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Joined January 2018
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Now that the World Championships have been swum and won, there is a short time to take stock before our swimmers gear up for…
As if Australian football doesn't have enough to deal with, six weeks after he dramatically left Melbourne City and the A-League in search of…
Perth has been my favourite team to watch this year.
Their games often start off sluggish, but when theyre running towards the shed end in the second half, a goal down, the fans willing them on, and then they score, and score again, im off my couch cheering, just wishing i was there. Its brilliant. The fans at HBF know they have something special in the making. 6.5K fans created a wall of noise that made put the derby atmosphere in the shade.
Even who they dont win, the team has shown a lot of resilience. The 3-4 v Nix in front of 2 men and a dog in parramatta, the 2-3 nearly comeback against Victory with 10 men, the away draw against Macarthur, away v Wanderers, and the 3-3 and last seasons 4-4 epics against Adelaide.
I was worried about Staj’s job early in the season, but he has worked his magic again with resources and under circumstances that would turn Mark Rudan into a puddle of mud. Even though this season is touch and go, Staj will have the team humming next season, and a top 4 finish should be the minimum expected.
And even though they are the #3 team in the commentating hierarchy, Teo and Phil Moss do a great job calling the late night Perth games.
Give Perth a watch. They’ve really got something.
Perth Glory's long-suffering fans deserve their change of fortune
If bombing out in the QF stage of the Asian Cup won a trophy, Arnie would in fact be a 3 time champion Harry.
2007, 2019 and last night.
two failed olympic campaigns too.
but the World Cup run makes it alright, doesnt it?
'Devastating', 'painful', 'punished': Socceroos OUT of Asian Cup after Miller's moments of madness
Firstly, congratulations to Korea. A patient, creative, resilient (and the better) team. I hope they go on to win it.
Secondly, for probably the first time ever, i agreed with Arnie’s substitutions. The personnel and timing was right on. They just didnt work.
Thirdly, as someone who wanted to see more minutes from Lewis Miller, i need to apologise to Gethin Jones and Nat Atkinson. The former has been underwhelming and the latter blows hot and cold, bt neither comes close to that calamity of a cameo. He will likely never play so poorly again, but as for the most horrendous individual performance in a Socceroos shirt, there is a new king. David Carney, step aside.
Finally, few countries benefit by the expansion of the WC to 48 teams more than us. Only four and a half spots and we would be toast. We are firmly ensconced in the 5-8 rankings of Asian nations, probably in line with Qatar , if not a bit ahead of the Uzbeks, Iraqis, Jordons, UAE and Syria. But we have been gapped by the top 4 imo. You just know with Arnie at the helm that WCQ is gonna be a long frustrating slog. Speaking of, Tony G and the Matildas in three weeks!
'Devastating', 'painful', 'punished': Socceroos OUT of Asian Cup after Miller's moments of madness
Fair play to Indonesia, they were good opponants. Played some good combinations at speed, but just no end product which is expected. But they should be delighted with their first knockout game at an Asian Cup.
As for us, less crap is still crap. Jones sorta better. Bos in front of Behich hasnt worked for three games running. Its gotta be one or the other with Goodwin in front. Sadly not much can be done about the creative vacuum in midfield. Neither McGree or Metcalfe showing enough for me, so whats Tilio got?
And the other thing is the scheduling is deplorable. How do we have nearly two and half days more rest than our next opponants. Imagine the squealing if it was us with the short turn around. At least it denies Arnie a ready made excuse for another below average performace. He’s gonna have to get creative with his gaslighting.
That said, a wins a win.
Socceroos finally get Harry's head in the game as they advance to Asian Cup's last eight after early struggles
Nice one NickA.
Atkinson flopped. And that was playing against the Uzbeki Mbappe, not the real one.
RB wouldnt be an issue if Arnie played the right bloke (Miller) from the start.
We are still on target for a QF exit. We all hope to see some flashes of the world cup run, bt here we are, three bang ordinary group games later. Most likely scenario is another laboured game against either China, Indonesia or Palestine (according to Tara), and then a hard whack in the bollocks by the Saudis.
Arnie is reverting to the mean – baffling decisionmaking, not playing blokes in their natural positions, and too late to make subs. Me thinks there is some post world cup hubris too. Tilio, Miller, Goodwin and Bruno need more minutes.
There are certainly more personnel changes in store for the next game where we will probably eke out another scrappy 1-0. But we wont win a title playing so poorly.
'No fluency, seem rigid': Socceroos ride their luck to the top of Asian Cup group but key failure shows huge cause for concern
Less a strike than a stab/ toe-poke, but it was a good turn in the box and was the difference.
