<\/p>\n
Socceroos coach Tony Popovic just dumped the Australian captain, a 100-cap legend in career-best form in a top-five league, at the World Cup for a 22-year-old A-League goalkeeper playing his first full international game.<\/p>\n
Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportsmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n Pre-kickoff against Turkiye, Maty Ryan\u2019s bombshell demotion for Patrick Beach sparked outrage and bewilderment.<\/p>\n Post-match, after a stunning eight-save performance from the Melbourne City stopper in a 2-0 win<\/a>, the call was hailed a ballsy masterstroke from Popovic and Australia quickly moved on.<\/p>\n But what on earth just happened?<\/p>\n READ MORE<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n \u2018This s**t\u2019s hilarious\u2019: USA pundit doubles down on Socceroos call as World Cup heat builds<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n \u2018You watching, America?\u2019: US pundits mocked as shift rubs salt in \u2018trash-talking\u2019 Turkiye wounds<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Huge snub exposes thrilling \u2018Roos reality; Popa truth we all should\u2019ve known \u2014 Talking Pts<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Goalie gamble gets perfect 10 as Socceroos\u2019 next gen proves the world wrong \u2014 Player Ratings<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Aussies TAKEOVER Canada after upset | 02:46<\/p>\n WHAT POPOVIC HAS SAID \u2014 AND A \u2018SPECULATIVE\u2019 PODCAST THEORY<\/b><\/p>\n Popovic has only given the simplest of explanations: that he preferred Beach, who had previously made just two friendly appearances, to 34-year-old Ryan.<\/p>\n \u201cI just wanted to play Patrick. The decision was to play Patrick,\u201d Popovic told SBS before kickoff against Turkiye, before elaborating a little more post-match.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to go into when I delivered that news. That\u2019s between the coach and player. Maty, he\u2019s a super professional, over 100 caps for his country, and he conducted himself as I expected \u2014 as a leader, as a top player.<\/p>\n \u201c[The major selection calls] were maybe shocks for a lot of people, but not shocks within our playing group or staff. Because we\u2019re all working together every day, and we can see the quality of these young boys.\u201d<\/p>\n Beach said that Ryan had handled himself with class after the decision, helping him to prepare for the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cA couple of days ago the boss and keeper coach (Frank Juric) pulled me aside and told me that I\u2019d be playing,\u201d Beach told reporters in Vancouver. <\/p>\n \u201cThat I\u2019d been performing really well, they have confidence in me, and that gave me all the confidence I needed to get out there and do my job tonight.<\/p>\n \u201cMaty and Paulie (Paul Izzo) both have been really great for me; great goalkeepers, great guys. They\u2019ve given me a lot of support. They had some chats to me before the game, and were very calm, relaxed, and they just said, enjoy it out there, have fun, good luck, and go do what you do, everyone knows what you can do.<\/p>\n \u201cMaty and Paulie have been excellent. All three of us have been pushing each other for the last four or five weeks, relentlessly every week, so the goalkeeper union is very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n That speaks to the quality of the individuals involved. Ryan is a renowned good guy; in a more combustible camp, this decision might have had the capacity to completely derail the campaign. Ryan instead has still been posting joyful images of the Turkiye victory to his social media accounts, speaking to his pride of being an Australian player.<\/p>\n Was there anything murkier to it?<\/p>\n One theory, offered transparently as \u201cpure speculation\u201d by experienced Australian football journalist James Dodd, was that Popovic may have taken issue with comments that Ryan made on a podcast shortly before the World Cup; the Unscripted podcast with former NRL player Josh Mansour. The episode was published right before Popovic apparently made his decision.<\/p>\n Three minutes into the interview, Ryan asked Mansour, \u201cI can curse on this, can\u2019t I?\u201d Mansour replied: \u201cOf course you can.\u201d<\/p>\n One highlighted comment from Ryan was: \u201cWhen I\u2019m going out on the football pitch, the last thing I say is, \u2018Ain\u2019t no c-word scoring against me today\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n In some instances where the quote was circulated, it appeared that Ryan had used the actual c-word. He did drop a number of F-bombs during the podcast appearance, for example while discussing goalkeeping against champion players like Arjen Robben: \u201cF***, if I can have the game of my life, I can f***ing, I can stop him for 90 minutes and it\u2019ll be f***ing done my job.\u201d<\/p>\n Ryan used an NRL example when asked about the Socceroos team needing to stick firm with its beliefs.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess the most recent f***ing example, maybe Penrith Panthers. They went out and got beat by the Bulldogs and now they\u2019ve just f***ing carried on where they left off. I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve gone and changed their f***ing approaches or processes or principles or nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n Dodd suggested that the crude language may have been deemed unbecoming of an Australian captain before a major tournament. Popovic has not been asked if it was a factor.<\/p>\n RYAN\u2019S STUNNING RENAISSANCE v BEACH\u2019S REMARKABLE RISE<\/b><\/p>\n Irrespective of any of the above, Popovic\u2019s decision was a monumental call.<\/p>\n Ryan just played a monumental role in saving Levante from relegation in La Liga. He had the third-most saves in the Spanish league this season (boosted by playing for a lowly team), making 126 from 36 games at a rate of 69.2% as he faced the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Raphinha and Julian Alvarez.<\/p>\n Ryan has had a rocky ride in club football since spending several seasons in the Premier League with Brighton and Hove Albion, but has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance back in La Liga having had an ill-fated stint at Valencia a decade ago. After standing tall under extreme pressure in a revered competition, he seemed to have made himself a no-brainer selection for the Socceroos at the World Cup.<\/p>\n Legendary Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer called it a \u201cmassive, massive call\u201d.<\/p>\n