In 2030, our starting lineup could be:

Beach: 26 years old

Circati: 26 years old

Italiano: 28 years old

Herrington: 22 years old

Bos: 27 years old

Souttar: 31 years old

Metcalfe: 30 years old

O'Neill: 32 years old

Okon: 25 years old

Toure: 26 years old

Irankunda: 24 years old

Volpato: 26 years old

And an injured McGree which we really missed would only turn 31!

Say what you want about Popovich, but at least he trusted his youth players this WC. Invaluable experience.

We can see that a lot of talent has come through the league, we can fill pubs and public spaces with new fans and these young players can bring sponsors with their talent and maturity. It gets asked after every major tournament…what are your current thoughts?

Round of 16 - Day 2

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Brazil vs Norway - 6:00am AEST

Mexico vs England - 10:00am AEST

aka Post-Post-Match Thread.

Now that we've all had 24 hours to sit, reflect, cry, drink or whatever you do to deal with the pain, this is an opportunity to reflect on the tournament without the need of separate posts for each opinion.

Lets hear all the positives, negatives and any other little notes that you've thought about throughout our cup journey.

We'll continue with our daily WC threads throughout the rest of the tournament, mainly to torture us on what could have been but also so we can continue to discuss and enjoy the pinnacle of the sport we love.

I think a lot of people on social media were overreacting, as is to be expected in the immediate aftermath of a gut-wrenching defeat. I think the Socceroos played reasonably well, while I was naturally nervous watching the match I thought they controlled the ball well and nullified any threat Egypt showed with the ball for much of the game so there was a level of control for most of it. A few gambles regarding the penalty shootout didn't pay off and now many are saying this is a failure of a campaign, but I think it's been pretty solid. International football's always a bit of a crapshoot and the match against Egypt was always going to be a coin toss. Our FIFA rankings are similar, the bookies had us at similar odds, the underlying stats were even and the scoreline after 120 minutes was even.

Ultimately, it is still the closest the Socceroos have come to winning a knockout match in the World Cup. Some people are also being obtuse in my opinion by saying that exiting in the Round of 32 is the equivalent of exiting in the group stage of the 32-team World Cups in the past, since making the last 32 is much harder when you have to play teams outside the AFC. In my view, the Socceroos' group at this World Cup was honestly more difficult in terms of the average quality of each team than their group in 2022, yet the Socceroos still managed to finish second over Paraguay and Turkey which is no mean feat. Paraguay and Turkey, the two teams against which we got points at this World Cup, seemed far more impressive to me than Denmark and Tunisia from 2022, who were both very lacklustre then and now.

I also understand that people don't want the Socceroos to be seen as gallant underdogs anymore, but there is a reason that Popovic played such a defensive shape during this tournament, As I mentioned previously, international football unfortunately can only ever be a crapshoot because the tournaments are only a handful of games, and mostly knockouts if you make it far. In such a format, one moment can end your campaign, so all the incentive is to play in a manner that enables you to win in the short-term. While the Socceroos' didn't score many, we also conceded only one goal from open play in 4 games, which was the foundation that enabled us to finish second in a difficult group and nearly make it to the Round of 16. I certainly don't regard the approach highly for club football, but that just demonstrates why club football is far superior to international football, since it actually rewards teams for playing positively. Whereas in international tournaments you can have fairly limited teams such as Croatia at World Cups 2018 and 2022 and Portugal at Euro 2016 who forced their way via extra time and penalties to be finalists and champions.

In short, the style of play often sucks because the dynamic of international football often sucks.

I actually think this would be a good angle to promote the A-League. One of the things I realised watching this tournament after watching most Perth Glory games this season is that it's actually somewhat annoying   how every game at the World Cup is do or die. While obviously that's where the tension and drama comes from, it doesn't have that nice ebb and flow between games of lesser and greater significance that a full club season does. Furthermore, you actually get your season's worth of fun regardless of how good your team is, as opposed to the frustrating feeling we're all feeling now where we would have loved the Socceroos to just have one more game at least at this tournament, but instead there's this emptiness. 

So the Roos in a utopia could adopt the Japanese model of developing players to attack and play with the ball, and Australia as a country could fund and promote the game accordingly, but that itself is no guarantor of success at these tournaments. There are basically no guarantors of success at World Cups because of how fluky knockout football is, apart from maybe just having lots of obscenely good players like France has, although that is extremely rare. Japan played much more beautiful football in this tournament, they scored more goals, but ultimately they fell short in the knockouts again because they lacked that defensive grit and stubbornness, and also the fortune required to make it through, As long as those sorts of games such as Brazil vs Japan keep happening, I understand why Australian coaches will continue to ensure that teams prioritise defence, even if that is 'negative' or unpleasant to watch.

Onto the Asian Cup and Women's World Cup 💛💚

It’s getting hard keeping track of which player is linked to which club.

Thought it may be handy if we have one central post with all the player rumours

It was hard to accept the Socceroos going out in the Round of 32 yesterday v. Egypt, immedietly I think we were all high on emotions. Now it's probably a round or two earlier than most of us expected. But after the disappointment settled, I think it's pretty clear there's something to build upon.

