Young Socceroos vs Czech Republic - Group Match 1

Well. What a dissapointment that game turned out to be. Unfortunatly, I really think that we needed at the very least a point from that game to have any chance to progress to the knockout stage and with this extremely flattering 2-1 loss can all but kiss goodbye that dream.

Australia lined up something resembling the following:

---------------Bouzanis

Mullen-McGowen-DeVere-Jurman

-----Kantarovski--Holland

Danning----Nichols----Oar

--------------Hoffman

Rooney > Hoffman

Herd > Nichols

Minniecon > Danning

Late red to McGowen

The game started a little cagey, especially in midfield but I suppose that was to be expected. Our defenders were actually the shining light for the game overall, managing to keep a straight, high line that consistantly caught out the very pacey Czech attackers who were playing a very direct style on the break only. McGowen and DeVere look very solid players in the middle along with Mullen outwide. It may be a preconstructed opinion I have from watching Jurman at Sydney in the middle of the park but he just didn't work out wide for me. He just seemed big, clumsy and slow and didn't have the physical attributes to play the fullback role. This for both players this was definitely noticed in attack, with wide support from these players being non existant.

The Czech's first goal from the corner could have been kept out if Australia has defenders on the posts. I thought this was basically an under sixes standard tactic. Frustrating!!

I thought Kantarovski did alright in the DM position but I was quite unimpressed with James Holland alongside him. Having seen him at Newcastle for his stint there and then moving onto AZ, I thought he would prove a lot more effective than he was. Lets just hope he was having an off night. Kanta was definitely playing the deeper of the two naturally being a defender and his touch was sublime at times. He did do the simple things well but really offered us nothing else.

The Czechs really were a class above us in the centre of the park. They were faster, had a better touch, more physical. You know you are going to have a struggle when a player as fast as Danning is outpaced down his wing time after time. I don't know if it was because he wasn't used to being beaten for pace or was told to hold it up but I thought he could have taken on his man a bit more than he did. So many times he seemed to just stop and play an easy ball back inside. Probably not what we were looking for when getting dominated in midfield. Oar on the other wing was similarly ineffective. Just neither had the time or touch to allow them to take on a defender so full credit goes to the Czechs.

Probably not the most popular comment but I'm not going to drill Mitch Nichols. Yes he has the most punchable face in world football and botched some simple chances that should have been goals but I look at it that he was the one getting himself into positions to allow him to botch them. He did add an element of unpredictability. A spark to our attack which Herd didn't offer when he came on, dissapointingly seeing us cruise to a loss without doing anything. I keep hearing all these good things about Aaron Mooy. Time for him next match? Maybe even Minniecon starting somewhere around here is the answer. I actually thought he looked more threatening than Danning and if he is fully fit has to be in the starting side.

Up front alone Hoffman was shit. Shit A-League player so no surprises here. Rooney should have started from the beginning but even when he came on saw practically none of the ball and looked just as poor.

So we have to go all out now. Maybe Kanta can drop back into centre back for the suspended McGowen and a more attack minded midfielder can come in. All I hope is that we actually have a go and not just cruise through in mediocrity like after going 1-0 down in this match. Bring on Wednesday.

Young Socceroos Squad for Egypt

Qantas Young Socceroos Squad:
1. Andrew Redmayne (gk) (Central Coast Mariners)
2. Daniel Mullen (Adelaide United)
3. Luke DeVere (Brisbane Roar)
4. Ryan McGowan (Hearts FC, Scotland)
5. Matthew Jurman (Sydney FC)
6. James Holland (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands)
7. Tahj Minniecon (Gold Coast United)
8. Aaron Mooy (Bolton Wanderers, England)
9. Jason Hoffman (Newcastle Jets)
10. Mitch Nichols (Brisbane Roar)
11. Thomas Oar (Brisbane Roar)
12. Nathan Elasi (Melbourne Victory)
13. Chris Herd (Aston Villa, England)
14. Kofi Danning (Sydney FC)
15. Sam Munro (Sydney FC)
16. Ben Kantarovski (Newcastle Jets)
17. Rhyan Grant (Sydney FC)
18. Dean Bouzanis (gk) (Liverpool FC, England)
19. Sean Rooney (Newcastle Jets)
20. Sam Gallagher (Manly United)
21. Alex Cisak (gk) (Leicester City, England)

Qantas Young Socceroos Schedule:
27 September: Australia v Czech Republic
30 September: Australia v Costa Rica
3 October: Australia v Brazil

FIFA U-20 World Cup 2009 Groups:
Group A:
Egypt, Trinidad & Tobago, Paraguay, Italy

Group B:
Nigeria, Venezuela, Spain, Tahiti

Group C:
USA, Germany, Cameroon, Korea Republic

Group D:
Ghana, Uzbekistan, England, Uruguay

Group E:
Brazil, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Australia

Group F:
United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Honduras, Hungary

--------

I just lifted this straight from Tribal Football but the format shows what's going on for Australia in the tournament really well.

