oh no said:

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Argentina is looking at Australia (FIFA rank like 38 or something) in the round of 16 knock out and then the winner of NED-USA. They probably see a fairly clear path to a semi-final vs Brazil.

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Which means they're gonna be susceptible to getting sucker punched

I would rank Australia 28th out of 32 teams here. The FIFA rankings are a joke. There are plenty of teams who didn't qualify who would run circles against these guys.

This isn't your older brother's Tim Cahill Aussies. This is a team made up entirely of A- league, English Championship, and Scottish Premiership players. We see how much the MLS players struggle when they come on for us. And all those leagues are worse or close.

Argentina have free trip to the quarters against you know who (I don't want to jinx it). But we thought the same thing about Saudi Arabia......

Chuck Cunningham said:

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BAP Enthusiast said:

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La Bamba said:

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I will say, it feels better to have Poland advancing at least by goal differential. Advancing via yellow cards is just dumb and woke

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Better cards than drawing lots. Should have possession percentage come into play before drawing lots though. That would entirely eliminate drawing lots since the odds of any two teams have equal amounts of possession is near zero. I would put possession before cards too.

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Should be done by penetrations.

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Would be okay with that as well. Penetrations before possession and then yellow cards. Lots should never come into play.

carl spacklers hat said:

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Poland may play a drab style of soccer

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I think their technical director is Worker and Parasite.

PascalsWager said:

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I would rank Australia 28th out of 32 teams here. The FIFA rankings are a joke. There are plenty of teams who didn't qualify who would run circles against these guys.

This isn't your older brother's Tim Cahill Aussies. This is a team made up entirely of A- league, English Championship, and Scottish Premiership players. We see how much the MLS players struggle when they come on for us. And all those leagues are worse or close.

Argentina have free trip to the quarters against you know who (I don't want to jinx it). But we thought the same thing about Saudi Arabia......

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Well glad you aren't in charge of ranking bc they are finishing 16th or better

So tired of hearing about what league you play in

This is about what you are willing to give for your country
Not how much you were sold for

Tata Martino is out.

No shocker there.

agsalaska said:

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MookieBlaylock said:

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PascalsWager said:

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I would rank Australia 28th out of 32 teams here. The FIFA rankings are a joke. There are plenty of teams who didn't qualify who would run circles against these guys.

This isn't your older brother's Tim Cahill Aussies. This is a team made up entirely of A- league, English Championship, and Scottish Premiership players. We see how much the MLS players struggle when they come on for us. And all those leagues are worse or close.

Argentina have free trip to the quarters against you know who (I don't want to jinx it). But we thought the same thing about Saudi Arabia......

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Well glad you aren't in charge of ranking bc they are finishing 16th or better

So tired of hearing about what league you play in

This is about what you are willing to give for your country
Not how much you were sold for

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You sound like a Big12 defender.

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They already have a champions league
Watch that and play FIFA

Australia's squad is almost entirely composed of guys playing in Europe or are veterans who played awhile in Europe before coming back home.

TXAggie2011 said:

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Australia's squad is almost entirely composed of guys playing in Europe or are veterans who played awhile in Europe before coming back home.

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Yea. That's misleading at best.

That team has very few, and I mean VERY few, games played at any meaningful European level.

I thought Canada would advance 2nd, and lose first knockout round. Thats generally what that kind of tactics gets you, adn they almost did. In fact, if they had stuck with it after getting the lead, they probably would have.

I thought Mexico would advance, but it was a tough group, and Tata made some poor roster choices in who he left off I thought

agsalaska said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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Australia's squad is almost entirely composed of guys playing in Europe or are veterans who played awhile in Europe before coming back home.

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Yea. That's misleading at best.

That team has very few, and I mean VERY few, games played at any meaningful European level.

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There are (generously) 20-25 clubs that matter on the world level. Those playing actual minutes for them are the best players in the world. But even those players playing against them in the English Premier league, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, and German Bundesliga are getting high quality match experience against the best players.

Australia has guys playing in the english 2nd division and the Scotland. They're not turning down Real Madrid because they enjoy life in Dundee. They're there because they are marginal footballers.

Credit to them for making it to the knockouts. They're still marginal footballers and a "free" win.

100% agree.

agsalaska said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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Australia's squad is almost entirely composed of guys playing in Europe or are veterans who played awhile in Europe before coming back home.

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Yea. That's misleading at best.

That team has very few, and I mean VERY few, games played at any meaningful European level.

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Always like it when someone reads into something and then calls it misleading.

There aren't 27 or whatever it was teams that are comprised of guys playing in I guess what we'll call a "meaningful" level.

Argentina will be heavy favorites, of course.