Fozzy and Pim misunderstood

agree with u 100%

We can't get Brazil and Spain as they'll both be seeded. No matter who we draw, Australia will have a tough time making the second round, just on the quality of the players we've got. Our best bet is to play organised, defensive football, which is what we're playing now.

Billy - If Australia gets drawn in a pool with Brazil, Spain and Portugal then I'd be suggesting that the boys just go out there and enjoy, and perhaps each play with a marker pen in their pockets so they can get their shirts autographed by the superstars during the various stoppages. I only say this with half a tongue in my cheek. I am enraptured by our qualifying for a second consecutive world cup. But at the sam time we need to have realistic goals and understand where we sit in the world of football. This is a wonderful achievement for Australia.

I like PIM, long may we use his template to make future WCs I like Foz, long for the day where Australia can play the Technically & Tactically without just relying on our physciality. Long may their views be different.

I do wonder whether "entertaining" (whaddeva that means) football can be entwined with "results" (whaddeva that means) football, under the current coaching system and staffing, for the upcoming World Cup. This is something Foster has alluded to, as well.

Bear, After the disappointment of being denied an automatic qualification place as part of Oceania, joining the Asian Football Confederation was the best thing that ever happened to Australian football in many ways, including financially. Being in Asia, the fans as much, or even more than the media expected it to be a cakewalk in the Asian Cup and the Asian qualification process. Why not? We’d just convincingly beaten Japan at Germany 06 and they were our main rival in Asia. On paper it looked like we should do very well in the Asian Cup and qualify for South Africa again ahead of Japan. That was the fans’ expectations set at a very early stage. So you can’t blame them and the media for being confident of our chances. I wasn’t expecting to play an amazing style of football in every game, but at least as good as what we played under Guus. It’s the same personnel basically and another Dutch coach, so why not? The mantra today from the coach and players was an objective to do at least as well as we did in Germany 06. Why shouldn’t that include the style of our play, our adventure and our attacking game, even against the might of Brazil, as Guus did. The reality has been a little bit different. Yes Pimbo has achieved a fantastic result in the end and qualified with 2 games still to be played. But something about the way we’ve played suggests that we could do more or could’ve even played better. We can do it. Against Nigeria with Rob Baan managing the team, it was the best and most entertaining I’d seen the team ever play since Guus was in charge. I’d agree with the professor that we were lucky in some games and we did not control the play against Bahrain and Japan. But that’s understandable – you aren’t going to dominate every game you play particularly away from home. My main criticism of Pimbo, Wags the Dog, the Professor and Uncle Les is “criticism for criticism’s sake”. There have been times when the criticism of the players, the Australian game and the A-League in particular has been pointless and useless and served no constructive purpose. How was this relevant to an FA Cup Final? And then . . . how dare anybody criticise Pimbo or the Professor - the immediate cries of “ungrateful, whingers, don’t appreciate all we’ve been through”. Come on . . . be fair – you’ve got to take as much as you give, especially if you do it for a living, paid for by the Australian football punters’ money. Everyone’s thinking “what will Pimbo do against Bahrain and Japan – a busman’s holiday, reward the faithful or try a couple of new faces – but please, please don’t go overboard and turn this into a training run for the U20s., like you did against China. But the reality will be that Pimbo sticks with the same old, same old and what he is most comfortable with. I do think between now and the start of the World Cup, Pimbo should try some different combinations – whether it’s Carle or other deserving players, especially for the friendlies. If we go to South Africa and go though the tournament undefeated and not conceding a goal, then his argument for persisting with the same old tactics just gets stronger and stronger.

The Bear Craig Foster raised a number of valid points on Sunday's TWG & I would hope & expect Pim & his team to take them on board in preparing for Sth Africa. Don't know if you watched the game live but Ange Postecoglou after the match said it was important for Pim to persist with the system he (Pim) believes in i.e. not to change merely to keep the critics happy. My view is that Pim must employ in the remaining matches - 2 WCQs, 4 ACQs + friendlies - whatever system he thinks will give us the best chance in SA. If that means more of the same then so be it.

Jimbo, I think you missed the point of Foster's critique; below is a post from the Green and Gold Army forum on the issue of Craig Foster's recent comments on the Verbeek Socceroo's. I think it's an OBJECTIVE perspective:- I have just watching the World Game today, IQ Got to love it. The point that Craig Foster made was very interesting as he clarified his position on how we have played in the campaign, and I have to say there was a lot of merit in what he said. PV and the boys have been expected to be in South Africa plain and simple. The local football (soccer) media here however knew it was going to be a tough climb to achieve the promised land. However a lot of Bandwagon media has got on and expect what we as a teammust play Brazil style of football as thi sis the only football they truelly know. They will not say play like England as they have been rubbish up until Cappello. With this in mind in my opinion the local sports media have focussed in on this idea that we should be smashing every single team in Asia as well as playign an amazing style of football in every game. The thing is I still think that this region is one of the hardest to qualify in with the exception of South America where each game is basically at a World Cup standard. In all of the media coming out form Doha, it was obvious that the boys were saying stick that up your a*se, we qualified with two games spared plaing PV's way. However as outlinined in the debate between Les and Fossie, Craig Foster outlined that we were lucky and in some games and we did not control all of our games as demonstrated in Bahrain and Japan. This is the heart of Fossies debate. As he said on the show we are not a Brazil we will not out attack teams and play teams off the pitch, but we must have control and stop riding out luck. We will get punished by teams in the higher in ranking if we try to ride our luck and not control games. I agree 100%. The game against Holland we dominated a team of the highest pedigree by keeping the ball and keeping control of the ball. I have to say that this did not happenin Japan and Bahrain. However a lot must be said for flying in 48 hours before a gme as well as flying nearly 10 hours on a plane with a day to prepare. The aim of this post for me was to say, that Foster is right. We do not have to change the way we play that much. It is all about how we control each game we play in from now on. The two games against Bahrain and Japan are litmus tests and will be interesting to see what the team does. I do not think its a time to blood too many players. I do no thtink its time to bring in Carle. I do not think we should play players that are not regulars. I think it will be interesting to see if PV can get this team working in his system BUT play with control like we did against Holland. What are your thoughts about this issue?

Pim, yes, Fozzie no. Not sure how they are related actually. Two separate articles would have been a better idea (except Jimbo already did one about the latter and there have been countless ones about the former).

Adolf Hitler was Austrian, and like the Dutch, their typically renowned for being forthwright, arrogant and self obsessed...

Adolf Hitler was blunt and obsessed with his own ideals. We can get results and do well at South Africa without playing entertaining or attacking football, just like we are doing now.

I agree, some people are a bit hard on Foz. HE is like Verbeek, blunt and obsessed with their own ideals.