this when he dreams at night, LSW sees himself being Messi, not Xavi. like you guys said tho, both professionally for club and for country, he needs to find his niche. either way, height as we know is not the issue, but presently he's too slight and isn't fast enough at this level so he needs to strengthen his core and his trunks. he's built for BTS, not FCB.
If he can gain some muscle and strength, which can be done (but obviously genetics play a role as well and not everyone can be a physically imposing player), I could see him being decent as someone who penetrates with his dribbles and touches into the opposition's box. He could play the role of a playmaker that drives into the corner/central of the opposition's box. But as of right now, he is far from that kind of player. And as of right now, I'm not sure he has enough scoring prowess in him to be someone who can constantly score goals. He's kind of like Ji Dong-Won to me, positionless and doesn't really have an identity (JDW isn't a target man despite some of you trying to convince each other that he is, isn't a true CAM, isn't a winger, isn't pacey striker, isn't clinical scorer, not a playmaker either). I hope I'm proven insanely wrong tho years from now and y'all remind me how wrong I am.
what i'm really impressed with is how sonny has matured as a team player. he's been killing it in tottenham in terms of goal scoring but hasn't let that get to his head during this tournament. only if we had a clinical striker for him to pair up with.. we'd have a nasty attack.
That I agree with. He has a highly specialized skillset - dribbling in central areas of the pitch in the final third. This is a skillset that we need but maybe only in the final minutes of a game, when push comes to shove. That being said, I'd still take him over a Moon Sun-min any day.
Oh I don't doubt that. LSW > MSM. LSW is a very talented dribbler, but he's also very weak right now. Got to able to stay on his feet if he wants to make his dribbling useful.
LSW aside, my biggest concern is that people actually seem happy that we beat China. I think this sets the wrong tone because China is clearly the weaker team and we knew that going in. Do you get happy when you successfully tie your shoes because you met expectations? And what concerns me is actually Iraq. Iran couldn't beat them, we always seem to struggle against them and Iraq actually knocked out Iran last Asian Copa. Iraq is probably the better team than China and considering that we could've almost tied against Kirinistan, I don't think it's time to grab ass and tits. We didn't magically get better against China. This is the same tim that struggled against Pilipin and Kirinistan.
think most of us are in agreement over that. neutrals who don't follow seem to think it was a big win. there was a lot of hype (big part self created by them) that added to it as well. but the gap (w/ CHN) was clear as day. going fwd, agree. whether Qatar or Iraq, that's going to be a hurdle. grass rolling aside, these matches are always the ones that cause us trouble. Qatar look well organised as well.
Tbf, Iraq does tend to play really well against Iran. Since 2015 Asian Cup they beat them twice and tied once. Now compare our record against Iran....
Personally, I am not happy because we beat China but I am happy with the performance and the way we played. If we had won like we did against the Philippine, I would have not been happy. Even though everything wasn't perfect , they reacted with style, played with intensity and showed good things in general. We should praised them when it's due.
i'm thinking maybe iran took the match less seriously because it was a 'throwaway' since they already qualified for the next stage. but maybe it's one of those rivalry things where theres a do or die attitude between iraq and iran, like korea and japan.
i hope this is a momentum thing. from the friendly vs saudi to the first two matches, it was difficult to watch our team look so bad compared to bento's earlier friendlies with the KNT. i hope with the arrival of sonny as captain, the team is feeling more confident and cohesive. i hope they're tearing it up in training as we speak. that said, i feel like we need to tighten it up a bit in the back. there were a handful of instances china actually had decent build up/passing in their final third which would probably have been certain goals for iran or japan. we were lucky they didn't end things the way they started.
it's been a long time... Does anyone know where i can dl (or torrent) this match in full??? Need to do it for my dad... eldest son duties. ty in advance
Iraq is a feisty, talented team. They move the ball around well and have players who can put the ball inside the frame. Qatar is also playing very well as they have been preparing for the WC with focus. That said we have the goods to beat both. We don't deserve to be final if we can't get past either team.
Yeah honestly we're on the easier side of the bracket for a damn change. No Iran or Japan until the final, presumably meeting Australia in the semis. Qatar and especially Iraq will provide worthy challenges but honestly we should expect to win those games. Watch us lose 1-0 to a 97th minute goal from Bahrain..