https://t.co/s1deHu809k
Fire up - its a World Cup Game Day.
We've belted Denmark.
We've crushed Japan.
We've dogwalked Serbia.
We've cooked Tunisia.
We've held Chile, Croatia and Ghana.
We've pushed reigning Champions Brazil, France and Argentina all the way on this stage.
So who the fuck says we can't beat Turkey.
#AUSvTUR #Socceroos #WorldCup2026
2022 WC Squad already outperformed Golden Gen - the "club size" metric is the only thing left in the discussion and Barcelona is one of the biggest on the planet.
Nestory to Bayern - Herrington to Barcelona - Circati to Atletico in the same class of Footballers would put an end to the conversation
Only rumours of course but if Herrington and Circati go to La Liga that kills every argument the Golden Generation has ever put forward.
That A-League era is miles clear in terms of player development.
#Socceroos#BestLeagueInTheWorld
@JamesT2129@Matthew60265580@Ghj45263917 Yeah phenomenal club player but how many did he get for the National Team? In an era when everyone stat padded against Oceania as well
I'm not being silly - I lived through both eras - now we are pretending Kewell wasn't injured for 90% of his Liverpool stint and never got back to fitness.
That Jackson Irvine and Matt Leckie have more First Team appearances than Mark Viduka or Craig Moore's entire careers and they aren't even retired yet.
I'm grateful to the for paving the way, but Football - globally and within Australia is better now than it was in 2005.
@JamesT2129@Ghj45263917 Atletico in 2026 is closer to a League Title than Liverpool were in 2005 - Either both of you get actual profiles or I'm assuming you firstname bunchanumbers accounts are Bots
"I cannot believe what my eyes have just seen... The first half was as good as I've seen any national team play in any tournament, let alone the World Cup"
@herculezg and @ESPNFC had high praise for the USMNT after a 4-1 win over Paraguay.
No fraternizing with the US until after the group stage.
I think he still counts as Homegrown - we allow dual Nationals to play within the cap if he still holds the passport - even more interesting to get a NT cap before a proper senior appearance - but excited to see more of him this year.
This is part of the problem, any partial critique of that era is met as though I called them shit in any way.
Top 5 or so guys (Kewill, Cahill, Viduka, Schwarzer, Neill) are on a higher club tier than anyone now. I still think that is unreal glaze on the rest of the squad and the level of their club Football at the time - similarly Uruguay, Croatia and Japan were all good, but nowhere near the level they are today and I don't think people distinguish that.
@grandsumofan If you want to focus on supporting Indonesia I will gush about Matthew Baker with you - but any USMNT supporter will be muted into obscurity.
@BravadoSmoove How much better do Purples play than Greens? I haven't noticed much of a jump up in quality from Commons to Rares - anything over 90 pace seems required.
@ashkas No - they absolutely weren't, that is re-writing history. The Top 5 or so players were but the majority of the squad were squad guys in lower half teams when the ease of getting into English squads was easier - the makeup of the clubs in 2006 and 2026 is very similar.
@JamesT2129 No, that is re-writing history - the bulk of the squad were at the clubs but were squad players or getting substitute minutes. Hiddink spoke about Fitness being a key part of the lead in for that exact reason.