Australia has had a few lead up matches mostly sticking to the 4-2-3-1 or a slight variation that all our national sides play these days but the make up of the final first team is still not really clear. I'm not going to read into friendly results at all and really can't wait for the first game against the Czechs tonight.

I love these international youth tournaments. The unpredictability and just seeing the new, young talent coming through is great.

Keep your eye out for the post match analysis I will be doing.

Uzbekistan vs Australia - WCQ

 

We know that Uzbekistan can play football from their Asian Cup campaign followed up with impressive results in the last round of World Cup Qualifiers.  Add to that the 'unknown' nature of the country and what it would be like going there to play a qualifier and you can see it would be tough.  We did however, come through with flying colours and more importantly, 3 points.

Australia started with their now usual away from home formation as follows:

--------------Schwartzer

Emerton--Coyne--Neil--Chipperfield

-------------Burns--Valeri

Wilkshire-----Holman-----Bresciano

-----------------Kewell

I think we can actually say that our backline is sorted!  I was pleasantly surprised to see Chippers come back into the role that Carney has basically made his own over the last year and remind us all why he has been there for so long.  on the other side of defense we had Emerton and Wilkshire basically interchanging.  Both can do such a good job in both possession retention and offering something going forward.  A year ago you wouldn't have heard me, or many people say that!

Centrally Neil is the stalwart of the team and showed just why tonight with an absolutely flawless performance.  I would go close to giving him man of the match honors if he wasn't so cruel to animals!  The way he positions himself and can read play is excellent.  Coyne really surprised me tonight as well.  I wasn't the biggest fan of giving a man in his late 20s playing League 1 in England a starting spot in our national side at this time but god he put in an equally as solid performance tonight and showed that he could easily be playing at a higher level.  I still want to see Spiranovic in there but it is good to be spoilt for choice and Coyne has impressed me a lot more than spoilt brat North and good ol' Beauchamp.

Our defensive midfield lineup was basically makeshift with the usuals Grella and Culina unavailable.  Someone told me that Burns was called into the squad on the day of the match so I am not going to worry about seeing too much of him.  Valeri didn't have the best of games and I was a little concerned about his ability to keep possession, but as an understudy while Grella or Culina are on the pitch we know he is solid.  Just an extra point about this position, while watching TWG on Sunday Craig Foster said something I thought was quite smart (for once).  His point was about playing a more attacking type player alongside a ball winner to add more balance and give us that extra option going forward.  Meaning Culina--Grella or Culina--Valeri rather than the two out and out defensive midfielders together.  However, especially away from home I can't see Pim having the balls to do this.

Wilkshire was as immense in attack as he was in defense.  He has come so far and once again it was his cross that led to Chippers goal.  Holman was Holman.  Gets into brilliant positions in attack but has the first touch of a rapist and a composure rating of minus ten.  Can this be learnt/gained?  I sure hope so.  Bresciano was quiet again.  Find some form son!  Finally Kewell up front again was nothing special.  Pim said before the match that he picked Kewell there ahead of Kennedy for tactical reasons since he believes he can hold the ball up better away from home.  Kennedy may have actually been one of the sufferers of the stomach virus, I don't know but I would have loved to see him tonight with Kewell in place of Bresciano or Holman.  I just feel he is so wasted when he is not running at players.

I love the system, I don't always love the players used in certain roles but we got the three points from a game that I definitely didn't bank on.  What a start!

Olyroos vs Ivory Coast + Olympics Wrap Up

Australia started with a lot more enterprise than previous games and this was by far our most entertaining to watch.  We really looked to take it to the Ivory Coast but once again just didn't have that edge in the final third.  The Rukavytsya risk didn't pay off.  He is just way too inexperienced and raw.

Ivory Coast sat deep in defense probably giving us more respect than we deserved.  A draw was good enough to see them go through so I suppose it may have been warranted to take less risks in committing players forward.  This could however been our advantage if we had anyone that could take a chance.

