MVFC Blog

Half-Time Orange is a blogger I respect, but his latest column has found me questioning his sense of perspective. In a piece titled When Did the Socceroos Become so Soft?, he writes about the news that four Socceroos (Lucas Neil, Josh Kennedy, Jacob Burns and Mile Sterjovski) may miss key qualifiers in July because their […]

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The Socceroos side held China to a draw last night, keeping them at the top of the ladder in Group A of Asia’s 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Qatar, who beat Iraq 2-0, rise to 2nd place, a point behind Australia.

The Socceroos had almost everything go against them: a spate of injuries, a tough environment to play in, minimal preparation time. Ten minutes into the game, things started looking even worse, as Pim Verbeek was forced to sub Archie Thompson off after he picked up a calf injury.

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The Socceroos meet China tonight in the second round of World Cup qualifiers, and it seems everything is stacked against them. Not only must they play China in Kunming, at the lofty height of 1900 metres above sea level, but they must also do so without several key players.
Players have been dropping like flies: Tim […]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oHPp_wHCEo

Midway through the first half, I thought one word could describe the Socceroos’ drubbing of Qatar: Clinical.

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Can a Socceroos side that has had just 48 hours together win its first-ever World Cup qualifier in Asia?
Australia coach Pim Verbeek has had 6 weeks to decide whether to field a team of inexperienced A-League players, or try his luck with a squad of experienced - but potentially jet-lagged - Europe-based players. After several […]

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The Melbourne Victory will play the Socceroos behind closed doors on Saturday.
For Pim Verbeek, the friendly allows him another chance to watch his selection of A-League players before finalising his squad for the Qatar match.
It’s not clear who Archie Thompson, Rodrigo Vargas and Kevin Muscat will play for, considering they are all still up for […]

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Only seven sleeps left before the Socceroos embark on their World Cup qualification campaign.
Does Pim Verbeek know what he’s doing? Who will he pick from the 39-man squad he named last week? Will Vargas, Archie or Muscat get a run?
It may be the first qualification match, but it’s incredibly important. The Socceroos will be at […]

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Pim Verbeek held his second training camp yesterday, this time calling in 29 players from the A-League. Eight of the players at the last training camp were left out this time, including the Melbourne Victory’s Leigh Broxham and Nick Ward.
Kevin Muscat, Archie Thompson and Rodrigo Vargas have all been picked again though.
Archie has already said […]

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Pim Verbeek announced his 22-man selection for a Socceroos training camp next week. Among them are Melbourne Victory’s Archie Thompson, Kevin Muscat and Rodrigo Vargas.
Only A-League players were picked for the training camp, though Verbeek insists there’s no guarantee that he’ll pick exclusively A-League players for the opening World Cup qualifier against Qatar on February […]

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