{"id":251302,"date":"2026-07-04T01:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/socceroos-stars-shock-reveal-over-tony-popovic-bombshell-as-image-exposes-masterstroke-that-sunk-aussies\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T01:37:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:37:00","slug":"socceroos-stars-shock-reveal-over-tony-popovic-bombshell-as-image-exposes-masterstroke-that-sunk-aussies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/socceroos-stars-shock-reveal-over-tony-popovic-bombshell-as-image-exposes-masterstroke-that-sunk-aussies\/","title":{"rendered":"Socceroos star\u2019s shock reveal over Tony Popovic bombshell as image exposes masterstroke that sunk Aussies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Socceroos coach Tony Popovic made one of his biggest gambles of the World Cup during Australia\u2019s Round of 32 clash against Egypt<\/a>, switching goalkeepers moments before the penalty shootout in Arlington.<\/p>\n

Popovic dropped a bombshell during Australia\u2019s tournament opener against Turkiye last month, benching captain Mat Ryan in favour of the less experienced Patrick Beach.<\/p>\n

However, the 22-year-old more than proved himself by producing eight saves during the group-stage contest, also keeping a clean sheet against Paraguay to help Australia qualify for the knockouts.<\/p>\n

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Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now ><\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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Socceroos lose to Egypt on penalties | 12:01<\/p>\n

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On Saturday morning AEST, scores were tied at 1-1 deep into extra time when Popovic made the switch, substituting out Beach in 119th minute for Ryan, who took the captaincy armband from Harry Souttar. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is good management, you get on your specialist penalty saver,\u201d former England forward Chris Sutton said on BBC Radio 5 Live.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf one is better than the other then you get him on.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony Popovic thinks Mathew Ryan is the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2018NO WAY\u2019: Vanishing act that must be explained; issue with final Popa shock Points<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019M HERE\u2019: Football icon\u2019s touching message to shattered Aussie teen sensation<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

\u2018RECKLESS\u2019: Heat on ref as \u2018terrible tackle\u2019 leaves Aussies seething<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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Mathew Ryan of Australia comes on as a substitute replacing Patrick Beach. Photo by Lars Baron\/Getty Images<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although it appeared to be a preconceived plan, Beach didn\u2019t look terribly impressed with the decision, especially considering he had just made a clutch save<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old later confirmed he only learned he would come off when his number appeared on the big screen; it was not a pre-game decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m assuming Patrick Beach knew about the situation but he didn\u2019t look very happy about it,\u201d BBC One commentator Robyn Cowen said.<\/p>\n

At the end of extra time, Egypt\u2019s players were seen frantically analysing footage of Ryan on a laptop.<\/p>\n

The footage they were watching appeared to be of Kylian Mbappe successfully scoring against Ryan when Real Madrid played Levante in a 2-1 win in January.<\/p>\n

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Socceroos FUME after Bos is taken out | 00:30<\/p>\n

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On that night, Mbappe scored after Ryan tried to psyche the Frenchman out, feigning movement to his right multiple times before eventually diving. Mbappe casually finished to his left with Ryan well off-centre. <\/p>\n

Egypt captain Mohamed Salah seemingly benefited from the last-minute homework, taking pace off his shot as Ryan once again prematurely moved, albeit to his left.<\/p>\n

The goalkeeper switch ultimately didn\u2019t pay off for the Australians \u2014 Souttar and teenager Lucas Herrington both missed their attempts, with Ryan failing to save any of Egypt\u2019s four spot-kicks, ending the Socceroos\u2019 World Cup campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a massive, massive call for leave out Mat Ryan when he did,\u201d former Australian representative Mark Milligan said on SBS.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan at the time had done nothing to warrant what was coming. He\u2019s coming off the back of a fantastic season.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if it weren\u2019t for Beach, this tournament would have looked a lot different before this game.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Zlatan sends message to 18yo Aussie | 00:41<\/p>\n

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Asked about the decision during the post-game interview, Popovic explained: \u201cThat was always an option for us, with his experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you\u2019ve got to see how the game plays out, sometimes in extra-time players go down and you need to make the changes and you don\u2019t have a sub available.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we had one available with a couple of minutes to go, and we put Ryan on.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes four years after Ryan was substituted off for fellow goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne during Australia\u2019s World Cup qualifier against Peru in 2022, with the 37-year-old famously saving Alex Valera\u2019s spot-kick to send the Socceroos to Qatar 2022.<\/p>\n

Egypt with face either Argentina or Cabo Verde in the Round of 16.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Socceroos coach Tony Popovic made one of his biggest gambles of the World Cup during Australia\u2019s Round of 32 clash against Egypt, switching goalkeepers moments before the penalty shootout in Arlington. Popovic dropped a bombshell during Australia\u2019s tournament opener against Turkiye last month, benching captain Mat Ryan in favour of the less experienced Patrick Beach. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-251302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}