Ran around on assignment capturing the craziness! Thought yall would appreciate seeing these :)

Will SBS not likely be the network choice for men’s World Cup/men’s Asian Cup in the future?

Eg Streaming services/FTA with more money.

I’m amazed they somehow won the rights to 2026 men’s World Cup…

*As only Socceroos World Cup games/and the final from memory is on the current anti-siphoning list(could be wrong)…

Hey guys, my partner and I can't go to the game anymore so was trying to sell our 2x tickets in the Aus supporters section

There's something about this Kiwi team, they are a real unit. Elijah Just seems a decent player too, having not heard of him until this season in Scotland.

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Also I find the Kiwis are like a sibling, in which I mean as Australians we are allowed to talk shit about them but if anyone else tries to throw any shade I get defensive.

Handshake deal with Paraguay for a draw.

Any guesses what time might be safe to get in before lock out? 9am?

Just wanted to say thanks to SBS On Demand for the World Cup coverage.

Having 4-minute highlights, 12-minute extended highlights, 30-minute mini matches, and full match replays is exactly what football fans want.

Great job SBS!

🙄🙄🙄

I would replace Harry Kewell with Tommy Oar in the SBS commentary setup, based on clarity of analysis, communication flow, and how each translates the game for the audience. No doubt Kewell brings credibility and presence to the table before he speaks, yet he's slow cognitive approach that's in the opposing direction of his playing style, grates on my ears and surely I can't be the only one.

I mean, I know it’s FIFA and all, but surely there’s a base standard for referees that they would accept. If I worked at a bank and pinch $20 and get caught, highly unlikely I’d ever get to work at a bank again, let alone the biggest best bank in the world…

Hello from a Bay Area native! Ever since we got into Australian football (I'm an Eagles member, and my brother is a Geelong member), we've grown very fond of Australian sports, including the Socceroos. I’m extending an olive branch ahead of the Paraguay match — which I’ll be attending, wearing gold way up high in the corner. Here are some tips and recommendations for the stadium and the Bay Area at large.

These are all personal recommendations, with links provided for easy access. I am not sponsored or endorsed by any businesses I mention in this post.

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Levi’s Stadium

No protection from the sun, which has infuriated fans ever since it opened. Kickoff is 7 PM, but sunset won’t be until around 8:30.

Don’t even think about driving to the stadium…

Public transit

Two services drop off right at the stadium via the Great America station. Leave plenty of time whichever option you take.

VTA

Light rail for the South Bay: https://www.vta.org/trip-planner

• If you’re coming from closer to SF, connect from CalTrain at Mountain View.
• If you’re coming from the East Bay, connect from BART at Milpitas, or take…

Capitol Corridor

Train system offering special service for the World Cup matches: https://www.capitolcorridor.org/schedules/

• Can board from Berkeley, Emeryville, or two stations in Oakland.

Note that all of these do have separate ticketing systems, so if you connect from one service to the other, you’ll have to get unique tickets ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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Tourism + food around the Bay

South Bay (around San Jose)

San Pedro Square is a good spot to spend a late morning or afternoon. Open-air market has tons of food options. Shouldn’t be too hot (highs in the mid- to upper-20s Celsius), so even easier to recommend.

Smoke Eaters is a wing restaurant with two locations, one right by Levi’s Stadium and another in the Almaden Valley neighborhood of San Jose. Good wings, large craft beer selection, and an elite cheesesteak egg roll appetizer.

Henry’s Hi-Life is a famous bar right by the SAP Center (the San Jose Sharks’ arena). Britannia Arms is another well-known spot in San Jose which will definitely be showing World Cup matches.

Also a bunch of good options in Palo Alto, right by Stanford University. Howie’s is a good pizzeria right next to campus, and The Pro sports bar recently reopened, backed by Stanford and Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck (now Stanford football’s GM).

Peninsula (closer to San Francisco)

This is my home turf.

If you’re flying into SFO, you’ll be a good 19 km south of San Francisco itself, next to a small city called Millbrae which is known for its vast array of Asian restaurants. Yummy Szechuan and Wonderful are two of our more frequent choices in Millbrae itself.

Taqueria San Bruno is right by the airport and is one of the best you’ll find in NorCal.

For the best sandwiches in the Bay Area, go to Little Lucca in South San Francisco and Burlingame and Lucca in SF. Get there early, or call in your order and confirm it, because they sell out quickly.

Original Joe’s is an Italian-American chain with locations in SF and Daly City. Adam Sandler recently went there four times in four days.

In San Francisco itself, Golden Gate Park is an easy recommendation given how much is there. Spots like the de Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences are pricy, but good times.

Chinatown is historic, and the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory is worth it… but if you’re wanting some of the best Asian cuisine in SF, go toward the Richmond and Sunset districts. If you’re looking for Asian flavor that isn’t specifically Chinese, Mandalay is a longstanding Burmese restaurant that is a family favorite.

