Cant believe this guy Van Marwijk, he’s gone ahead and picked 2 guys that play in the SPL?
Is he serious?

Just cause he’s coached a couple of top European teams (and won the UEFA Cup with one of them) and also reached a World Cup Final coaching the Netherlands, he’s gone ahead and picked Rogic and Maclaren in his 23 man squad? WTF?

Doesn’t he read what some of the experts on here have to say?

I blame the FFA.

So that’s why you went to AFL, lol.

I thought he did well also, had him down as one of my three to get cut but after that performance…….surely he’s in.

Great to see Nabbout get his 1st, well done mate……well bloody done.

Nope….not gonna subscribe to watch the WC, never have and never will.

But in all honesty, our internet speed is sooo slow i dont think i would have the patience during the wee hours of the mornings during some of the later scheduled games.

Regarding the late appeal decided on by some Swiss supreme court judge for Guerrero to have his positive test for cocaina dismissed allowing him to play, guess thats the 2nd ridiculously comical event of this WC, no doubt there’ll be more.
I thought ‘farcical’ was hearing that Jedinak had signed a petition trying to get him to play in the first place, which was the 1st one.

Yeh I know, wishful thinking is all.

At this moment in time we just gotta have faith in Bert, cant argue with the man judging by his experience and accolades.

IMO Tim, for what I saw I thought it was intentional and it should have been 12 months.
Then again, like Kanga has implied above regards some of the other ridiculously dangerous assaults a few seasons ago, some players (or even clubs) are seen to be a protected species.

Anyone remember the Cantona episode, although this moment of madness was as he left the field and not during play against another player, he was awarded a year ban I think from memory.

Some weeks later, someone plastered the address on light poles etc of the guy whom Cantona kicked, had to move his family out to an undisclosed location due to the harrassment and death threats from others standing outside his house at all hours.

Agreed.

What is seriously absurd is the both legs off the ground, way too high and dangerous kick with studs showing that O Donovan gave Thomas into the face.
The guy is a hack thug that makes Matt Simon look like a naughty schoolboy.
Should have been more than 10 considering Avraam Papadopoulos got 7 for spitting in the direction of Simon, wtf.

“I’ll support the Socceroos no matter who they select”……….exactly!

Thing is, who will be left out of the final 23?

Ruka out for Maclaren.

Brilliante
Kruse
Troisi

If Maclaren absolutely does not get a call back, then Ruka out and Brilliante in.

10 games for that?

Seems the Disciplinary Committees are as inconsistent as some of our Officials.

Why was the game a ‘dead rubber’?
Hibs were fighting for a European placement, but Aberdeen beating Celtic put a stop to that. When was the last time you watched a game like that and it was a ‘dead rubber”? To see the Rangers fans walking out when they were 3 nil down and then seeing the Hibs fans doing the same when they were 3-5 down……only to come rushing back in after hearing the crowd when Hibs scored their fourth goal, lol.

IMO Maclaren has hardened up from when he was in the ALeague, his short time in Darmstad then the frantic pace of the SPL have made him more dangerous than ever, even his 2nd goal against Rangers came from a pin point accurate header to the far corner with some bigger defender leaning all over him, and as far as i know headers are’nt Maclarens strongest attribute.
Watched him playing in the derby when he scored against Hearts, where he scratched and scrapped to get that shot in……me thinks he’s matured quite a bit of late.
No doubt he deserves selection, hes playing better now in a faster paced environment and against harder, dirtier defenders than when he was in the A League.

Come on Kaks, “his goal to game ratio wasn’t good enough”?

8 goals in 11 games in the SPL most recently.
No goals in 153 minutes with Darmstad?
…….but yet some 37 goals in 53 games with BR.

Struggling to start at Hibs? who cares if he doesn’t start. 8 goals from 11 games is nothing to ignore. Considering 5 of these goals came within the last 20mins of any game, you may want to ask yourself when was the last time Timmy came off the bench and scored?
The other question should be, why cant we just take them both?

Is Jamie Maclaren really ‘in form’?

Nah, not a chance according to some on here who continue to profess he’s playing in a sub-standard League such as the SPL.

Think you’ll find that Maclaren has scored 5 of his last 8 goals within the last 20 minutes of the game, then again….why cant we just have both Cahill and Maclaren in the squad?

