The next qualifying campaign and the next asian cup should be made up of soley players who are going to play in 2014. This will allow us 4 years to develop a team, the players that are 33 and above at the end of this world cup should be told to expect allot less game time for the next 4 years. In fact I would go so far as to say they would be injury replacements only for younger players. That would be my direction if I was the post 2010 coach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_language

It tells me that you shouldn’t pay too much attention to friendlies.

Here’s the clip of that opening goal (and Drogba’s two), all to some Thai commentary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkaL01N1ubQ

You will have to stop this one handed typing and I understand what it is like to play so poor we had a team like yours a few years ago anyway back to your … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2ak4fz9lRg

*The first 10 minutes had quite a few crude tackles from Ireland though

So your team couldn’t score against our b team back 4 because they weren’t trying (at home) and were charging the Irish fans approx $100 too see it…… hmm

You have been in one scrum too many Pothole

None of the players was engaged in the match. the premiership is starting. It was a friendly and Trap was just find out about positions and players. In a normal match the Australisans would have been tournced but we put out a C team to try out some of the individual players and positions., Let’s aface it, Socceroos are bottom feeding in the soccr world. Don’t set tooo mcuh storre by it.

Most sensible clubs ignore international form unless it’s backed up by club form. Otherwise, you end up like Tottenham.

Pleasingly, unlike 2006 we have a bit more depth.

Here is a list of 31 – good luck pruning it down to 23.

Goalkeepers – Schwarzer,Federici, Jones, Petkovic

Defenders – Emerton, Wilkshire, Williams, Neill, Moore, Milligan, Spiranovic, Chipperfield, Carney, Kisnorbo, North

Midfield – Culina, Grella, Jedinak, Valeri, Bresciano, Kewell, Troisi, Carle, Cahill, Holman, Vidosic

Forwards – Viduka, Kennedy, McDonald, Rukavytsa, Djite

Personally, I would leave out, Jones, Moore, Kisnorbo, North, Holman, Carle, Troisi, Djite
This is based on the following assumptions.

Williams, Spiranovic , Ruka and Vidosic will get game time this season. Moore is to old and too slow and I would leave him out and risk going into the tournament with only 3 central defenders. To do well in the WC you need to have a defence that has pace and endurance. We also need someone like Ruka to come on and run at tiring defences late in the game.

Ofcourse, I expect to change my mind as we get cloer to WC 2010.

It’s a fair point about the time and space in midfield – but that has to be tempered by the fact that we had a completely experimental back 6 against a full strength Ireland outfit – fair’s fair!!

On Holman – if you had been reading Roar posts from the past year, you’d know that he has very little support amongst most of us – but equally, we recognise that Pim wants him in his squads – so there comes a time when you sit back and wonder why that’s so, and you either accept it or complain bitterly (but the latter course can get tiring and boring for everyone).

Viduka will be there.. He is by far the best forward we have ever produced and can hold the ball up which is a skill which is lacking in the entire squad at present. It will actually give the team another dimension when playing more technically capable sides.. Viduka will cause them alot of headaches.

Bolters : Williams, Ruka, Danning , Vidosic and Mooy.
Drop outs: North, Kisnorbo, Holman (PLEASE)

For the bolters It all depends on their seasons this year… Good luck!

I don’t think Pim is going to spring any big surprises like Guus did with Kennedy, Milligan, Beauchamp etc. I think Pim’s used the time he’s had very well to give himself a lot of solid options. Maybe there will be one surprise for that last left-sided spot. Or perhaps in the goalkeeping position, someone like Galekovic can sneak in if Federici and / or Jones has a bad season.

Of course, there’s one more complete football season to go, and that will help us consolidate a few things – after which it’s a case of form and injuries – a lot can happen in 10 months or so.

Over at the fantastic Football365 they have a World Cup ladder for the English team – http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8750_5488794,00.html – and I’ve always wondered what an Australian one would look like. Anyone care to have a crack?

For me, the guys who would be at or near the top of the ladder and have booked their seats already are: Schwarzer, Cahill, Kewell, Neill, Emerton, Wilkshire, Grella, Culina, Bresciano, Kennedy, McDonald and Chipperfield. Basically all the survivors from Germany except Dukes and Moore, plus Macca.

Further down the order, but still more than likely going IMO would be: Carney, Valeri, Williams, Spiranovic, Holman (let’s face it, Pim loves him and he’ll be there), Jedinak, Jones, Federici

That leaves us with three spots to pick from the rest. I think there’d be one more striker – either Viduka, Djite or Rukavytsya – I think it will be Nikita unless Dukes can turn back the clock at Fulham, or if Djite scores a lot of goals in Turkey this season; one more centre back – either Moore, Kisnorbo or Madaschi – Moore is my tip but I could see Kisnorbo taking his spot if he has a bad season; and lastly another left sided player. Quite a few possibilities who that last one will be.

I’d love Nicky Carle to be on the plane but I think he’s going to miss out. Pippinu nailed it in an earlier post why Pim doesn’t rate Nicky like some of us do: “Pim doesn’t want a creative player in that CAM role – he wants a work horse with goal sense (ie Timmy), he prefers his playmaker to be in a deeper role (probably Culina).”

We are forgetting there willn be some inevitable injuries that will rule some players out of the squad, and that will leave some room for the odd surprise or outsider selection here and there.

If Cahill gets injured I can’t see the Socceroos getting a point in the South African group stage.

It would not surprise me to see Chipperfield injured again

Without coming across too harsh, he:
1. was completely stuffed; and/or
2. he thought Tiatto had it covered (I think it was Tiatto chasing Robson back).

Either way – it definitely wasn’t his finest moment when the Moore of old would have plugged the hole before anyone even knew there was a hole.

I wrote on another thread somehwere that by the time we get to the eve of the next WC, Moore will be sitting around the 24th player, as an emergency if someone else can’t make it (and Dukes will most probably be sitting alongside him).

Pim now knows he can afford to think like that (he may not have been sure 9 months ago).

But without doubt the biggest worries are centre of defence & our centre forward.
Not much was made (well at least I didn’t read it) of what was Craig Moore was doing in Robson’s last goal for GC against BR. I hope Moore makes the world cup squad as a backup, his experience will be invalueable, but if Moore & Neill is the starting centre backs against the likes of Messi, Rooney, Drogba & Pato in the WC2010 I’m worried.
The one player you all forgot to mention was Mark Milligan, lost his way for awhile but from all accounts killing it in China, I would have him ahead of North, Beachamp, Kisnorbo, Coyne & Madaschi. The smokie could also be Milicevic.

As far as the centre forward we have good players in McDonald & Kennedy, but neither are Viduka, but they will do a good job.
As Art mentioned in another post we will do well against the English speaking or Northern European sides, but will struggle against the more technical sides as shown against the Japanese.

Go the socceroos in 2010, I feel much more comfortable than before on their chances.