palestine to their credit did slightly less gamesmanship than our other opponents, so that meant less time wasting and they tired. We played some pretty amazing attacking interplay in the 2nd half, but still shooting was poor. 

Waddingham missed an empty net at point blank and got subbed immediately after. Hope the man management is good because confidence is important at this age

luca jovanovic for a nice assist for the 2nd goal which was scored by bodalato. Youlley with the first from a set piece

Youlley looks the best player though its hard to judge the back 5 since we aren't defending much. There was a nice sliding tackle from our left back

yull and youlley probably our best at 1v1 which is weird, lack of 1v1. Quintal ok but inconsistent

jovanovic looks really tricky as second striker. It's old school but I did like waddingham and jovanovic together, was a shame about the finishing though

of course this squad  is missing euroroos

looking forward to the game v saudi, much more fun to watch us against teams we aren't expecting to dominate

Youlley is a class above. Surely he starts making the bench for Westerloo's top team. Yull has been very good over the 3 games & I like Deli. I was expecting Di Pizio to be one of our stand outs, but he hasn't really done much

Yeah surprised by di pizio

Hopefully players dont drop in confidence going back to their clubs. Ccm have so many games this year he should be good. Worried waddingham might start the season slow if his confidence has taken a knock

Yull was great for Adelaide last season, even though he had to play all across the midfield. Hope he can kick on 

The #YoungSocceroos came from behind against Palestine to make it three consecutive #AFCU20 qualifying wins and set up a huge match with Saudi Arabia for top spot in Group D.

⚽ Rhys Youlley 45+1'
⚽ Alex Badolato 75'

Who's playing in Europe that would've been included, apart from Nestory?

Daniel Bennie and Musa Toure surely

Forgot about musa!

Irankunda younis okon toure bennie and hall i think are the missing crew

Looking at the 2nd place table we have to beat saudi just to qualify for the asian cup! Crazy! 

On the plus side makes for an exciting match

Some interesting stats about our all age teams in asian cups

U17 points per game: 1.8
U20 points per game: 1.7
U23 points per game: 1.4
socceroos points per game: 1.9


u17 goals per game: 2.1
u20 goals per game: 1.7
u23 goals per game: 0.8
senior goals per game: 1.9

A couple of thoughts
1) there is clear decline in relative quality until our players trodge off to europe and close the gap. In the last window there were a lot of u23 players unavailable due to clubs not releasing them. I don't remember this being much of a problem for underage teams in the last 10 years now
2) at 0.8 goals per game for the olyroos it isn't that much of an outlier to go goalless in a tournament
3) extrapolating back to u15s (an admittedly dodgy assumption since there are only 3 data points I'm using to form a trend!) our u15s would be as good as japan and perhaps the best in asia

There's no way this team is beating saudi. Hopefully the best 2nd place finish will be enough 

It’s clear we consistently struggle to score goals at international level, it’s something that needs to be fixed into the future. 

Our defensive minded players have had better success than our offensive ones. We are just as good as the top sides in asia at getting into dangerous areas but poor when we arrive! 18th best in asia at converting penalty area entries to goals! 

Im curious about the stat u asked for - game time in the a league by position. This could be a big factor if foreigners are disproportinately taking up attacking positions

18th best in u20s or overall? No wonder we struggle with that placing! 

18th place for seniors at the asian cup converting touches in pen area to goals. In otherwords how effective we are at converting dangerous situations. We are comparable to the powerhouses in asia for getting into dangerous situations and of course our defense is good

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_AFC_U-20_Asian_Cup_qualification

Results against last place group teams don't count for 2nd place table. Interestingly some groups still have clashes that could see the last placed team change and therefore potentially changing how many points can be considered for 2nd placed rankings.

Australia currently in the last 2nd placed spot that qualifies but a lot to change in a day. 

ATM if Youlley continues on his current trajectory from what I've seen with the national u23s and u20s,  he will be one of our greatest ever. He needs to learn to tackle with his left foot though, not just his preferred right foot.

The big problem with very good younger players many don't ever reach their potential, peak early, suffer injury or inexplicably fade out. Think Kaz Patafta, Josh McDonald, Danial Da Silva, Stu Musalik.

