Asunto: National Team

that's not counting the last friendly against Hayastan though, so in that sense we're only 6 short of 72?

6 short, just like it says...

Will you write something about Australia next match ?

I am looking forward to Saturday ;)

I promise my community to win.

;)

Maybe, a lot depends on the time I get. Since I won't be home on the Saturday, it will be pretty limited if I do.

Anyway just to inform everyone the tactic is set, pretty important game this in the context of our qualification goal. A win would pretty much close the gate unless we slip up against Uruguay. A draw is a bit iffy. A draw would make sure sides below us by 1 point or more would have to then win against their corresponding #1 team in their group to pip us on goal difference, rather than only needing a draw to pip us on goal difference. A loss on the other hand, leaves us in a bit of a difficult situation if other sides get an upset result this week. Knowing that there is usually at least 1 upset a week in NT matches, I wouldn't like to be in this situation having to wait on results and hope none of our main contenders get the upset they need.


So knowing that, we now turn to take on Croatia who we arguably should have beaten last time given they were down to 10 men and was potentially our best chance of upsetting them. This time the stakes are a little higher. A win today would put Croatia into what has been our burden for most of the campaign, that is, needing to get a result against a high ranked team and hoping other sides don't win, whilst we'd be in a rather neat position of potentially getting automatic qualification by finishing 2nd in the group. This isn't beyond us if the cards fall right but is certainly a difficult ask. With the exception of Baveas and Zdrilic we've got most players able to be selected. Won't go into detail here of who is and who isn't playing or what we're going out to try and do, because I know Ri_cro will most likely then get time to counter that whilst I will be unavailable to.

A loss isn't the end, it's not the favourable outcome but we've still got the box position with the points on the board that the others need to catch up. On the basis none of the teams 1 pt behind us get any result and the teams 2 or 3 points behind can only manage a draw at best then regardless of today's result, we still only need to win against Uruguay. So from this side of things losing the game doesn't actually sink us, unless a few other results fall the wrong way.

The fact that I'd rather not play russian roulette with qualification means I've taken a bit more care on this tactic then I have in previous matches so hopefully this will pay off come game time.

I'm hoping this tactic ends up working, but I'm quite sure Croatia will be coming up with something surprising as well as they really need to win this game so they don't have to worry about Brazil so much next week.

Once again, the Croatian defense has proved to be extremely strong, they've only conceded 2 goals in all their qualification matches to date and they came against Brazil in the opening match where I thought their defense looked a little vulnerable. This is going to be a major cause of concern because our strikers will have to be accurate if we are to win. They've also genuinely been really quick at converting defense into attack through the form of their wingers who have caused many players trouble throughout the season and I'd be surprised if they didn't continue to follow suit this time around.

I think that's really about all I needed to say in regards to this match, the aim is to collect the 3 points and move onto next week knowing a win will see us qualify. Although I won't be watching it until sometime late tomorrow evening, I'll certainly be thinking about it as game time approaches. Hope everyone enjoys the game, if things play out as I've tried to execute it to happen it should be a competitive game.
(editado)

good luck, very important match, I'll be watching and supporting Socceroos ;)

it's looking good at HT...

argh, richter had a chance to draw level, and what does he do? run straight into the keeper

They deserved the win.

Ando had a blinder for most of the game.

Not so good in the end... 3-1 Croatia... a lot closer than the score suggests imo!

That 5 DEF Croatians back line was a good tactic to stop our wing play...
Shame to play the end of the game with 10 players because of Byers's injury.
Ando was very good once again, but it wasnt enough...

i think cometer was expecting wingers which left quite a few gaps for their midfield to exploit, and we may be getting a bit too predictable with our formation too

I was surprised by the Croatian tactic. It was more conservative then I expected. Not just 5 at the back, but they often sat kinda deep. They still managed a number of good scoring chances - Ando played very well.

I didn't think Willis got the kind of service he usually does. When he did get the ball, he usually delivered it early rather then challenging the fullback. Not his best match. :/

The Byers knock was a shame. I didn't give much hope to a comeback after going down to 10 men. Still, Richter did have the game on his foot. :)

So, Croatia was better. Biggest problems for your players was to make some scoring chances. I know it is hard do make opportunities against 5 defs with only 2 men. Their tactic was better and that's why they win today. It means end of Australian chances for WC (if I'm right, only 2 teams from each group can qualificate). But Aldo make good job today, in 1st half he can stop some great chances of Croatia.

Oz can still qualify as one of the best 3rd ranked team I think...

Indeed. Actually, results so far today have been very beneficial for Australia. The only team left to play that can catch them (for a 3rd place qualifying spot) is Ireland (assuming an Australia win next week). Ireland has to defeat Argentina in a few minutes to keep their hopes going.

Argentina - Ireland 1:0...does it mean Australia is going to the World Cup for the 2nd time? :)

Bad game for Willis...still it's always hard to fight a 5 man defence.

btw. Andy popped to magical pace, and Jose Maras...:)

Jose Maras, age: 21
club: The Evil`s, country: Australia
value: 3 962 000 zł, wage: 28 900 zł
magical form, outstanding tactical discipline

formidable stamina unsatisfactory keeper
divine pace poor defender
incredible technique average playmaker
adequate passing formidable striker

Will get about 3-4 more trainings in pace, then I move to striker which should be quite near to pop. :)