As you say Stuart, we need or needed a back-up……..and we didn’t have any.
This season has gone by with many protesting that the VAR should be gone, get rid of it for the negative reasons where it has either slowed down or hampered our game and to be honest, they are not without cause. There have been far more negatives regards VAR this season than positives so much so that when VAR has “got one correct”, a big deal was made out of it by commentators.
I will admit, i have been pro-VAR this past season, that we should at least try it out, but have also stated that its the management of such that will decide or judge how efficient it becomes and that also using some of our own League based present and former officials is not the best way to implement it, as these same officials at times have difficulty in making the correct decisions on the field even when a ball rolls out of play.
All i’ve ever known about the VAR is that its some official locked away up in a room looking at two screens whilst communicating with the on-field officials where the VAR can only be involved in 4 points of conflict. To add to that, all I’ve ever read from the FFA is that the VA official has some 12 different camera angles to chose from…and that’s it.
Never at any time have i heard of anyone mention or at least ask the question what is to happen when theres a blackout, or some other technical glitch that will affect what we just saw the other night, or what happens if the communication system between officials breaks down or even if the actual VAR official has a medical episode and he/she are on their own up in this room? And why should anyone else need to ask such, is that not what our FFA executives are being paid their million dollar salaries for? Did the FFA not have any ‘back-ups’ in place for such scenarios?
Look at any industry or workplace, even tradies working out of a service vehicle, even office workers or Hospitals……all have back-ups whether its supplies, spare parts, inventory or some form of secondary back-up system in place, or at least most do. Why did the FFA not have any sort of back-up for different scenarios with VAR?

Also, we have to rid our game of relying on our officials to be so dependant on the VAR to make the decision for them….and you cant say that hasnt happened this past season, this is what caused the stuff up the other night. The linesman was clearly in line enough to see who was offside but IMO decided to rely on the VAR to rule instead, maybe due to the pressures of officiating a GF, who knows?
Our officials need to get back to what they are supposed to be doing, making the decisions they are required to make and if they cant do it then others need be trained up to do so.
As for the FFA, whoever has supervised the implication of this system and its lack of secondary or back-up systems required in case of breakdown, needs to be gone.

Uh oh, now they’re (FFA) saying there was a technical glitch, that the V A Ref couldn’t see the actual footage from when Leroy took the free-kick leading to MV’s GF winning goal.

What a blunder!

And your right Waz, “they’ll have to focus on the negatives”.

But Hughster is also right in stating “The four week ban for the assistant coaches is a disgracefully inadequate sanction”.

If it wasn’t for the two Melb Victory muppets running onto the field in the first place, there would not be any “negatives” for others with any supposed anti-A League rhetoric to push.
What’s even more is that Muscat has even defended them?

4 weeks for that?
And to think Papa got 7 weeks for spitting in the direction of Matt Simon, lol.

Unfarkinbelievable!

Q. What’s a “real football fan”?

and…….

Q. What’s the “E-League”?

Just curious as I’m trying to catch up, is it similar to some s h I t e I read about called AFLX?

What a dive from Arzani…….text book from the MCFC School of Theatrics.

Oops!

Where I am, the kids play under the Aldi Miniroos National Playing Formats and Rules where there is actually no mention or disallowing of any form of contact between head and ball, I mean there is no rule forbidding the heading of the ball. There is only a very short statement on any suspected concussion, advising such to be checked out by a medically qualified person.
Because of this what we do with our team is we try and educated them towards the dangers of any kind of head impact (at such a young age) whether its with a ball or not, we don’t say the kids aren’t allowed to head the ball but that we’d rather they didn’t whilst at such a young age.
Also the size of ball we use is a Size 3 and I think from memory when I weighed one a few years ago is around 330 grams or such, and of course as we all know, the balls of today are not the old leathery sponges of yesteryear that once the paint had worn away would feel like heading a brick with the amount of water it would absorb.
Regardless, I still say to the kids they don’t have to head it if they don’t want to.

“The A-League needs to send players out to schools and local clubs regularly. The AFL does this in spades and is reaping huge benefits.”
I mentioned this last year about AFL coming into my kids school with free coaching and give aways, jerseys, balls etc which of course is helped by their ‘war chest’ of available funds.
Even this term, those kids which had parents approval were allowed to swap an afternoon in the classroom for an afternoon on the oval in another “free” AFL clinic.
To be honest I was gobsmacked the school approved such to be put in place of lessons, but it does show the reach or how far the tentacles of the AFL will reach into the mindset of young children. Also only last month the school was paid a visit by some of the Brisbane Lions AFL team players where they interacted with the kids, had a kick around with them, all good fun but the reality is they were there to promote the game which, just like the previous years give aways seem to stick in the minds of the young whom I still see kick those same balls around.
As for the fees paid for by parents like me, this year was $190 for my kid into the U9’s for this season here in S.E. Qld, and we also have a Brisbane Roar clinic coming up which is $30 for an hour & a half. Of course I pay the fees, simply cause I love seeing how happy my kid is learning & being active with the other kids whilst practising/playing football which is all managed by volunteers, parents like myself who do the managing, coaching etc.
There’s no way we can compete with the AFL’s freebies, not whilst the like of our Gallop and Co. enjoy the benefits of their million dollar plus salaries and world wide travel to suit…..didn’t Nemesis post two days ago about Gallop flying on the recent inaugural non stop flight from London to Perth?
……just wondering if he tried to save a few bucks by sitting in economy?

Might even be the most important save of his career that one, I was dumfounded how he went in on the Columbian attacker inside the box with that tackle…..what was he thinking?
Good to see he made amends by saving it.
Much better performance from the team as a whole considering they were prety much under the pump for the duration.