Found a 10min video of all the goals from that A Samoa 31-0 trashing, possibly in my YT feed algorithm because i searched for the new movie “Next Goal Wins”.
Back when nations feared us and we knew how to put a shot on target.
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I do wonder. Would the current crop of Socceroos be able to beat American Samoa by the same scoreline or better?
We should have a historical re-match.
Lol.
Harry Souttar is one goal away from having more goals than Mark Viduka…
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Is this that surprising? Viduka never could replicate his club form for country and Souttar scoring headed goals to break down low blocks from Asian countries averaging 4 foot has become a legitimate tactic at times.
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Not really, just an interesting fact.
It’s a smart tactic. Having towering six foot something stupid defender against physically smaller back lines is just logical at set-pieces.
The defenders are probably also highly intimidated by his accent too.
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Kinda.
Consider he has done it in half the amount of games. In a much more developed confederation. With a less fancied team around him.
Saying that Souttar has it easy because he doesn’t have the contend with the might of the Oceania Confederation seems odd. And these goals are lesser because they’re headers? Viduka was no slouch in the air.
I think it says more about the Dukes efforts for the Socceroos than anything else. Still love him though
Souttar would probably take Archie Thompson’s 13-goals vs American Samoa and at least double it.
I mean yes, yes it’s ridiculously surprising. First choice striker who’s job is to score goals, vs first choice defender who’s job is to defend and then go up periodically to score off a cross. It’s very surprising. Throw in the fact that Viduka finished his career towards the start of the Golden Generation and was regularly playing against semi-amateur teams.
It also speaks well for our set-piece deliveries. Souttar would be lucky to have two goals if our set pieces weren’t on point.
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Viduka was used as a back to goal hold up man in the socceroos. Not as a free ranging striker like at Leeds.
He also vary rarely played in Oceania. Most of those games were not in windows.
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No doubt the Asian confederacy is stronger and the many fewer games is impressive on the face of it. But he is one the very few players of quality on the team and we do intentionally set up at times to use his advantages specifically.
I’ve said nothing about headers being lesser. Merely that it’s a legitimate tactic we turn to with Souttar. Number of goals is all we’re really talking.
Is it odd? Viduka never played that many games against Oceania teams, particularly at the height of his powers. Remember those games against New Caledonia, Vanuatu, American Samoa etc etc were largely made up of Australian based players so he never left Europe to play them. Viduka played the majority of his games against decently strong opposition like France, Uruguay, England etc and often failed to really deliver in these games (at least to my recollection - despite the decent quality of the opposition I recall us holding our own in the majority of these games and Dukes just going missing). It wasn’t really until he got the captain’s armband where he started to play and get goals against weaker opposition at which point he was heading towards the twilight of his career.
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Souttar is used as a centre back, primarily defending the area immediately in front of his own goal.
Viduka was still used as a back to goal hold up man.
Nothing about Soutter’s goal scoring record is going to change that.
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You think being a target man is more of a disadvantage to scoring goals than being a defender?
Im not trying to besmirch the great name of Mark Viduka, but I’m surprised people are so willing to down play how remarkable it is that a defender has reached the same number of goals in half the amount of games as our all time greatest striker.
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He wasn’t a target man. he was a back to goal hold up man.
Yes, he’s record is pish. But what are you going to do? Go back in time and motivate him more and find a natio coach that uses him more effectively? Convince the OFC to only play qualifiers in international windows? Get Leeds to pull their heads out of their arse and let him go play internationals more?
Viduka is 6’1" off the top of my head and was good in the air. Soutter is a 6’6" and a set piece beast and his height is exploited by out set pieces.
Was Viduka used the same way?
If Viduka wasn’t so short, he may have had a few more headers.
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No he wasn’t. He’d be lucky to have played the island nations more than a couple of times. Farina utilised a larger number of NSL players for the OFC group stages, and he was right to do so. It was a massive waste of time bringing all of the European stars to flog some very poor teams by 20+ goals, and risk an injury involving a trip with long flights and playing on probably vastly inferior playing surfaces.
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He’s 188cm! He’s a full 10cm taller than Tim Cahill!
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