TRS-T Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Group A Australia South Korea Oman Kuwait Group B Uzbekistan Saudi Arabia China North Korea Group C Iran UAE Qatar Bahrain Group D Japan Jordan Iraq Palestine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_AFC_Asian_Cup Live on British Eurosport 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Palestine debut!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 You'd think Australia would be favourites, perhaps followed by Japan and S. Korea. I hope N. Korea win just for the lolz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggy_333 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 The North Korean people will think they've won anyway because the nutty one will tell them all that they won 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponky Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 It's Japan's to lose I think. Aussies are just too unsettled in teems of their line up and struggle to score unless it's Cahill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 What's the Aussie squad looking like these days. In fairness they were much better in the WC than I thought, with their squad I was expecting three hammerings but underestimated their fighting spirit. I still think it's a squad inbetween two generations e.g. the Cahill, Bresciano etc era bowing out for the younger players. Looking at the groups Japan have a pretty easy one so they can build momentum. They underachieved at the World cup imo., For an outside tip I'll go for Uzbekistan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPower_14 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Japan would be strong favourites. Australia haven't really found a way to score without Cahill and Kewell. Not against good teams. We don't have enough players playing in top leagues anymore. Back in say the 2006 world cup squad, we had most of our guys playing in big European leagues. These days a lot of the squad play in Asian leagues, or just in the A-League. We had a far better side when it wasn't financially viable for our talented players to play in Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponky Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I suspect they will go all out attack in the early games to try and get some goals flowing. Robbie Kruse and Matthew Leckie will be real threats out wide but defensive failures have been a bit of a theme of late. It looks like they will pay 433, use Jedinak to hold down the centre with Bresciano and probably James Troisi up the field. We tend to struggle a bit against the Middle Eastern teams who counter with pace because we tend towards big lumbering Centre backs geared towards dealing with the physical and aerial demands of Aussie and European football. It will be interesting to see if Chris Herd gets a start on Friday. Ivan Franjic has been preferred in the past but his nice to Russia had not worked out well for him. We have been told since before the world cup that we are in transition but realistically next generation need to start putting their hands up now. That golden generation of Viduka, Kewell etc is long gone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VT Supporter ozvillafan Posted January 6, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted January 6, 2015 Aye, there is not much quality amongst the Australian stocks. We are trying to implement a youth program to rival Belgium - but even if we manage that, those players are 10 - 14 years off. Since we are at home we will make the finals, but I don't see us winning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSV Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 yeah me neither.Unfortunately we do not produce good strikers or even defenders anymore. Goalkeepers and midfielders we produce plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 (edited) Does Tommy Oar make Australia's team? He's been excellent this season apparently. Edited January 6, 2015 by Isa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPower_14 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Does Tommy Oar make Australia's team? He's been excellent this season apparently. Yeah, you'd expect Oar to feature pretty regularly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Rhys Williams tore his achilles for Boro the other day, I assume he was in the squad. What about that kid at Celtic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Tom Rogic at Celtic is still injured I believe. Didn't make the squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 First game of the tournament was a really entertaining affair. A great game which finished 4-1 to Australia against Kuwait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSV Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 after a nervy first 30 minutes.. we played some great stuff. I would imagine Bresciano and Oar will start in the second game. Possibly even Burns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Funniest part was when Tony Abbott got booed when he came out and was shaking hands with the players. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS-T Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPower_14 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Great start, psychologically. We could have easily collapsed under the weight of that first goal and lost, but we came out and played some decent positive football. Hopefully we can keep that form up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponky Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Once that front 3 start clicking it will be great. Still a bit stodgy at the back though. Really impressed with Luongo. Future Premier League potential i reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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