The good, the bad and the ugly of the World Cup so far

https://www.socceroos.com.au/teams Yep, Petratos is listed as a striker in the squad.

Well Fad, I don't know what you're on about; I was talking about options for a striker's role. And correct me if I am wrong, but that is what Petratos is in the squad for?

I never said Luongo was a striker. I said I'd play him over Dimi as an attacking mid.

Try reading my comment. I’m not blaming the FFA for the dodgy Optus World Cup feed. That’s ridiculous. I’m saying that they created a charge of public animus toward SBS that was totally bogus...and it led to many so-called ‘football fans’ believing SBS we’re somehow an enemy of soccer. And the same people believed that a telco (in this case, Optus) would be the messiah of soccer going forward.

appears SBS has done some sort of U-turn public pressure can on occasion bear fruit

I kind of agree re. the whinging Nem, but to put it in context how do you think people would react in England, Germany or Spain if the primary streaming service to show the World Cup was struggling to work? Not sure people would be entirely accepting of this state of affairs. I suspect in the Nordic countries people would just be bewildered that it was possible for a supposedly modern, western society to not have blazing fast internet access available for the entire population. But that's a discussion for another day.

I said tempted; Petratos is no stranger to the striker's role and was used as a striker when he was at SFC and at the Bris Roar; his ability to strike a ball with accuracy and power outside the box by far out ways Juric's ability to do so, who miss-kicks more often than he hits one cleanly. and btw Luongo is a specialist midfielder if you didn't know, not a striker.

Woohoo!!! Just on SBS news: SBS have been given tonight and tomorrow to broadcast all matches. Sorry if already posted.

MQ - good post, mostly agree. However, I thought that watching the Germany / Mexico game the ref (can't remember where he was from) seemed to have made the active decision to not let the Germans award their own free kicks as they have a tendency to do - i.e. - wait for contact, fall over, grab ball and act shocked when whistle doesn't blow. Not that Mexico really counts as a 'minnow', but I did like the way he controlled the game, even though personally I was supporting Germany.

It has, excellent and unpredictable to say the least, 3 all draw Spain/Portugal and Ronaldo's amazing goal at the end, Le Frogs falling to the ground v Socceroos then admitting to it (Hernandez on 442 website) Mexico beating Germany, Maradona being accused of racism towards some Korean fans, Neymar's hairstyle becoming a meme to some, lol.....the scuffle with the Serbian player at the touchline near the end of their game, Russia scoring 5 (in any game?), Messi fluffing the penalty and some US reporter on TV of accusing Switzerland of trying to kill Neymar......and now our very own PM getting involved in the crap (apparently) service from OPTUS to its customers? this WC has something for everyone, could probably make a mini-series out of it so far,lol. makes me wish I'd subscribed to OPTUS to see every game.............ehhh nah, glad i didnt.

Ha ha Nemesis, a little verbal tickle ,confirming us antipodeans are alive and well. Most of us are over the moon mate, and are still celebrating a better class of loss. Please post a few observations from Putinstan,about food , accomodation, beer, any language hiccups , other groups of supporters, anything that is part of your world cup experience. Safe travlin' Us lot

Laughable AG, just cause one gets "ankle tapped/clipped at full speed" doesn't mean to say they're going to go down, but in the penaly area? and being French? and in a WC game? "je comprends"

You tell people not watch football if they don’t enjoy the game, maybe some people should do the same if they don’t like the comments on this site

Juric is a totally different player to Nabbout. Polar opposites. Juric plays back to goal and can link play. He is strong in the air but not the quickest. Nabbout is quick and only in for his defensive hard running, at his best running in behind defenders, he isn't good at linking play. I thought from the ko it was a mistake to start Nabbout. Juric would have given us a chance to move higher up the pitch and keep possesion. He would also be brought Rogic into the game. Watching Nabbout he had so many opportunities to run off the shoulder of the last defender but didn't, and I don't know why. I don't remember him being caught offside either, which quick attackers playing off the shoulder generally do. Cahill? I have heard a number of people saying he should've been brought on, but what would his role have been? How many crosses did we actually get into the box second half? 1 or 2? Other than knocking crosses in to him he has no other purpose now. We'll see him play late in the next ganes, but his entrance will mean it's hail Mary time. I do love him though. Petratos? Are you serious? Introducing an attacking midfielder instead of our only striker based solely on his ability to shoot from long range?! For a player with one cap, totally untested internationally? BVM would have rightly copped the mother of all roastings for it. Petratos for Irvine was the alternative, but even then how often did we get close enough to shoot? Luongo is a better option than Dimi, and I was surprised not to see him.

