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The Socceroos' Group of Hope

Australia's (Source: AFP/Ian Kington)
Roar Rookie
27th May, 2014
2

When the Socceroos’ draw was read out for the World Cup, it was instantly known for Ange Postecoglou’s men as the ‘Group of Death’.

By partnering both of last World Cup’s finalists in Spain and Holland, it would always be a tough ask for anyone to escape in a group of that standard.

But there’s also a strong Chile side, who breezed through the South American qualifiers, who are ready to grab any chance.

It would be a major upset if Australia to get out of their group, but miracles do happen.

It is possibly the worst group for Australia, but it could be the best for a number of other situations.

On a positive with the World Cup being the biggest stage in football, many scouts from the best teams around the world will be there looking for their club’s next signing. This could prove a huge benefit, not necessarily for the team but for individuals who are looking for European or even South American success. This prospect makes having Spain and the Netherlands in our group a bit more encouraging.

There isn’t much experience in the squad at present due to many new faces coming in from the change of manager and generation, so the Socceroos will need to be fully fit and focused come match day. But with the likely result of Australia not progressing it would at least be a good practise run on the main stage with the AFC Asian Cup coming in 2015, which is set to be Australia’s biggest footballing event.

Compare the experience to Holland, who don’t have their strongest side of recent years but certainly don’t lack experience, with Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben set to steal the show. Spain have a combination of Barcelona and Real Madrid to work with, plus many other outstanding talents like Diego Costa and David Silva, a team of incredible depth. Also don’t forget Chile, who boasts the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Juventus’ versatile midfielder Arturo Vidal, who will look to find holes and pounce on any lost balls. Let’s hope experience won’t be too much of an effect.

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With Australia’s new attacking game plan under Postecoglou they are only one poor pass away from a counter which could prove to be Diego Costa-ly. So the Australian number one Matt Ryan might prove to be Australia’s hero at the end of it all, with many shots expected to coming flying his way.

Our chance of success is probably between 1-10 per cent, but I have come up with a possible yet realistic way to scrape through our group and most likely match-up with the hosts in the Round of 16.

Spain win all three matches, Chile and Netherlands draw, Australia and Netherlands draw and Australia pull off a lucky victory against Chile. This would leave Spain on nine points, Australia four points, Netherlands two points and Chile one point. Unlikely, but possible, we’ll just have to wait and see.

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