Australia have had the same problem not only in this match but throughout the tournament and it just highlights the class difference in the players on show.  That is our first touch.  Every time the ball comes to us in even open space our players have heavy touches which puts them immediately under pressure.  Argentina especially impressed me in tight, nonexistent spaces in and around the box they were still able to touch the ball with close control to exactly where they wanted it.  Both our anticipation and actual technical ability to do this were very evidently lacking.

Good things to come out of the tournament were definitely Spiranovic, Carney and Federici.  Honorable mentions have to also go to Musialik who I cannot wait to see pull on the sky blue shirt for Sydney and Celeski who was often our spark in attack.  I feel for Milligan who playing in his less preferred midfield role was quite poor.  This was meant to be where he was noticed and picked up by a big club.

Arnold wanted to be judged on results and the way the players he picked played.  We can now say that the criticism of his squad selections and coaching ability were justified.  Seeing Hyphen come on as a late substitute after we went 1-0 down was his final clutch for straws.  They however slipped through his hands along with hopefully his time surrounding our national team.

But our players all handled the heat right?...

Olyroos vs Argentina - Group Match 2

First up I want to congratulate the Aussies on how they played this match.  In what most of us thought would be a 5-0 whitewash was limited to a very narrow loss but could have easily come away with a point or more if things had have fallen our way.

 

------------Federici

Zad--North--Spiranovic--Carney

--------Milligan--Musialik

---Celeski--Kilkenny--Troisi

------------Thompson

 

Australia went to the 4-2-3-1 formation we expected at the start of the tournament with obvious tactics of sitting deep and trying to play out fast from broken play and hit the Argies on the counter.  Against this amazingly talented Argentina side we did the absolute best we could and really frustrated them all match, culminating in the Argentineans losing some of their composure and snapping at shots whenever they had the slightest chance.

Federici again was solid after a 'Paul Robinson special' at the start of the match.  The shaky fullbacks from the last outing against Serbia were rightly sat out, causing both Zad and Carney to drop back into these wide defensive positions.  Both had games that justified their selection with both along with the same centre half combination as previously, containing the fast and skilled Argentinean superstars.  The difference in first touch and close control of the ball in tight spaces was very evident but to our credit, noone was jumping in and getting shown up.

In midfield, Milligan and Musialik again were both acting as screening midfielders but the difference this time was that they now had an attacking trio in front of them providing that all important link to our pacey striker in Thompson.  We didn't get a lot of opportunities in attack but when we broke I thought we broke well and if our first touch was better then we could have easily nabbed a goal here and there.  You could however argue that the players who's touch I am reffering to, Zadkovich and Rukavytsya, should never have been in the team in the first place partially for this reason.

When we were going forward in attack Celeski again gave us some flare and always wanted to take players on.  I think he has been one that has justified his selection that I bagged when the squad was first announced.  Kilkenny played as almost a support striker at some stages and as a player I haven't seen much of impressed me with his 'terrier' style, quick and always just seeming to pop up all over the pitch.  Troisi wasn't as involved as the other two and after we went a goal down was rightfully taken off for McClenahan to allow Carney to push forward.

Thompson played the lone striker roll in this formation quite well and was always trailing away from his defenders into space that our midfielders were playing into.  Again the different was that there was a link between the shielding midfielders and himself which allowed him to get involved in the game.  I would have liked to see him stay on rather than a sub for Ruka.  Just not a fan of the kid at all and I wonder how Thompson would have taken Rukas chances at the death.

 

------------Federici

Zad--North--Spiranovic--McClenahan

--------Milligan--Musialik

---Bridge--Kilkenny--Carney

--------------Ruka

When Argentina finally got their goal I loved the way that they just played keep ball, knocking it around.  The commentator and crowd maybe didn't like it but I thought it was both smart, beautiful and just funny.  I thought it was strange that we had no intention of changing our tactics of sitting deep and refusing to press even while this was going on.  I thought that it could have actually played into our hands by Argentina being dispossessed and Australia gaining possession up field in broken play where we had looked our most dangerous.

So now we just need to beat the Ivory Coast to progress.  The next match should be a good one to watch as we will have to come out playing football and look to take it to the Ivory Coast.  COME ON AUSSIE!

Olyroos vs Serbia - Group Match 1

-------------------Federici

McClenahan--North--Spiranovic--Hyphen

---------------Milligan--Musialik

Zadkovich-----------------------------Carney

----------Rukavytsya--Thompson

 

Started nothing like I expected.  Even worse than expected actually.  Talk about negative tactics and selections that were hard to watch.