What we need now is direction and resolve. We need a stronger football identity, especially when it comes to developing young players. We have talent coming through, but there has to be a clearer pathway and a long-term vision that everyone buys into.

The A-League also needs our full support. If we want better Socceroos, we need a stronger domestic competition. That means fans getting behind clubs, watching games, creating atmosphere, and helping the league grow rather than constantly talking it down.

We also need to back our national team the way Australia has embraced the Matildas. That connection between fans and the team matters. We should know our players, celebrate their stories, and create a football culture people genuinely want to be part of.

For too long, it feels like we've lacked a consistent identity, both on and off the pitch. We need to decide what Australian football stands for. Our genuine brand and style of play, our culture, and our values, and commit to them over the long term instead of constantly changing direction.

This World Cup campaign hurts, but I don't think it's all doom and gloom. There are positives to take away. Now it's about learning from it, backing our players, investing in youth, supporting the A-League, and building a clear identity that can carry Australian football forward over the next years to come.

Let me know your thoughts on things we must do moving forward.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Oi, Oi, Oi!!!

Emergency thread, MatchBread is drunk :(

Ingredients (12)

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
• 500g Coles 5 Star Extra Lean Beef Mince
• 1 tbsp Coles Cornflour
• 3/4 cup beef stock
• 3/4 cup tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp barbecue sauce
• 1 tsp Vegemite
• 2 sheets frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed
• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg, beaten

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion. Cook for 3 minutes or until soft. Add mince. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon, or until browned.

Mix cornflour and 1 tablespoon of stock to form a paste. Add remaining stock, Tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and Vegemite to mince. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 8 minutes or until thick. Cool.

Preheat oven to 220°C. Place a baking tray into oven. Grease 4 x 8cm base measurement pie pans.

Cut 4 x 15cm circles from shortcrust pastry. Use to line bases and sides of pans. Fill with mince. Brush rims with water. Cut 4 x 15cm circles from puff pastry. Place over meat. Press to seal. Trim. Brush with egg. Season.

Place pies onto hot tray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Serve.

Australia 1 (2) - (4) 1 Egypt

Egypt advances to the Round of 16

We did better at Qatar 2022 with a weaker squad. That's a fact.

Ridiculous decisions by Poppa, he looked like he didn't know what to do with this squad which is a red flag, he was constantly changing the starters for no understandable reason!

I'll give Poppa credit for the win against Turkey, but even then he was bailed out by Beach. Yes, Poppa deserves credit for picking him. It was probably his best decision of the entire tournament. But we all saw afterwards that Turkey weren't actually that strong, which definitely takes away from the "unbelievable result" narrative.

Against the USA, I think the loss was largely on Poppa. Starting both Leckie and Velupillay didn't work, and why didn't Herrington start?? I'm convinced he doesn't score the own goal that Burgess did. With a different lineup and better game management, I genuinely think we could've come away with a draw!

Against Paraguay, it was a pretty standard result. Paraguay was happy with a draw and quality-wise the two sides are pretty evenly matched, I would say. A draw was the expected outcome. Nothing about it was an overachievement.

Then came Egypt. Beach was full of confidence after an outstanding tournament, and Poppa takes him off for Ryan before the shootout... Ryan has had a good career, but if he was our penalty specialist then why did we bring on Redmayne against Peru? If Poppa was going to make that risky change, why not Izzo? We've all seen Izzo save penalties in the A-League, right?

Then there was the penalty order. Two centre backs? Why? What about Hrustic? What about Toure? Why Souttar and Herrington ahead of those two? Is there any footballing reason for it? Do they really strike a ball better than Hrustic and Toure? Or was it just trying to create a big moment? Aura farming ? Because, honestly, it felt like Poppa was chasing that all tournament.

Look, this is a good squad. The best we've had in years.

Beach proved he's a very good goalkeeper, and Mat Ryan is still a solid second option. Circati, Herrington and Souttar are three very good centre backs. Aiden O'Neill has developed into an excellent defensive midfielder. Irvine and Metcalfe bring experience, Bundesliga-level football, leadership, work rate and tactical intelligence. Volpato has outstanding technique. Nestory is an absolute gun. Toure was tearing it up at Norwich only a few months ago! And I could go on but point made.

So let's stop pretending this was some incredible achievement.

Getting out of this group and then losing to Egypt is just around what should be expected from this squad, if not a bit disappointing! Poppa was the one telling everyone to have high expectations, and I did. I believed in this squad.

I just didn't believe in the coach. Time to move on.

As we see from the interviews, the players selected was pre-determined and clearly in training, they were shown to be good at penalties to be picked in the real situation.

A centreback can take penalties better than a striker/midfielder. Two of Egypt scorers from the shootout were defenders. We've had defenders take penalties in shootouts in the past.

At the end, it was a penalty shootout and shit happens.

Instead, we should be critical about how this team never got going offensively, never had their best attacking players on at the same time, etc etc.