Socceroos Thread

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: Socceroos Thread

That team we had 20 years ago was probably the best national team we had.

Should have knocked off Italy in the first knock-out game. We then would have played Ghana in the quarters. Who knows from there. It could have been a semi final if not for a diving Italian.

[Eastdog]

Re: Socceroos Thread

Should have knocked off Italy in the first knock-out game. We then would have played Ghana in the quarters. Who knows from there. It could have been a semi final if not for a diving Italian.

Absolutely BT&T. We played really well in that match against Italy. We will never know but who knows how far we could have gone at the 2006 World Cup.

[Sedat]

Re: Socceroos Thread

That team we had 20 years ago was probably the best national team we had.

Yep, and almost all of this elite talent was a direct product of junior NSL club/youth development pathways.

It's glaringly obvious now that the old NSL clubs developed players infinitely better than any of the A-League clubs have done in the last 20 years. What a great idea it was to permanently ostracise these passionate and invested clubs from the highest level, simply because they had ethnic sounding names and there were a few flares and the occasional punch-on at the games (which there still is).

[Axe Man]

A couple of good results v Indonesia and China have given us a good chance of direct qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

A win v Japan in Perth in June will be enough, otherwise it will come down to the last game away v Saudi Arabia.