2019 AFC Asian Cup Thread [R]

Interesting choices, good to see a few new names in there, and the exclusion of a few older names, who are probably near the end internationally. No love for Nabbout or Petratos ? I like the idea of Taggart as he scores like clockwork in the A league, Mclaren needs to play also. Need as much strike power as possible. If Mgree and Brattan show good form over the first half of the A League season I think they are good inclusions, same with Goodwin, always been a fan of his. A few names I am not familiar with, will have to do some research. No idea what opposition teams are looking like currently, something to watch over the next few months.

 

A disappointing first up game. Can't really think of a standout performer for us. We had a lot of possession but that was more a matter of the tactics employed by Jordan rather than our own performance. We don't seem to be able to create anything despite the large amount of possession. Those very few clear cut chances we had had some very poor finishing at the end of them. Much improvement is needed if we are to get out of the group stage, and I'm not sure we have it in us.

 

I might add that this is now six competitive games in a row where we have failed to score from general play.

 

Bring back Timmie from retirement.

 

It's funny but this loss to Jordon could wind up being some sort of a blessing in disguise for Australia. If I'm mistaken, the top half of the knockout stages looks a lot tougher than the bottom half. Meaning, the winners of groups B, D + F all go through this route. Assuming Iran, Japan + Australia all won their groups, that would mean Japan vs Australia in the quarters and the winner of that game playing potentially Iran in the semifinals. You'd also potentially have Saudi in that group too. Leaving the likes of South Korea, Uzbekistan, UAE, Qatar, etc. in the 2nd bracket. By not winning either of these aforementioned groups could actually give a team an easier path to the final in the long run. But then again, give the tournament so far, who knows what might happen.... could Graham Arnold's long term tactical ploy all along

 

If that's the beast McLaren can do we may be waiting a while longer for him to break his duck

 

I'm still waiting to decide if the blocking your own shot or the bullet like header is what we can normally expect from him. If its a bit of both it will lead to some frustrating times. for us poor supporters.

 

I can't wait to hear what Robbie Slater has to say about our early exist.

 

Chris Beath will be officiating Iran-Japan match. How do you rate him as a referee in A-League and international matches? I hope he is not like Ben Williams.

 

The standard of refereeing in Australia isn't very high at the moment. He is probably as good as we have got. He applies the rules with a bit more common sense than Ben Williams did but still makes a few more errors in a match than some of the others I've seen in Asia. He is probably better than the Mexican fellow I saw earlier in the tournament. Hopefully VAR will correct any errors that get made. Overall, you should be more worried about what Japan does rather than what Chris Beath does.

 

almango and other aussies: seriously if you have any power, please tell to Australian referees to not accept to be the referee of our matches.

 

You are blaming the wrong person for your loss. You didn't lose in 2015 because of the referee, and you didn't lose in 2019 because of the referee. You lost both times because your players made poor decisions under pressure. That's football, and you need to accept it.