Boy, Geffin Jones is a find eh? Who did we pinch him from? Arnie would sooner allow the new boy to play every minute of our tournament, than admit he made a clanger. He makes Atkinson look like he’s Dani Alves.
Keito Nakamura (and Son) must be lickin their chops. But we’re unlikely to get that far.
On track for a QF exit. That’ll be 3 for 3 Arnie! Normal programming resumed.
At least there’s the Olyroos.
Syria killers: Irvine strike sends Socceroos into Asian Cup knockout stages
A good defender, a decent bloke and a very sad loss.
Tributes flow as 'extremely courageous' ex-Socceroo found dead in Northern NSW after police search
Yes, a qualified success it was i reckon.
As an out of towner who went to the friday and saturday double headers. these are the tweaks i would make for next year.
Keep the mens and and womens double headers separate.
Start the round a week earlier in Janurary to profit from the bump in crowds we invariably get over the new year season. By mid Jan, this has tailed off.
Start the round with a womens double header on the thursday night at Parramatta, possiby with a sydney derby as the main event, then the balance of the games at Leichhardt.
Double headers friday and sunday at Allianz and Saturday night at Parramatta. Sunday night needs to be at Moore Park – better public transport, closer to the city, and frankly more on.
Cheaper/ free tickets, particularly for u16s
Promote to the neutrals – Come pick a team! Use some of the budget to name a unite round ambassador to flog the concept. If it cant be Taylor Swift, then Sam or Mary will do.
I reckon Saturday night proved it has some legs, and i look forward to going next year to a bigger and better one. Even if one team has to draw the short straw and have a bye.
Is the A-Leagues' Unite Round worth persisting with next season?
Agree. TG largely at fault for this defeat. Predictable, reactive and late. We were always going to hit a brick wall due to lack of squad rotation and too late substitutions, such as Alex ‘the gamechanger’ Chidiac coming on at 3-1. Brilliant Tony! Those in the tank for Too late Tone will disagree but as Stuart Thomas laid out in a recent article, i think we had a successful tournament more so despite the manager, rather than due to him. . That said, he has hit the benchmarks to see out his contract until the Paris Olympics. But there was only one person who wasn’t brave enough last night.
The Matildas had every conceivable advantage and rode their luck all the way. Navigating three knockout games to the semi finals was magnificent. But a late Irish equalizer, Canada not having a really off day, or Nigeria jagging a goal in their 3rd round game, and an early exit for the team was on the cards. History will record we will finish 3rd or 4th at a home world cup when we were arguably technically and tactically inferior to 5-7 other teams.
But well done and thank you to the Matildas. It was a great run.
Sam missile strikes with World Cup worldie but Matildas bow out as Lionesses roar into Final
We are all on the same page about wanting the Matildas to win, but i believe that Canada will have our measure. Its win or bust for them too. The two friendlies that Canada played here last september and won will have prepared them for what to expect. If the Matildas can play as they did in the first half of the game in sydney, where everything seemed to click, and are able to sustain it for the 90mins, then we have a chance, but Canada and their astute English coach Bev Priestman, nullified Australia in the second half and came from behind to deservedly win 2-1.
I doubt they will let this one slip. But we can always hope for an off day.
As for Tony G, if there is any silver lining it is that his tenure is close to being snuffed out. Its incredible it has taken a likely group stage exit in a home world cup to finally confirm what a few of us concluded rather early. The bloke has been the wrong fit , despite having moments and results. To me, he is the Meghan Markle of football managers – he ticks all the boxes on paper, looks and sounds like a good fit, but you just know in your bones, its gonna end badly.
There was a time when both Arnie and Tony were under the kosh and calls were strong for new management. Keeping both at the time was probably the right call.
But whereas Arnies all or nothing approach paid off hugely and has reinvigorated the Socceroos, I struggle to see the improvement in the Matildas over this cycle. I’m sorry, i do not see a better Matilda’s team now than under Staj. Ultimately i think we needed someone towards the disciplinarian end of the spectrum, like an Ange, rather than a motivator, like Tony.
There will be a lot of post mortems if we go out tonight or in the rd of 16. Both will be failures if we do. With the Olympics in a year, and the end of our ‘golden generation’ in sight, we need an Arnie style re-invigoration mixed with some no nonsense top down authority. There is no time to waste.
The Matildas can make history in the biggest game we've seen in years
Butterfingers Grabara is the punk who made Matt Ryan’s time in Copenhagen so unwelcoming.
And mocked him for giving away the Argentina goal in the World Cup.
Hope it gives Ryan at least a wry smile if he see the video. He has too much class to comment, but i dont.
Suck it Grabara.
And Ryan rocks a face mask better too.
Jerk.
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