Socceroos will be wary of tricky opponents in Qatar finals Improved subcontinent side are first up on 13 January While the return to Qatar may not bring first round games quite as tough as France, Denmark and Tunisia, Australia have been handed one of the tougher 2023 Asian Cup draws in Group B. Uzbekistan and Syria are the teams from pots two and three that many wanted to avoid while India are the highest ranked of the basement boys. As even third place may go through to the second round, the 2015 champions should have few problems in progressing but if they want to finish above all three geographically diverse opponents and enjoy an easier route forward, then it will...
Man City’s Alex Robertson makes debut as Aiden O’Neill, Keanu Baccus and Garang Kuol also show strength of next generation in Ecuador winDespite him being barely 30 minutes into his senior international career, nobody can accuse newly minted Socceroo Alex Robertson of showing a lack of ambition for the future. Indeed, it would be difficult for him to be showing any more. “You’ve got to reach for the stars and win a World Cup,” he told reporters after Australia’s 3-1 win over Ecuador on Friday. “You never know what’s going to happen. You see what [Australia’s] just done at the last one and for the next few years, building up to [2026] I think we can do some really big...
Statistics show a large majority of Matildas and Socceroos games are staged in New South Wales but context is needed to understand whyLast week, Matildas’ coach Tony Gustavsson cut a customarily jovial figure as he helped announce February’s Cup of Nations. The Swede had good reason to be convivial; the mini-tournament provides a chance to continue momentum from a successful November international window with a group-stage simulation against Spain, Jamaica and Czechia across Sydney, Gosford and Newcastle.The New South Wales slant of the host cities is clear, and has been met with predictable reactions. In the wake of furious backlash to the Australian Professional Leagues’s sale of hosting rights for the next three A-Leagues grand finals to Sydney, Football Australia’s...
With a free role, the No 10 has been the floating brain of his country’s side at this year’s World CupThe thing that made the goal was the touch; one of those touches where Lionel Messi doesn’t so much trap the ball or kill it but lets it come and nestle, falling asleep on his toe like a fond old cat.There were still six more touches to go before the ball would be left spinning, with a kind of purr, in the back of Mat Ryan’s net. But it was the touch that set the clock running, as the ball was looped back out to Messi on the touchline from his own free-kick. Continue reading...
France have lost top players before this World Cup but they still have their razor-sharp centre-forward to score and set up goalsWith 44 minutes gone at the vast, craning, wildly over-engineered Al Janoub Stadium, Kylian Mbappé did something extraordinary, perhaps even unique in modern World Cup history. Basically, he missed an open goal from six yards out. No great shakes. It happens. Ball, bounce, angles, collisions.This is still a kind of physical chaos. Continue reading...