - one must ask WHY?) What a document!

I know that these things take time, but David Gallop was the CEO when it was published, so not all things on his watch were bad.

Yeah 300 pages and more if u do the coaching liscences

Thought Alou has been doing really well last few games just seems to be able to put them away. Hope he has a big tourney.

jelecic replaced darrigo and mauragis replacing tilio

happy to see jelacic, strengthens the 10 and our midfield. Irankunda would have been nice but not to be, lets get behind the boys

Just announced - Jelacic replaces Tilio & Mauragus replaces D'Arigo, as his club won't release him!!

what would be your best off the ball xi and best on the ball xi

Jelacic selected to replace d'arrigo. Unfortunately his one start was for the maurice rovello tournament and I lack the full replay. I thought he technically stood out that game and it was the first time I became a fan of him as a player

Our hands are tied. Gdansk are gunning for promotion but D'Arrgio hasn't started since mid Feb and only had bench cameos. A shame as his experience and leadership in the playing group is more valuable than his skill I find. The names we couldn't call upon leave a bitter taste but this bunch are going to have to do it.