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Australia Football

Australia Football

What are your thoughts about the Australia Football Team including their style of play?

You may also discuss Australian based Teams here.

Football Australia

Dwight Yorke of Trinidad who is a captain of one of the Teams there won the Australian Championship I believe with the team he signed a contract with only recently. I am also surprised that Arhvic has not posted here. His last sentiments about T&T going into the World Cup were very jealous and yet they needed a Trini boy to show them how it is done?

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I have the world of respect for Dwight Yorke, I think he is a fantastic player. He plays for Sydney FC and helped them win the inaugural A-League football season.

Yorke scored about 5 goals all season but he played a central midfield role for a large part of the season. He also set up the deciding goal in the grand final after doing virtually nothing in the first half. I wouldn't say he showed us how it's done, but he was an important player.

I know he is good mates with Brian Lara who could also have chosen football. Dwight is a great player and I sincerely hopes he decides to see out his two year contract because I know he is very popular here.

I'm not at all jealous of Trinidad and Tobago, in fact I love seeing teams like that achieve great things. Largely due to cricket, I am a big fan of sports teams in the Caribbean.

My point was that I thought the qualification system is unfair because CONCACAF is allocated 3 1/2 berths in the World Cup, which is too much if you compare regional strength of other confederations. It's all decided by politics, that's why Europe gets 16 spots, which is perhaps the biggest crime.

In the past 10 years Australian football has been growing rapidly. It's easily the most played sport here. In my state alone there are something like 500,000 registered players of some form of football. The population of NSW is about 6.7 million, so that gives you an indication of how popular the sport is.

The Australian national team have also recorded some good results recently. The only stumbling block has been qualification to the World Cup. Australia is the only country that was undefeated and didn't qualify for the 1998 World Cup. We won every game but drew with Iran twice, which wasn't enough.

Against Uruguay this time, we were the better team over two legs and duly got through, albeit after a penalty shootout. This seems to have surprised a few people around the world but not Australians. We have some big tournament experience and have beaten some of the best teams in the world before. In three Confederation Cups we have come 2nd and 3rd. The Confed Cup in Japan we beat Brazil and drew with France. The last Confed Cup we lost all our games but were competitive against Germany and Argentina.

Last time we played England in London we totally dominated the poms to win 3-2. The score didn't reflect just how well the Aussies played that night. Harry Kewell was at his brilliant best.

Australia is traditionally quite competitive at youth levels. We have made the final of youth world cups, but never won one, largely thanks to Brasil.

Our style of football is very European based. Under Guus Hiddink, one of the top three coaches in the world IMO, we have adopted a very patient, fluent style with an emphasis on possession. This hasn't always been the case but Australia's style right now is good to watch.

Unfortunately, Australia isn't blessed with the sort of flair found in Africa or South America, but there are a couple of exceptions. Harry Kewell is one, Marco Bresciano is another. In fact, I would urge anyone who watches the World Cup to remember that name Bresciano, attacking midfielder for Parma and Australia.

Technically we not are that great, but one thing all Australian teams are is very hard working. They are also very good mentally and have a never say die attitude, similar to Americans.

Our ranking is about 44, which illustrates just how wrong the system is. Jamaica, a team we demolished 5-0 last year, is ranked 45.

If you look at the top 20 teams on the ranking list, Australia is better than Iran, Egypt and the US (who are ranked 5?). I would say at the moment we are of a similar standard to Japan. But Japan has more big tournament experience, which makes Australia v Japan perhaps our most important game at the World Cup. Realistically, either team can win. Australia, Croatia and Japan are all pretty even, but Brasil is a class above so second spot in that group is up for grabs.

Edited: arvhic on 9th Apr, 2006 - 3:47am

Football Australia

Australia could be the suprise package of the World Cup. They have an experienced group of European based players with an experienced manager. I expect them to beat Japan in their opening game. Brazil will beat them in the second game. Then the crunch game will be against Croatia to decide who qualifies from the group.
I am pleased England avoided Australia in the group stages

Football Australia

I personally haven't seen the Australia national team in action, so this upcoming World Cup will give them the right exposure. As for the 3.5 spots for CONCACAF vs the .5 spots from OCEANIA for World Cup, I believe that has a lot to do with the strength of teams from each region. CONCACAF has 2 top 10 teams in the World, plus some other competitive teams. Australia is really the only strong team in Oceania, and to avoid them automatically qualifying every World Cup, I can see why they would need to prove themselves against a team from another region. We'll see how well they perform in June; then and only then may they get the respect it seems they deserve.

Australia Football

I"m not going to get too far ahead of myself regarding Australia's chances in the World Cup. We are still relatively inexperienced on the international stage, but it is true that we do possess the right ingredients to progress to the second round.

