Socceroos coach Tony Popovic has said he would not change his approach to Australia’s heartbreaking Round of 32 penalty shootout loss to Egypt at the FIFA World Cup, while revealing he knocked back a long-term contract from Football Australia.
The Socceroos agonisingly exited the World Cup in July in Dallas when defenders Harry Souttar and Lucas Herrington missed penalties, while goalkeeper Mat Ryan failed to make a save after being brought on for the shootout.
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Popovic has no regrets over his shootout tactics, however, as the Socceroos lost a World Cup knockout game for the third time in the nation’s history.
“If we had the penalty shootout again the next day, the same players would have taken it and the same goalkeeper would have been in. The exact same would have happened,” he told reporters on Tuesday in his first press conference since the World Cup.
“That’s not to say that you can’t have other options and you can’t choose other players. Of course you can. The flip side to that is Egypt, they had a penalty shootout in January, I think in the semi-final of the AFCON. They lost that penalty shootout. Three of the four that took it against us took penalties in that shootout in January. They lost. Two of them were defenders, one’s a midfielder, one’s an attacker. (Mohamed) Salah missed in January. He didn’t miss at the World Cup.
“So you can look at it many different ways and there’s no wrong to suggest that someone else could have taken it as well. But I think you’ve got to assess the actual moment in itself after 120 minutes.
“We had an idea of who could take the penalties and then you’ve also got to see how the player feels and if the player is ready and those boys were ready to take a penalty without any doubt.”
He added: “Maty has experience. Maty saved two penalties for us in the qualifiers. Maty saved penalties for Levante. Patrick Beach has not saved one penalty in any shootout, pretty much.
“But that’s not to say that Patrick couldn’t have done a good job. In that moment, it was very clear to me that Maty should come in. And like I said, the next day I would have done the same thing.”
Despite the World Cup heartbreak, Popovic revealed he turned down a contract extension that would take him through to the 2030 edition.
On the eve of the World Cup, Popovic signed an extension through to the end of the Socceroos’ Asian Cup campaign in Saudi Arabia in January, and hopefully February.
But he said Football Australia were prepared to give him a full World Cup cycle before a ball had even been kicked in North America this year.
Although, he turned it down in favour of a short-term deal to give both parties the chance to reassess things after the Socceroos’ attempt at being crowned continental champions for the first time since 2015.
“I love coaching the Socceroos. It was my choice to go into the Asian Cup and I think, although I was offered a four-year deal, I decided to go to the Asian Cup and I think that is something I think is good and it also gives the FA an opportunity if they want to go a different direction they can,” Popovic said.
“I’m very comfortable with the decision that’s been made. I’m very comfortable with how I’ve worked always for the future and these games against Brazil it will be an eye on the future and so will November and so will the Asian Cup.
“If I leave the week later, I’ll still be comfortable with that.”
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The 53-year-old argued that his willingness to blood a host of young players during Australia’s World Cup campaign highlighted his desire to put the nation first ahead of his own future.
“I had no concerns about whether I signed or not. And if I hadn’t signed, I would have been happy with what I had done and what I have left behind. The same will be after the Asian Cup,” Popovic said.
“I know the legacy that I’ll leave behind, that I know personally and if it’s someone else that takes it forward, that’s fine and if it’s me, great.
“If we agree to do this together, but it won’t change what I’ll do now, I will still look to the future. I will still bring in young players and there will be a lot of young players probably at the Asian Cup and that will be done without losing any expectation that I believe we should be challenging for the Asian Cup and we should be definitely in the semis fighting for a final spot and once you’re there, you want to win it.
“I think that should always happen with Australia, regardless of how young the team is, how many debutants there are. So that needs to happen because of the future, the young players coming through, because we need to create a pool of players that in four years, if we are fortunate enough to be at a World Cup, because you should never take it for granted, and if we can get through the qualifiers, then you want to be in a better position with the starting players and the players that can come on and make a difference.
“I don’t think I’ve ever thought about the immediate future of myself and if I only thought about myself, then the squad would have been very different at the World Cup.”
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Popovic replaced Graham Arnold during the qualifying campaign and secured automatic qualification for the first time since the 2014 World Cup with an unbeaten record of five wins and three draws in the third round of regional qualifiers.
