Who will Australia have to beat to get into the FIFA World Cup?

Such a quick turnaround! Looking at commercial flights, 26hrs was the fastest I could find! That only allows 2 or 2.5 days for recovery (as you can't just hop straight onto a commercial flight.

the Honduras matches are November 10 (Nov 11 Aus time) and Nov 15 http://www.theroar.com.au/2017/10/15/socceroos-dates-confirmed-honduras/

Thanks for the link. It backs up what I had thought and I think it stems from Arena. The way he dismisses opposition teams that are on par with the US is alarming. There is a line between being confident in yourselves and being delusional and arrogant. I know which side of the line he is on. I do feel for the US though as I think you are in a very similar position to we in Australia. You would have large sections of the media hoping the US doesn't qualify so as to provide cleaner air for NFL and baseball etc. I once heard that commentator on "Pardon the Interruption" (bald guy) and he was just over the top in his disdain for soccer. We have similar dinosaurs in the media here.

Absolutley, it was him and the older players up to the top of USSF This sums it up: https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/918472576501932032

Thanks for the heads up guys. Is Bruce Arena one of the arrogant people you refer to? He comes across as totally arrogant and delusional.

I was secretly dreaming of the USA vs Australia matchup. It would have made for so many great storylines and a great trip. Led by Pulisic this US team can play beautiful knockout football on the smooth profressional fields here in the US or in Europe or in Australia. Our downfall was our poor attitude and elitism (everyone besides pulisic and few other younger players) going down to the bumpy waterlogged pitches in central america and the carribbean. Learn from us, your teams attitude and mentality is more important than skill or formation.

Thanks mate, All of this suggests to me that there is no way Ange can continue with this ridiculous back 3 formation in Honduras, we'll get carved up. A lot of people were suggesting that we are lucky we missed out on the USA. I'm not so sure. Would have been a real 50-50 contest and would have got huge interest from both countries plus the away leg wouldn't be quite as foreign. Honduras have this element of unknown, we would have at least known what to expect from the US and would have gone in slight underdogs which isn't necessarily a bad thing. With Ange indicating he's gone after this series i'd be moving sooner rather than later. I'd be talking to Guus Hiddink about his availability as a caretaker coach for the next series. He knows what to expect having done it in 2006 against Uruguay. It's a completely different game out there to in Asia and if we are not prepared we'll be out of the contest before we get to Sydney.

USA fan here calling in from North America. I am done crying about the disgraceful realities of US Soccer and here to talk Australia - Honduras. I watched your first game live and extended highlights of the second, 3am live here in the States, and I am very familiar with Honduras. Looks like you start off in San Pedro de Sula. brace for it. this will be 1000x harder than the Sryia match. not sure how the referee assignments work but if they are concacaf refs its going to be a lot harder hitting than those super soft AFC officials (might benefit the socceroos but more likely to be annoying game derailing techniques). expect it to be unbearably hot, humid, loud and miserable. I'm sure you have difficult games in AFC but that Sryia game was a cakewalk compared to what you are going into. Craig J asked what do the Honduran FA "Los Catrachos" or "La H" (at-che) think about facing Australia. they should be completely surprised they are into the playoffs. I doubt they have watched any of your games, ever, until today. but they will approach this game no different than their match ups vs. mexico, usa or canada. Syria in my limited viewing looked to play primary direct thru their big #9 and they were skilled dribblers but not extremely organized or good at marking cahill or leckie. Honduras on the other hand will go directly at your fullbacks and take wild shots from range with Elis, Boniek and Quioto. the whole team has an ability to slow the game down, foul and break up any possession and then get it to one of those three who will find an incredible burst of speed and ability as soon as your defenders are on their back foot. if they call up the 35 year old Carlo Costly he has a nose for goal like that Syrian #9 their defense is a lot stronger in the air and overall athletic but equally disorganized. Their goalkeeper I would say about equal to Sryia's. you should be confident with Tim Cahill going at these guys late in the game. your home match was wonderful. Honduras never seem to perform outside of central america. They will start the game off very physical but will leave openings in their backline like Syria did. on short rest after a very long flight i wouldn't expect them to have much left regardless how the first game goes. I would be shocked if you escape San Pedro de Sula not down at least a goal if not two, but don’t be discouraged, hold them down as much as possible. back in Sydney score early and you can make it any goal differential at home. Bunker like hell on the road, don’t let their antics get to you, test their keeper on free kicks, watch out for their wingers – best of luck, hope you get to enjoy the World Cup.

Whilst I feel for the USA fans for missing out, Im glad Arena isnt going. Hes the nitwit that said "every world cup has a team of easy beats and in this one its Australia". I think he said that back in 2006. Enjoy watching it on TV Bruce.

Touché.

Agree. I feel that Honduras and Syria will provide a very similar test. Yes, completely different style of test, however similar in difficulty. In the same way, it won't be easy for us either.

Well, I disagree. World Cup qualifiers serve to qualify to the World Cup.

Pretty sure they'd rather be playing Syria

What would the Hondurans be thinking about having to play us? Would they be confident or worried?

A near empty a330 could do it. There'd only be 50 on the plane. Max.

Fair

A330 doesn't have the legs to do it in one hit. Also, there are too many options, through LAX, through DFW and through Santiago. Way too many seats to purchase.

You seem to have a deep knowledge of the commercial aviation industry, so I'll accept (1) & (2). (3) is the unknown. I know FFA is not flush with cash, but have never seen the Honduran FA's Financial Reports. If anyone has a copy, that will give us an idea about the cash reserves of the Honduran FA.

Agree. It needs to be treated like the Uruguay game from 2005. A chartered flight from Honduras is essential. The thing is, it will be difficult to book out all business class options. They could fly through Mexico, LA, Dallas or Santiago. You really have to ask yourself why the FFA chose to play both our home matches in Sydney, which is our most accessible city. Surely Melbourne, which would limit their flight options or add an annoying additional leg to their flight would have been a better option. It might have resulted in 30-40000 people going last night it they knew that they couldn't just rock up to the "real" final in Sydney in a month's time. Poor planning. Frankly, knowing that we were going to be playing a North American team, the logical place to play our next game would be Perth. Will be interesting where the team is going to be based before the game. The Uruguay experience should teach us that staying in country is not a great idea. I would think maximum 1 night there and spend the build up in Mexico.

1. Availability. Honduras doesn't have an airline with a plane that can make the distance in one hit. Therefore, without a national carrier equipped, or even one sponsoring their national team, it would make a charter exceptionally expensive. 2. Even if they did, few business class products can match what Qantas put in the skies on the a330. Whatever Honduras could charter would be significantly inferior to Qantas. 3. Pocket depth. Honduras doesn't have the money to go to the same lengths as Australia. What we did against Uruguay (themselves significantly more cashed up than Honduras) was a decisive advantage.