A Few Thoughts…
Thursday Night…
Like many I am still seething from the inept performance our national team put up on Thursday night. Our inability to adapt to what can only be described as ‘Sunday league conditions’ was nothing short of short sighted from Ange and his ability not to search for an alternate plan when his way is clearly failing us is inexcusable.
The performance on Thursday night in Iran was one of the worst I’ve witnessed on a national scale and everyone involved should be deeply remorseful of their efforts (or lack thereof).
The perceived lack of getting the desired result at the players walked off the pitch was also disturbing, the non plussed looks on the players faces didn’t reflect the attitude of professional sportsman who had once again failed to get a result away from home.
We are now fairly and squarely on the cusp of failing to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. For the sake of the progression of football in Australia it’s of the upmost importance that we qualify, and not only qualify but perform to the standards we know we can.
Ticket Prices…
Home support is key on Tuesday night, says Robbie Kruse – https://t.co/6bwvjOlg0B #GoSocceroos #AUSvUAE pic.twitter.com/kCuwoanIiY
— Caltex Socceroos (@Socceroos) March 25, 2017
I’ve always been an advocate for creating home support, especially when our World Cup campaign depends on it but have you seen the prices to see our Socceroos on a Tuesday night in Sydney? Category A has many locked out at $95 and Category B doesn’t come much cheaper at $75.
Prices like this are bordering on extortion and shows just how out of touch the current regime is at the FFA.
Don’t act too surprised when the Sydney Football Stadium is barely half full when the Socceroos walkout on Tuesday night, the price point is far north of where it should be. We all want the Socceroos to succeed against the UAE so don’t take our non attendance as that we don’t care, it’s just that we don’t like the cover charge.
International Break…
Wedged between two Socceroos games, the opening round of the AFL, some NRL, Super Rugby, an AFLW Grand Final, the deciding India/Australia test match and oh year the season opening F1 Grand Prix you’d be forgiven to discount this round of the A-League.
Scheduling a round of domestic football during a designated FIFA international break isn’t a new argument, so there is no point pounding our heads into a brick wall or the ivory tower at FFA HQ but surely when you watch or listen to a sports report this weekend you will understand how irrelevant this round of football is.
Wellington and Melbourne Victory felt the full brunt of selection headaches but it’s the overall league that suffers from the decision that lacks all types of common sense.
Whilst Fox Sports dictates the fixture I cannot see an international break being slotted into the 2017/18 schedule so we will most likely revisit this topic once again.
Hopefully this is the last time I agree with Kevin Muscat this season.
Melbourne City’s performance against Western Sydney…
From all reports we were let down by defensive lapses once again, something that needs to be urgently addressed. I didn’t watch the game as I was watching ‘Lion’ instead. If Saroo Brieley can find a train station hundreds of miles from home from a memory as a young child surely someone at City Football Group can solve the riddle of Melbourne City playing away from home.
Image: Goal.com
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