But he overhauled the team that guided the country to the World Cup and backed in Australia’s promising youth with the Socceroos boasting the second youngest squad in the 48-team tournament.
It is move that appears to have paid dividends for the Socceroos’ future.
“So the decision was made very early to evolve the team and to get young players into the group, not just for the World Cup, but also for the future,” Popovic said.
“Without losing the expectation of results. So I’ve never shied away from the results or that the expectation people should have that we should go further and further. But I believe that that needed to be done for the future of the game and the future of this team. That in the next two World Cups and maybe we can have a core group of players that can actually help.
“Keep Australia on the map in terms of football and possibly take it even further than ever before. We would have loved to have done that now as well without losing sight of the immediate goal of the World Cup. But I think that just shows the potential that the players have and now their next step is can they play regularly in better leagues because if they’re doing that, the performances you can enable at the World Cup is the highest level.
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“And to be able to have that level late in games, you need to have matches under your belt under that type of pressure.
“I’m hoping that these young boys now in the next two to four years, it won’t happen overnight, but they play regular football under intense scrutiny and pressure at training, intense scrutiny and pressure in games, which when the World Cup comes around, which obviously we aim to qualify for, that in those key moments that we can be better equipped to deal with those moments.”
Popovic has relished seeing so many of his national team players make big moves in the recent transfer window.
Nestory Irankunda, who scored Australia’s opening goal in the 2-0 win against Turkiye, is set to make his Champions League debut for Sporting CP on Wednesday morning Australian time.
Alessandro Circati will play Europa League football with Sporting’s Lisbon rivals Benfica.
Teenager Herrington has featured in every match of the Premier League season so far for newly promoted surprise packet Hull City.
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Beach is playing in France’s Ligue 1 for Troyes, while Paul Okon-Engstler is starting in the Bundesliga for Koln.
Popovic urged them all to do the work to cement themselves in their new clubs and new leagues.
As there is still plenty of work to do.
Popovic had a clear message when asked about Mohamed Toure’s prolific goal scoring in the English Championship for Norwich City despite not making his mark on the World Cup with the Socceroos.
“You can be playing well at your club. It doesn’t mean that you will play well for the Socceroos. It’s another level. It’s the highest level,” Popovic said of the 22-year-old striker.
“There is no higher level than that than playing at the World Cup.”
While there are concerns for the next generation after the Young Socceroos failed to qualify for the next year’s U20 Asian Cup following a 2-0 loss to Indonesia in a do-or-die qualifier in Laos on Sunday.
It means 18 months after winning the continental title with the likes of Herrington and Okon-Engstler in the team, Australia will not get the chance to defend its title.
“I know what it did for Lucas Herrington and young Paul Okon who in October played in an under-20 World Cup,” Popovic said of international youth tournaments.
“And then what, eight months later, they’re starting at the World Cup. So it just shows you what part of their journey that experience can do.
“So when we see now that we don’t qualify for the 20s (Asian Cup), that’s disappointing. Of course it’s disappointing for me as a Socceroos coach because I know what that can do for their confidence, for their own belief to have that pressure that they don’t get as a young player.
“So it’s always a work in progress. And if we can make sure that we have that foresight and the same approach as what we have with the Socceroos all the way through that we keep giving young players an opportunity.”
That stance of giving rising stars the chance to represent their country will continue in this month’s friendlies against powerhouse Brazil in Townsville and Brisbane.
Popovic joked that his counterpart, former Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti and his team will not know much about Townsville.
And they might not know much about many of their Australian opponents too.
With the travel demands making life tough for the Socceroos’ European contingent as well as a hamstring injury to Cristian Volpato on the weekend, Popovic expects to field a vastly different XI to the Round of 32 clash with Egypt.
“Yep, I definitely want to bring in some more fresh faces. When I say fresh faces, players that I believe have the potential to play for the Socceroos in the future,” he said.
“So we’re looking to try a few of those now against Brazil. I think the Asian Cup should be very similar to the World Cup in terms of the amount of young players that we have, the amount of young players that will play.
“It’s not saying we don’t want to expect much at the Asian Cup. We should aim to win the Asian Cup. You know, really, if you have a look at the last two Asian Cups, we finished in the quarterfinals in both. So that’s a challenge for us that, you know, let’s aim to win the Asian Cup while still bringing in new faces to give them the experience.”