@hiraldo.bsky.social
Social science (sports; primarily sokkah), architecture (stadia; primarily sokkah), fashion (kits; primarily sokkah), philosophy (sports analysis; primarily sokkah) and history (sports archiving; primarily sokkah). Little else of interest. Terra Australis
Yeah it's a bit of a mess
One of the problems with the the luck of the draw of the Asian Cup doubling up as WCQ, and thankfully the last time that's being done (standalone AFC WCQs in the next cycle).
(Of course, they were lucky in the sense to only get one "big five" team rather than be drawn as a pot 3 team in one of the groups with two such biggies, but then see how competitive they've been against Japan (2-0; 0-0 after 60') and China now. Watch a pissed off NK now put them to the sword...)
Feel for Taiwan btw. Two wins in the group stage, take China to ET in the QF, and their reward in the WCQ play-in is...getting North Korea rather than one of the other non-top five teams (Uzbekistan or Philippines most likely being the other play-in teams who get to play each other for a WC spot).
Taiwan to the Tillies: Hold our beer
China being taken to ET by TAIWAN #WAC2026
That's fair, but a) there's no in-between travel involved for the semi-finalists, so the extra rest day is beneficial there, and b) Japan making the final would be on to their third game in six days compared to three in eight for Oz if we make it. So it could be more than just one extra rest day.
Mind you, if we make the final and play Japan, a significant amount of backs to the wall defending and winning through moments more than flow will become more suitable again lol. Still, it's not healthy for it to be as heavy as this was. Pressure needs to be relieved.
I liked Wheeler's impact.
...there's been a fog of low confidence hanging over the team, predating JM's arrival quite a bit. As said, chicken and egg, TnT competence/balance is essential for confidence on a sustainable basis, but there's also been a mental wall over playing football this team has been beset with for awhile.
Looking at the football and specifically how rough it's been since losing the HT lead against SK, I'll be interested to see how things go from here, how much it continues or the pressure kind of now lifting eases things. Mix of both TnT and psychological and they're interconnected, but for awhile...
FWIW, while the defensive effort and luck was similar last night to that 2010 Japan game, one difference was how scruffy Kate Gill's winner was (and owed a lot to Kaihori, later a hero in the 2011 WC final shootout, fumbling in goal). Conversely, both Tillies goals last night were very well taken.
And an end of week update, after getting that Shoot! scanned in
Because yes: we are now at 5000 (!!!) fully scanned football programmes, albums, magazines, 378 Shoots!......
To access them all for free, below is the link to click and share
www.flickr.com/photos/11405...
(Kinda crazy how close *both* eventual 2011 WC finalists came to not even qualifying, with even the USWNT needing a playoff after Mexico caused a boilover in CONCACAF and Japan needing to beat then-perpetual champs China in China in the third place AC game to qualify with no playoff safety net.)
P.S. re: WCQ, shoutout to how we'd still be a SF win/failing that, a third-place win away from qualifying if the WC was still a 16-team event, like BACK IN MY DAY.
You kids struggling with tonight's tension weren't around for the even-more-backs-to-the-wall 2010 SF against Japan, were you? /old
In all seriousness though, when it comes to this tournament serving as a building block for WC 2027 and beyond, given the immense pressure she was under for just about every single minute tonight and the growing need to solidify LB beyond Steph, that could be a very important game from Torpey.
I'm reluctant to take too much away definitively from this tournament, being the first one under new management, but:
If Alanna Kennedy plays on to the 2029 AC, playing 12 internationals per year and now scoring as she is, she will finish with approximately 100 international goals. Easy. #AUSvPRK
Putting aside all that football stuff for a second, with this hurdle passed, suddenly the KO path now works out OK for Australia.
Beyond no spectre of Japan in the SF, an extra rest day than whoever we play from here for each game. And that matters more when it's only 3-4 days. #AUSvPRK #WAC2026
Popular defeatist misery gets to an awkward truth, though. As much as it's a healthy human trait to want the world to be better, there's something perverse in the level to which our own fundamental wellbeing revolves around the external world that mass media beams into our heads being agreeable.
In an era of so much noxiously-spirited 'nothing matters, fuck it all' music, which even my very young self at the time overall found more a turn off than rebelliously appealing, forza turning that message on its head to ask why not make your own good against a disagreeable and senseless backdrop.
It is so fucked up how strange I'm made to feel by thinking highly of life by so many people lazily (if subconsciously) copping out on living through lazy self-pitying misery and being stupidly and childishly depressed by life not perfectly revolving around their own wants.
In San Andreas, Maccer appears outside of the cutscenes in Don Peyote, and neither him or Kent Paul have voices beyond the scripted dialogue lines. However, Maccer actually has a set of lines that went unused, since they were not assigned to his model name!
In later years we were told how difficult it was to play through games 3-4 days apart (2-3 then), that PnP is just our core to double down on, that we can't hope to function well without Kerr (injured then) or far greater investment in the game (way worse then, as much as it should still be better).
I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry™ but that 2016 Olympic qualifying tournament isn't talked about enough, not least as an instructive example. For all the 'haven't won the AC since 2010' stuff, we were Asia's best then, and playing excellent stuff at that. It's too forgotten.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_AF...
(Alternatively, VAR could have come in a bit earlier than it did and prevented Barbara making penalty saves when clearly being off her freaking line in the QF shootou...ok stop Hiro.)
Realise the last bit will sound fanciful but given just how easily that 2016 campaign could have flipped to a medal-winning one if we didn't repeatedly choke in the group stage as if the whole Olympic experience was new to us (which it was to everyone except de Vanna, a 2004 veteran)...sigh.
(Don't get me started on still being pissed off by NK getting to partake in the 2012 Olympic qualifiers right after getting caught doping (for which they were banned from WC 2015) and beating Oz to eventually grab the second and last spot. And how no London 2012 perhaps hurt us at Rio 2016.)
Seriously
Excuse me I'm suffering from Ballymore 2010 PTSD. #PRKvCHN #WAC2026