Our squad is better than Japan's on paper and has big name players to match Croatia's, however they are technically more gifted players. I think the whole group, minus Brasil, is fairly even. I wouldn't bet on any one of those teams however Croatia is favourite after Brasil. I think what will make the difference for Australia is our coach Guus Hiddink, who is surely one of the best in the world. It is going to be exciting either way.

Malexander, I think I speak for the overwhelming majority of people in the international football community when I say that the FIFA ranking system is a joke. It doesn't reflect the true strength of teams in the world and it never will under the current formula. According to the ranking system, Jamaica is one spot below Australia, in 45! Last year we beat them 5-0 and this was no fluke. The US is not even close to the fifth best team in the world and I don't mean any disrespect.

Let's look at some of the teams below the US who are better. France, England, Portugal, Turkey, Nigeria, Italy, Denmark, Cameroon, Sweden, Germany, Uruguay and Korea. I am not trying to denigrate the US, because they did fantastic at the last World Cup and is certainly an emerging nation. I also like their attitude and some of their players are very promising. But you can take so many examples from the ranking list and realise it isn't a true reflection of football strength.

While Australia doesn't deserve automatic qualification, nor does the US and Mexico - which have it courtesy of an easy qualification path. We would also qualify for every World Cup if we were in CONCACAF. Anyway, now Australia has been lumped into Asia, while Oceania is virtually non-existent. I would agree with you that it should never have been a confederation to begin with.

Australia Football

Australia stick with experience for Germany

https://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060510/7/6qix.html

Here is the full 23-man squad:

Goalkeepers: Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough), Zeljko Kalac (AC Milan), Ante Covic (Hammarby)

Defenders: Michael Beauchamp (Central Coast), Craig Moore (Newcastle United), Lucas Neill (Blackburn Rovers), Tony Popovic Crystal Palace), Mark Milligan (Sydney FC)

Midfielders: Marco Bresciano (Parma), Tim Cahill (Everton), Scott Chipperfield (Basel), Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven), Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers), Vince Grella (Parma), Stan Lazaridis (free agent), Josip Skoko (Stoke City on loan from Wigan Athletic), Mile Sterjovski (Basel), Luke Wilkshire (Bristol City)

Strikers: John Aloisi (Alaves), Harry Kewell (Liverpool), Archie Thompson (PSV Eindhoven), Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough), Josh Kennedy (Dinamo Dresden)

Kewell is probably the best known, but all the others seem to have European experience. I'll let Arvhic give the rundown and critique of the selections.

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Most of this squad pretty much picked itself, which is a concern for the Aussies. There is enough talent but perhaps a lack of depth in defence and up front if we get hit by injuries.

Malexander hit the nail on the head when he said this squad was experienced. It is not experienced in World Cups, but the core group of players have been together for over a decade now.

They know each other very well and have excellent team spirit.

Our defence is clearly our weakness. Craig Moore and Lucas Neill will be the centre back pairing and are crucial for our success. Neill is widely regarded as one of the toughest defenders in the Premier League but was more accustomed to a wide role until the past season where he shifted to centre back. Craig Moore has been out with injury but played the last 5 games straight for Newcastle during that club's best run in the Premier League this season. Moore's partnership with Neill could go a long way in helping Australia progress past the first round.

The back-up of Popovich and Beauchamp provide some cover. But Popa is old and Beauchamp, while a talented prospect, is stepping up in class. Milligan is out his league and really just here for the experience.

Our wide defenders are really more wing backs. Lazaridis (Birmingham) has always done well for his country but is past his best. Chipperfield has been quite attacking for his Swiss club Basel but can be caught out of position with quick counter attacks. I would think that Guus will opt for three at the back.

Midfield is Australia's strength and we have some very effective players there. Harry Kewell is a star and is now hitting top form again. A fit Kewell is one of the best left-sided midfield players in the world. Marco Bresciano is a good attacking weapon for Parma. He is industrious and has a lethal shot. Cullina pulls the strings from midfield and has established himself at PSV. Tim Cahill is another midfield player who scores quite a bit for Everton. He's a pocket rocket and very good in the air. Then there is Emerton (Blackburn), Grella (defensive midfielder from Parma), Skoko and a couple of cover players. It's a well balanced midfield with depth if needed. I would play a five-man midfield.

Our attack is perhaps a bit underdone. Mark Viduka (Middlesborough) will spear-head it and is in good form. John Aloisi (Alaves) shone at the last Confed Cup but has been in indifferent form since. Archie Thompson (PSV) is an exciting player with limited experience at this level. He also holds the world record for most goals in an international game. I have never heard of Josh Kennedy so I can't rate him, but I am told he is a Peter Crouch-style player.

I think we are have enough genuine talent to get past the first round, but our lack of depth will mean we won't go too much past that stage. In truth, we will need a bit of luck to get past our group. It is one of the hardest with Brasil, Croatia and Japan.

Another huge strength for Australia is Guus Hiddink who has an excellent record at World Cups and has transformed this Aussie team.

Edited: arvhic on 11th May, 2006 - 5:23am