Usual stuff coming: great fighting spirit, heroes, unlucky, should be proud, heartbreak etc.
Actually, be better. Demand more. Stop the underdog stuff. #Socceroos
We'll always get the spotlight every four years because of the spectacle but having people actually fall in love with the game itself and then want to play, and want to watch more often than just World Cup / crunch game time is what the sport will really benefit from.
If anything I saw a backlash to using this World Cup to evangelise about club football (A-League, NPL, grassroots) and people more strident than ever that they know their care and interest only extends to the big show.
And that's why how we play when we're in the spotlight matters. Results are great, they do lead to prize money which the game needs as its lifeblood for the quadrennial cash injection. Players can get big transfers to top five leagues, others can be pointed to as a vindication of the A-League or NPL system or any given grassroots club.
But above that minutiae is just making people want to buy in and care about the game more often.
All of this. Spot on.
Pen takers, Gk swap all justifiable imo.
But the way we played post equaliser was just nonsensical. Felt like we were a plucky semi pro side in a cup game just trying to hold on when we shouldโve and couldโve won it with the momentum of the goal.
@killjoeshields@SrSittingBull Why do you think he would not play three centre backs? Every single game popa has ever managed for us has been with a back three.