Federici looked ten times the keeper Velaphi or Pasfield looked in the leadup matches and definitely justified his selection.  His positioning was flawless Thursday night culminating in an excellent save from a free kick.

Spiranovic was definitely the other shining light to come out of the match, to me once again putting himself well ahead of North in the race to be included as the Socceroos central defensive partner to Neil.

Both fullbacks were constantly exposed by quicker Serbian wingers.  Carney was however our only real attacking flare since Zadkovich is a poor excuse for a human let alone a footballer and our two strikers were totally isolated thanks to a lack of a midfield link due to Arnold's tactics and team selection.  Since they didn't actually

 

-------------------Federici

McClenahan--North--Spiranovic--Hyphen

-------------------Musialik

Zadkovich-----------------------------Carney

-------------------Celeski

-----------Bridge

------------------Rukavytsya

 

Arnold changed up to this with Celeski and Bridge providing that missing creative link in midfield and hey presto we score and look a lot more threatening.  This is the formation we used a lot more in our successful qualifiers but it still frustrates me that it is Celeski in that position and in my opinion not the much better Ward, Burns or Holland.

1-1 is an ok result in the scheme of things.  Could have been worse, could have been better, depends how you want to look at it.  The verdict is still out...

Olyroos vs Olywhites - July 12 - NSO

Being an old Northern Spirit fan back in the NSL days, I always love going back to North Sydney Oval whenever I can.  I just think it is such a picturesque ground and just holds some great memories for me.

I am disappointed that I didn't really enjoy the match.  Australia didn't play too badly but I am just caught up in a 'what could have been' bubble.  Over the years the Olyroos have been the only team that I haven't really bagged the shit out of on this blog.  They were the shining light of our national teams.  I loved watching and following them a lot more than the full Socceroos.  But sadly that has changed with the team we now have and they are just another national team.

Well I was right that Arnold would look to play the almost standard Australian formation of 4-2-3-1 but again threw some curve balls again with his selections.  We started like:

--------------------Velaphi

McClenahan--North--Spiranovic--Hyphen

---------------Milligan--Musialik

-----Zadkovich----Troisi----Sarkies

------------------Rukavytsya

Velaphi in goals did alright.  Couldn't really do much about the goals.  Just have a general 'meh' opinion of the bloke.  Vukovic you are a retard!  In front of him in a back four was the two central defenders of North and Spiranovic.    Spiranovic at just 20 already looks a much classier defender than North however got caught out for New Zealand's second goal.  I am just a little concerned that we have broken up the strongest part of our qualification team and gone with a completely new pair which sees Leijer move to the bench and Milligan push into midfield.

Milligan's move to midfield was a bit of a surprise as I didn't think the position really suited him at Sydney FC but alongside Musialik it seemed to work well.  Milligan's passing range was excellent and Musialik as always provided the link to turn possession into attack when needed excellently.  I can't wait to see this guy pull on a Sydney shirt for the start of the A-League.  Classy player who will have a big future.

In attack our stable fullbacks worked well pushing forward as always, looking to overlap and get forward whenever they can.  Hyphen is one of those players that just looks so classy in this team.  I just hope he can eventually make the step up to the next level because so far I have never been impressed with him in a Socceroos shirt.

Sarkies is another player that just seems to thrive in an Olyroos shirt.  Throughout qualifying and today again just looked so good pushing forward and always in the action.  His set pieces are also a plus.  During the A-League I think it can be said that his set pieces have often kept him in a team where his general play didn't warrant it but in this team he should be one of the first picked.  Zadkovich on the other hand was again hot and cold.  Did some great things early then seemed to get frustrated and go missing.  Same old attitude problem.  Troisi in the middle playing off Rukavytsya looked good as well.  Throughout qualification he has often been used as a wide player but seemed to handle the role in the middle quite well and controlled the game well from there.  Looked a class above out there to be honest.

The same old Perth Glory Rukavytsya was out there today as well.  Can beat players and create opportunities but his finishing was poor.  I just can't see how Djite could be left out, especially if this is the formation we are looking to play.  Matt Simon came on late and looked enthusiastic and in form but didn't really have an opportunity to do much.  Doesn't matter I suppose with him not even being in the squad and Archie basically assured a spot by his mate Arnold.

Bring on the tournament and put us or Arnold out of our misery.  It is either going to be a total embarrassment for Australian football and Arnold will be sent packing for his woeful selection criteria and tactics or he will be able to give a big fat "fuck you, I told you so" to all us fans and critics.