Group D - France, Denmark, Tunisia, Australia

[duffer]

Getinthere

 

[Uppercut]

Wait, isn't this a group from the last World Cup?

 

[Burgey]

Peru instead of Tunisia, but otherwise yeah

 

[social]

Gave Socceroos zero chance of qualifying but now set up pretty well for short - medium term

Obviously all relative but money/exposure is massively important to game here as has been experience gained by youngsters

 

[Burgey]

Who do we face in the round of 16 once we top the group?

 

[andruid]

How do you think France will crash oit of tbis group?

 

[danielmeyers]

I didn't imagine we'd have much hope either but I've just looked at their squad and while it's probably better than ours, there's not that much to write home about. They've only got two players in Europe's big four leagues: a striker at Benvento in Serie A, and Tapia, a defensive midfielder, at Celta Vigo with some good clubs on his CV before that as well. Based on a feature I watched earlier on Optus, their talisman seems to be a playmaker called Cueva who plays in the Saudi league, which isn't a ringing endorsement, but they seem to revere him so I'll assume he's one of the gun foreign players who raise the bar in that league.

Most of the rest seem to play their club football in the Americas and in the Middle East, which isn't a sign of a high class team. But to be fair, that includes a few players at top clubs in the Mexican league, which is a genuinely pretty strong league with big clubs and good players on big salaries, as well as a couple at Argentine giants Boca Juniors and one at the big Chilean club Colo Colo. There's a few in the MLS as well, which is a better league than people assume but still pretty meh.

We've got Hrustic doing well in the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt, an assortment of players in second-tier European leagues and the second divisions of big European leagues, a few in the Middle East and Japan/Korea and a few at home in the A-League. Based on those admittedly rather speculative reference points, both teams are pretty mediocre by global standards and the difference between them isn't vast. But given they've finished above Colombia, Chile and Paraguay in qualifying, they can probably be assumed to be a fair bit better than us. We're also missing Harry Souttar and Tom Rogic, which won't help matters.

You know, I think the set of players from the European leagues of the second level, namely teams like West Bromwich, Sunderland, Stoke City and Middlesbrough, where national team players play, will be much stronger than the top clubs of the Mexican league))) as I think. This can be judged by the FA Cup matches, where teams from the Championships play on par with teams from the Premier League. Anyway, this is just my opinion and there's nothing to discuss here, as the national team is already at the World Cup, Congratulations to all.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Who do we face in the round of 16 once we top the group?

Now that we've rid ourselves of that dead weight in Volpato, I'd be shocked if we don't break all goal scoring records in the process.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Denmark's pro-human rights shirts rejected by Fifa

Denmark's request for its players to be allowed to wear pro-human rights training shirts at the World Cup in Qatar has been rejected by Fifa.

www.bbc.co.uk

Because, obviously, human rights are an incredibly divisive issue.

Credit to yer Danes for trying, but, jeez, FIFA is just almost comically awful. Bloated, corrupt & happy to cosy up to any authoritarian regime with a few quid in its pocket.

 

[sledger]

Human rights are a divisive issue tbf. It absolutely stinks that Denmark can't wear these shirts, and it's not really the issue here I guess, but the Western/European conception of fundamental rights is massively different than that of other cultures, and perceived attempts to force our Western conception of rights on other cultures/regions (again, I appreciate this isn't really what's happening here) unsurprisingly do tend to evoke colonialist/imperialist vibes/undertones.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Human rights are a divisive issue tbf. It absolutely stinks that Denmark can't wear these shirts, and it's not really the issue here I guess, but the Western/European conception of fundamental rights is massively different than that of other cultures, and perceived attempts to force our Western conception of rights on other cultures/regions (again, I appreciate this isn't really what's happening here) unsurprisingly do tend to evoke colonialist/imperialist vibes/undertones.

I'm sure there is an element of that, but it kinda reads like something one of those ghastly reputation-washing PR companies would come out with to defend Qatar or AN Other oil rich autocracy to muddy the waters by suggesting it's the "r" word.

 

[Everton Seymour]

Tunisia will qualify they will have the support of the Arabs, and have similar conditions at home so that's a major advantage.

 

[sledger]

I'm sure there is an element of that, but it kinda reads like something one of those ghastly reputation-washing PR companies would come out with to defend Qatar or AN Other oil rich autocracy to muddy the waters by suggesting it's the "r" word.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to give the benefit of the doubt to FIFA here at all tbf. I agree with you entirely really, but it is easy to forget how complicated these sorts of issues are at times.

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Tunisia will qualify they will have the support of the Arabs, and have similar conditions at home so that's a major advantage.

Is home conditions as big an advantage in soccer as in cricket.

 

[Everton Seymour]

Is home conditions as big an advantage in soccer as in cricket.

It can play a role plus Denmark aren't exactly in Qatar's good books with their protests ...maybe it will be a coincidence when one or two decisions go against them ...

 

[the big bambino]

Denmark's pro-human rights shirts rejected by Fifa

Denmark's request for its players to be allowed to wear pro-human rights training shirts at the World Cup in Qatar has been rejected by Fifa.

www.bbc.co.uk

Because, obviously, human rights are an incredibly divisive issue.

Credit to yer Danes for trying, but, jeez, FIFA is just almost comically awful. Bloated, corrupt & happy to cosy up to any authoritarian regime with a few quid in its pocket.

Don't worry. Australia will get all gnarly and protest Denmark's right to wear whatever goddam t shirt they like, dude. Sure they'll take the stinkin' money from the cup they're protesting about but that doesn't mean they don't have principles they never intend to back up.

 

[Burgey]

Is home conditions as big an advantage in soccer as in cricket.

I couldn’t help but laugh that you thought the home conditions aspect of the post was the comment worthy part rather than the “support of the Arabs” part

 

[Burgey]

Pleasantly surprised the France game is at a decent enough watching time here

 

[Burgey]

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Can't believe Cumdog is in the Australia squad. He failed in League 1 in England for goodness sake. Hope he gets on as he is a character. Frogs will probably win 3-0. Denmark to beat Tunisia.