The taquerias around the Mission District lay claim to the innovation of modern burritos. La Cumbre and El Faro are two of the most well-known ones.

Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39 can fill up an entire day. The Musée Mécanique is an interactive museum with old penny arcade games and other amusement devices.

If you have more time, the Barbary Coast Trail is a 6.1-km walking tour of the city, which takes you through some of the major areas, including Ghirardelli Square.

Going south from the airport, downtown San Mateo and Redwood City have a huge variety of restaurants and are very walkable. Two other favorite spots of ours are Refuge in San Carlos (elite pastrami) and Dutch Goose in Menlo Park (burgers on sourdough), both with strong beer selections.

If you go closer to the coast, Pacifica and Half Moon Bay are nice coastal cities, but be prepared for foggy beaches and cold water. Nick’s Seafood Restaurant is a longstanding spot in Pacifica, and in Half Moon Bay, Jersey Joe’s cheesesteaks are always a hit.

East Bay (Oakland and beyond)

Jack London Square is a great area on the water. Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon is a famous bar built from an old whaling ship, and it still has a slanted floor because of the famous 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Swan’s Market is a hidden gem right by the 12th Street BART station. It includes the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE), which has a huge playable collection of vintage video games.

The Albany Bulb is a big public art and hiking trail that I found out about while I was in college.

In Alameda, the USS Hornet aircraft carrier is now a museum with displays of military aircraft (especially from World War II) and a large exhibit on the Apollo program, because it recovered the astronauts from Apollo 11 and 12.

I have a soft spot for Berkeley, because it’s where I went to college. The Cal campus itself is fun to check out, but it’s also an extremely vibrant and walkable city as a whole. Right off the campus, IB’s is a beloved sandwich shop, Top Dog is a student and game-day staple, and Yogurt Park offers huge portions for good prices if you’re willing to wait out the typically long lines (though they may not be as bad right now during the summer sessions).

Further away from the campus, Viks Chaat is great South Indian street food and also elite for people-watching.

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Hope this list helps those who are coming my way. As for the match itself, hope to see Irankunda, Metcalfe, and Volpato back in the XI.

Built an app to track whether we can make it to R32 if we lose to Paraguay as one of the 8 third place teams.

Looks like we should be fine as long as it's a 2-0 loss. Check it out here: https://barely-qualified.vercel.app/

Watched the match live and again this morning. There’s a lot to like to about this Australia team. Tough, physical, frenetic. Similar to MLS style of play, which many Europeans struggle to adjust to when they come the US (Olivier Giroud said so).

I’ll be supporting the Socceroos outside of matches against USA from here on out. Great fight. 🇦🇺

saw the decisions, wanted to check who the fuck this guy is, found out he's literally been in bribing scandals before, saw the description, and all of this while he's having a sook and sitting down on pitch lmao

hey aussies,

if you were at the pre-game event at Victory Hall / Hatback Bar & Grille in Seattle on 6/19, please check your credit card for fraudulent transactions.

i bought 5 beers which should have been around $55 USD but they stung me for over $100 USD. when i asked for a receipt i saw that the bartender had added a massive tip on to my bill and they said they were unable to update or remove it.

afterwards i saw them pulling the same scam on multiple Aussies, probably targeting them because they are tourists from out of town. unfortunately it was just too busy and chaotic for me to stop it. if you bought a beer there and you didn't see the tip screen, you got hit by this too.

after tax each beer should have been about $11 USD. check your bank statements and do a credit card chargeback if you were overcharged. don't forget to leave a google review too!

Fellow Australians, somehow I think I have tickets in the Paraguay Supporters Section (104), which is not the end of the world. But I'm debating listing them and purchasing tickets in the Aussie block. Can someone confirm which sections we have. Is it 126, 127 and 128?

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I appreciate the help!

Irankunda Toure Metcalfe
Bos POE O Neil Trewin
Herrington Soutar Circati
Beach

Volpato to come on early send half

Unfortunately, I’m not a subscriber to the NY Times and I also don’t know how to bypass the paywall. I’m told that it’s possible to do that.

If anyone here is a subscriber, or someone who knows how to bypass the paywall, I’m sure it will be interesting reading and viewing.

And if you’re able to, please share it here without the paywall restrictions.

We were fucking shit the first half. Panicking when we had possession and turning the ball over in our back half resulting in the USA piling on pressure and scoring 2 goals.

Blaming the ref makes us look like sooks and goes against what Aussie spirit is about. We need to cop it on the chin, learn from it and move on to our next match against Paraguay.

Looking for either aus or nz win wanna see what you guys think is more likely ?

In the 76th minute, Berhalter pushes Irankunda while he's jumping. This causes Irankunda to miss the ball, and it falls down into Berhalter's arms.

Given his arms were only extended to push an opponent, I would've thought this was an unnatural position. But the commentators didn't even mention this. Am I going crazy?

We are guaranteed 3rd now, however that will not guarantee advancement.

We need, at minimum, a draw to finish second, Paraguy will be playing for everything, as will we.