Only real fans can afford to go Russia I must be a fake fan by getting up at 2 am to watch Mexico ??

The rules say that a foul is committed if a player "trips or attempts to trip an opponent" in a manner the ref considers to be "careless, reckless or using excessive force": https://img.fifa.com/image/upload/datdz0pms85gbnqy4j3k.pdf at p37 In this instance it's a question of whether or not Risdon was 'careless'. I've always understood that if the player connects with the ball in an ordinary (i.e. not reckless or excessive, which are cautionable) tackle then any contact which is incidental to the tackle is generally not deemed to be careless. Conversely, failing to make contact with the ball is seen as a key indicator of a careless tackle. I'm just a mug who is happy to be corrected, though.

Taken from the SBS Charter... The SBS Charter, provided in the SBS Act, sets out the principal functions of SBS and a number of duties it has to fulfil. The Charter, contained in Section 6 of the Special Broadcasting Services Act 1991, states: (1) The principal function of the SBS is to provide multilingual and multicultural radio, television and digital media services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia's multicultural society. Coverage of the WC is far more in line with SBS's charter than the premier league (being one domestic league) is.

For me Juric is different than Nabbout - Juric dropped deeper and was holding the ball a bit more. This was particularly noticeable when Irvine came on, who at times was beside Juric to play off. Nabbout was good at harassing the keeper but with the attack heading wide for the most part, not much he could do without more vertical play. I don't know if Juric is right but we will need more of a press vs Denmark. In general we will need better passing and decision making in the final third to put some pressure and shots on Denmark.

People whine about Lucy?!? People be crazy. Foz annoys the $h1t out of me with his inability to be objective but he's basically part of the SBS furniture now.

Seems to me that there are an awful lot of "experts" who dont know the rules. Touching the ball/not touching the ball has no impact on whether something is a foul. The criteria is whether or not the ball is still "playable". It most definitely was still "playable", and therefore an accurate call, after seven (7) experiences referees plus the match ref, viewed it on slo-mo video. Having said that... yeah, it was a pretty conscious flop. He was fouled pretty good, but didnt even make an ATTEMPT to stay up. But here is the real problem that Aussies are going to have to face up to eventually, if they want to succeed at the World Cup. In Asia, refs will ignore all variety of "hand checks" and "shirt tugs" and so on, allowing defensive teams to steal an advantage throughout qualification. FWIW, the same is true in SOME European leagues as well. But everyone (outside Asia, apparently) seems to understand that the rules change when you play UEFA Champions League or World Cup matches, and you need to keep your hands down. I challenge anyone to watch the France game again and tell me they can NOT see Aussie defenders using the pull-push-tug-jostle technique every time they get near an opponent. Refs might not call EVERY such instance, but it means that the second a French player goes down, the assumption is it must have been a foul. If the French had been a bit LESS theatrical with some of their flops I think the ref might have been even harsher in his decisions against Australia Again, FWIW the worst offenders in this type of activity are the West Asians (minus Iran who -- like Japan -- has been bemoaning this feature of Asian football for decades). The Saudis use it as a fundamental part of their philosophy . . . .and look what the change of officiating styles did to Saudi Arabia against Russia. If you dont learn how to defend without using physical contact, it is going to hurt you in matches played at the highest level. Im saying this as someone with a vested interest in seeing ALL AFC teams perform better in the World Cup, but somehow I just know that isnt how people are going to take it. Oh well . . . take your best shots. It wont change the outcome.