 With my coaching hat on, and my teaching hat as well, as I've thought about this area of the game, goal scoring is far more than striking the ball, as it is defined in the NC.

Scoring goals  needs an entire rewrite in the NC. It isn't just shooting with both feet and heading as defined in the NC in the 4 technique criteria  section.  

Scoring goals  involves checking; delaying runs, timing late runs into the pen box, angling runs; shaking markers; competing in 1v1 in physical duels against markers with an onus on getting a shot away; 1v1 dribbling; playing 1-2s on the edge of the box in central areas to break lines;  shooting from square balls, through balls, angled balls, bouncing  balls, volleys, at best with  one touch for all opportunities. It also involves shooting with the foot closest to the direction of the squarish cross.

It also involves one active keeper and a number of active defenders as opposition to  out play as well. 

In 2008 I watched the Socceroos, minus Kewell and Dukes, practice shooting  in a training session in a home game just before we played Qatar at Etihad. There was a keeper, Schwarzer, and Valeri as the active defender providing opposition. The cream of the Socceroos, including Cahill, Kennedy, McDonald, Emo, Bresc, couldn't hit the side of a barn in practice!

Salutary stats.

Thanks for posting them Grazor!

So even if we draw tonight, are we in strife re U20 WCQ?

As Asia is improving immeasurably, the bonus is, if we qualify for WCs, we will be far more battle hardened by playing qualifiers against forever tougher Asian opposition, in tough conditions.

I've despaired at all the goal scoring chances not being converted that have been created by the U20s. However, late in the game against Palestine, when we went 2-1 up, I saw some of the  fastest passing and moving sequences in tight spaces  and limited time on the ball, I've see  ever seen from any age group at  Aus national team level. 

Youlley was involved in all of them, the catalyst and probably touched the ball multiple times in the 5-10 pass sequences, but also Delios the number 6 who played as sole DM in the attacking mid triangle?  Plus others who I'm not sure of their identity, who played in advanced positions? It is very difficult   for opponents to break up this  rapidfire ball movement and speedy ball circulation.


I have been  disappointed in Di Pizio, considering how  well he played for senior CCM in the AL Grand Final. Also, I've expected Waddingham to score more goals, considering how effective he has been for senior Roar at times in the AL. 

Apart from his superb winning goal against Palestine, I think Badalato, who I must  have seen play for WSW seniors in the AL, has underperformed too.

1 in 4 of those who break into a first team in a 2nd tier league by u24 go on to be regulars in either a champions league club or a big 5 club. So even if they break through im cautious and look at numbers rather than individuals. 

There apparently was a recent rewrite. Im curious what the new curriculum says. I could use some scoring exercizes.

At the moment my go to is to have 2 phases 1) shooting from a standing position without a backlift using the bone (i dont bother teaching side footing the ball early on want to get the muscle reflexes right. I also not south american player learn to shoot without a backlift early. Since it is a muscle reflex thing i think it should be taught young) 2) an exercize where the only way to score is to get the shot away instantly and accurately which means no backlift. 2 players duel in a 10mx10m area and the goal is between a 3rd players legs. The 3rd player runs around to avoid a goal being score with the only restriction that they have to keep their legs open and they have to face the other 2. 

No worries

It seems arnie ball was to
1)cut out counter attacking. We were brilliant at this! Cant remember any team looking dangerous on the counter against us!
2) rely on the law of large numbers working in our favour by visiting dangerous areas as often as possible. When a goal scored it looked chaotic, but sheer weight of numbers meant we were likely to score anywau even if an own goal or a pen

Im skeptical there is a bit strategy right now....

Not strife. A draw probably gets us through but not gauranteed i believe

Some times players do ok for club and poor for youth teams. Not sure why. Villupilay couldnt score for mv but was actually ok for the olyroos pre tournament, so it goes both ways

I thought finishing was a weakness of the gg compared to players from other countries playing at a similar level (culina and grella were particularly weak!)
However we have declined remarkably and i think it became apparent in underage teams in 2018 which saw the end of the ntc. Really hope the new exercizes are good. If not we need to promote some shooting excercizes