I was just wondering how you guys think our National Team will do in their first round of Asian/World Cup qualifiers? Like, would you consider us capable of challenging the 'Big four', do you think we'll sit in the group of nations just behind (Kuwait, China, Iraq etc) or do you reckon the move to Asia will see us stuggling with mediocrity? Personally I've always held the view that with the players Australia has at their disposal (Tim Cahill of Everton, Mark Viduka and Mark Schwarzer of Middlesborough, Harry Kewell of Liverpool, Ahmad Elrich of Fulham and Marco Bresciano and Vince Grella of Parma to name but a few), we should be performing alot better than we do. I think a large portion of the blame for this underperformance can be put down to the fact that Oceania's Australia so few chances to play meaningful matches together. Obviously membership of the AFC will change all this-and our boys will be playing competitive qualifiers etc frequently instead of silly, meaningless friendlies Oh and in case it wasn't reported anywhere else we also fired our absolutely useless national team manager of 6 years yesterday Which can only be a good thing... Although It might take a little while to get used to Asia, id have to give my verdict as absolutely no fear Bring on the big 4!
a lot of threads concerning this move... which only means Australians are excited about it and ready to give it all they have... so again I welcome you all! (hopefully if you have enough posters you can make an Australian subforum in Asia boards.... I noticed that you have a good mod too) saying Australia will do good based on their abroad players is an armature mistake... the strength of a country in soccer only can be guaranteed with a strong domestic league... having players all around the Europe helps a lot to your national team but what sets the bar for level of your soccer is your domestic league... I am from Iran and really looking forward to see Iran play against a full Australian side... I'm guessing it would be an all right match and it could be close (I doubt Iran will loose).... for the first 1-2 years I see Australia lagging behind the big 4 and battling it out with China, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, etc... but after a while they can easily move up to the next level and either replace the 4th of the big 4 or change the big 4 to big 5...
Hi RedTommo, welcome to the AsiaZone! I have to agree with Kami-Kakashi about the danger of thinking your overseas players will "carry" your side. It's true these guys will make the ultimate difference at the top level, but a LOT can happen during the years it takes to qualify -- injuries, bad spell, etc. So it's the depth of the domestic league that ultimately is the glue that holds the team together and forms the base. By the way, you said that Australia played too many meaningless friendlies -- did all the European-club players get called back to each of these friendlies? I don't even think the Big Four, as you put it, teams are as worried as each other as they were against the teams Kami mentioned -- Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, China. We always get caught up on SA, Korea, Jpn, Iran, but really these other teams are who everyone (including the big four) ultimately worries about. I mean, Japan and SKorea haven't played each other since December 2003. And Japan and Saudi Arabia haven't played each other since October of 2000.
Cheers for the welcome mate I certainly am not disagreeing with you guys regarding a strong domestic league-and I think you only have to look at the J-League (Am I right in saying the majority of Japan's NT players are drawn from here?) as the perfect example. However my point was that although their european bases are sometimes an inconveniance, we do have the quality to be performing with Asia's best (although currently we certainly are not). Nevertheless with the establishment of the A-League hopefully in 10 or so years Australia can look forward to a national league/team situation similar to Japan's Look out for us in the Asian Champions' league in coming years too! And yeah, usually most of our first choice players get called up for the friendlies, but ultimately they are just that, friendly (and therefore meaningless), infrequent and no substitution for a genuine competitive match. Interesting call about the big four etc as well. I look forward to worrying about any or all of them - difficult as it may be it certainly beats flogging Vanuatu for a joke
I heard that AFC will decide the 2007 ACQ group seed by 2004 AC standings, so that Australia will be a Fourth them in their group that means Australia will have chances to meet China,Japan,Korea,Iran,Bahrain, jordan or even Saudi arabia because they are not doing well in 2004 AC so that they'll not be seeded So may be will see a group with Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Australia
League is the basic man~ I can't see a country with no well-organised League could achieve any kinds of success in football
I feel that Australia may be able to challenge the big four teams first time around, but I don't think we can win the whole thing.
Having watched the Aussies in the recent Confed Cup, I'm pretty confident that the full Australian team will pose a serious threat to the top AFC teams. They have some world-class players in Kewell, Viduka, Bresciano, Cahill, Skoko, the guys playing at Blackburn and that striker who plays in Spain. I have no doubt that the current Australian team is stronger than the 2nd-tier teams like China, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, etc.
China VS Australis History results We havn't meet them for 17 years! 1975/08/06 Australia 1-0 China Melbourne 1983/12/04 China 2-1 Australia Singapore 1984/11/03 China 3-2 Australia Beijing 1985/09/23 Australia 2-0 China Canberra 1985/09/25 Australia 1-1 China Sydney 1985/09/27 Australia 3-0 China Bureysban 1988/08/05 China 2-2 Australia Jakarta 1988/08/15 China 1-0 Australia Jakarta
I'm glad you think so-because if you ask me we're capable of much, much better , especially in defence. I don't know if you saw our game against Tunisia, but in my opinion it was a disgrace, and ultimately the catalyst for our manager getting the sack. But yeah, I think we should be able to beat those teams on neutral/home turf without too many dramas-it's getting used to the obscure away trips under difficult conditions that'll be tough. South Korea, Japan and Iran will certainly never be pushovers though... Oh and Aloisi (the dude who played in Spain) moved to Panathinaikos yesterday
Yes, defense is Australia's weakest link right now. This might be due to the lack of depth at the DF positions. Also it seems to me that Farina likes to play attacking football so that may have left the defense quite vulnerable. Oh right, Aloisi. Great striker he is. Too bad he's now in a less competitive league.
welcome RedTommo! i have couple of friends that are part korean and aussie! glad to see you on Asian side of bs personally i love australia and want to live there like crazy! harry kewell is excellent and i hope australia can join us in 2006 WC if possible, theyd be a great representation for Asia with Japan, Iran, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia (in no particular order)
It will be Iran, Japan, Korea, then Australia, with Saudi and China right there too and the possibilty of ANY arab team getitn under your skin, u wont like it trust me
Oh believe me I think we'll fine the challenge fantastic, we're finally part of a region that has top quality opposition so it will only therefore improve our game.
Yeah, you're right, Australia certainly don't have the personnel in defence like they do in the midfield/attack, but at the same time they certainly shouldn't be conceding 10 goals in 3 games (as they did at the confed cup) either. Hopefully with Farina gone we can sort that out quick smart And yeah, whilst it is a bit dissapointing to see Aloisi move to a smaller league, in a way I can see the logic behind his decision. He's now 29 and has played at middle tier/struggling clubs in Europe's big leagues for a while-methinks he wants to actually win some trophies and play in the Champion's League before he comes back to the A-League Which he most likely wouldn't have got if he stayed with Osasuna or moved to Portsmouth...