Asunto: National Team

the magic pass came because their defense were pressed high up the field and there was massive space in between their outer def and the next one in which Bowen was situated. All we needed then was someone with high PM and the rest would follow. The "magic" passes happen frequently when you press if you expose a gap. That's why I hate pressing and why I don't often press opposition.

Wirrpanda looked dangerous, but Bowen actually was dangerous.

Nice to see McD get a run, I can't think that he'll have too many national rep games. Provided possibly the best cross of the game for us, but I think that was just about his only touch in his 20 mins.

Yeah, only thing missing from Wirrpanda's game was either a strong cross or that extra bit of tech. Still the passes executed through to Bowen were well executed.

Tactic and line up all set and ready to go. With Belgium next week I'd have liked not to risk certain players, particularly those on 2 yellows. Problem is, I've got to make sure we win this week first. No point resting players and then dropping the 3 points here. Consequently nobody is being rested. We need these 3 points desperately and goal difference will be important. However, I have made some conditionals such that if we're in a strong position and have locked up the game some players will be dragged off. Ideally, that will be executed and the players coming off won't have picked up any cards until that point.

As it stands we can deal with either Timpano/Willis being suspended, but it will be a hard ask if we lose both to suspension/injury.

Hopefully we get at least a 6-0 win to jump over Venezuela. Actually, what we'd be hoping for is a win by Belgium as well to move us into 2nd on the group, giving us a chance (as slight as it might be) of finishing 2nd with an upset 3 points over Belgium.

The aim is to get the 3 points firstly and to get a result against Belgium whether that be a draw or a win. That could be a very difficult task as it means we're likely going to have to score a lot of goals against a very strong defense. Tried defending last time and it backfired in the last 30minutes.

Willis(and Maras?) vs Deroo.
Should be interesting :)

Job done, now on to next week. :)

How many shots do we want their keeper to save or hit the post :@. 25 shots for 3 goals = rubbish. Anyway we got the 3 points we needed :p.

Next week is do or die. Win we qualify, lose we don't. A draw depends on other results but probably puts us through given most of the sides around us lost tonight.


Edit: Actually, there is one other possibility and that is if Republica Dominicana manage to pull off an upset against Osterreich. In the event of either a draw or win there we automatically qualify regardless of our result.
(editado)

Well Deroo won't play probably[9 days injury today :(] but Belgie still has star players...

indeed :)

Any Australian users with suggestions about the match this weekend please feel free to skmail myself. All opinions are welcome at this stage, considering what is actually at stake :).

Belgium to press. That is all :p.

On a serious note I'd prefer Belgium to press as it opens up more opportunities to get monster through balls to allow our strikers to run through.

Disappointing that Storey hasn't returned to form, he caused chaos against Belgium last time and his presence will be missed against such a strong defense.

Still, qualifying is so close but feels so far away. As usual, the aim is to come away with the 3 points and quite possibly could send us out but that's just the way it is. Results just haven't fallen our way this season, with Iceland beating Portugal and then failing to win the rematch. Similarly, Uruguay caused a stir by performing well enough to be in contention for top of their league going into the final match day.

That leaves us sitting the first spot out of qualifying at present (on the basis we drop the game and Austria beat RD). Sound familiar? Failing to get a point against Austria in the return leg is likely going to be the difference between qualifying and not qualifying.

Thing is though, we're still alive and we've got several scenarios where we can qualify.

a) We take all 3 points -> We automatically qualify as we'll finish 2nd in the group. (Ideal but probability of that happening is pretty small)

b) We get a draw -> We finish 2nd in the group if Austria fails to win. We qualify as a 3rd seed if Austria win.

c) We lose -> We finish 2nd in the group if Austria loses. We qualify as a 3rd seed if Iceland loses & none of the other sides like Venezuela and Belarus catch us on goal difference.

So a loss doesn't end our campaign necessarily, but it does require a fair bit of luck to go our way. Why not get the luck in our game anyway and escape with the steal of the season?

As much as I'd like Belgium to play the same as they did last week, I just don't expect that to be the case unless they decide to help us qualify (which is something I'd never ask for as I'd rather qualify because we deserved to).

Game is still a few hours away though, final suggestions are welcome, failing that I'm sticking to my 1st instinct of how to win.

Can we come away with a ticket to the WC? Time will tell.
(editado)

Well, Austria's first game against Belgie did hurt us a lot...

Just hope for a win...

nah Austria's first game with Belgie didn't make a difference. They're about 20 goals differential ahead of us. The game that was the problem was where we lost 6-3 despite having 10 shots to 7. That's the game that hurts.

How come their 4:4 with Belgie doesn't matter? If Belgie won, then Australia would already[?] be in the WC...

And yeah, that was a massive bad luck :/ or, how would the Uruguayan users state, it was hard work and great tactic of Austria. ;)

no we wouldn't. We're 2 pts ahead of Austria, had Austria lost it would have been 3 pts and if we lose to Belgie and Austria wins we'd finish 3rd still :p.

A draw with Belgie tonight qualifies us anyway as a 3rd placed side.

There's no point in going for a draw, let's win it! ;)