Come on Syria this australia team got nothing , these fake Asian champs don't deserve to go the wc , Syria deserves it more than any team in the world.
Yup, Syrians should watch WC from TV now! One less grass rolling bed soccer team the better. http://i.giphy.com/OAocSRYIYThQs.gif
Congratulations to both teams. Syria for showing enough grit and determination to take the game to 120 minutes of overtime and almost scoring in the last minute, which would have tied the match. And Australia for a deserved win in a game that they had dominated but had trouble putting away.
Using a 38 year old man to bail you out of the misery, speaks volume. At least Australia is a better representative for AFC in play off and possibly WC. They need a little time to get their shit together.
this shows the importance of psychology in sport. just ask mourinho. he is no tactical genius, but a motivational mastermind. syria overachieved by being rmotivated and had an impressive run. australia is in terrible form, but panama/honduras are even worse. i expect australia to be at the WC. who knows, maybe they will step it up at the WC. that is what happened with mexico in 2014 qualifying they were worse than the likes of panama and honduras, but in the WC they stepped it up and gave netherlands a run for their money.
There is a strong rumour today that Ange will resign regardless of the next playoff result. Something is happening with him behind the scenes. He hasn't looked happy in any of his media appearances in a long time.
aussies can celebrate... they avoided USA. honduras it is. yall should pull through, although honduras is no cakewalk.
I dunno, maybe panama/honduras deserve a little more credit. I personally feel Honduras are the more dangerous team. Australia need someone other than Cahill to step it up.
Just curious, why did you guys suddenly switch to possession football and playing 3 in the back after the 2015 Asian Cup? You previous tactics were more successful imo, making use of your physicality and relying on crosses to score headers. Your current tactics are really not suitable imo, you guys have guys like Juric, etc. which are good in the air.
You know Cahill has only played 25% of game time in the final round of WC Qualifiers + Confed Cup, and only scored 13% of the goals. Tomi Juric has scored double the number of goals Cahill has in that same period. Of the past 23 goals scored by Australia in this round of qualifying + Confed Cup: Juric 6, Leckie 3, Jedinak 3, Cahill 3, Rogic 2 and 6 others with 1 each.
No one really knows other than Ang. This style is about shaping the future of how football is played in Australia at all levels. It's what Ang aspires the whole country to play like, but it doesn't really suit the skills of the players in the team at the moment.
Especially away from home. I remember Australia struggling in the jungle heat in AFC Cup 2007, or at least blaming it on that. San Pedro Sula is a brutal environment... something I don't think there's really an equivalent of in Asia. I think Australia also has a big disadvantage playing the 2nd leg at home. It means they have to fly all the way to Central America, and then all the way back - whereas Honduras only need to make the trip once as the majority of their players play locally or regionally. The good news for Australia is that this is probably the weakest Honduran side in about a decade. Australia will be the favorites; however, I can still smell an upset here.
Why do you guys want to play possession football? I think a more physical style like how the German NT play is more suitable imo. You guys should really utilize your physical advantage over Honduras imo, technically wise, I feel that they are better than Syria. Playing with 3 at the back and slowly building from the back won't be a good idea.
So you don't think our current tactics of passing it around at the back to draw out the other team, then passing the ball to one of them and letting them score are good for our long term future?
Yeh I know he hasn't played much, but they still felt the need to start him in the most important match. That's what I mean.