{"id":251391,"date":"2026-07-04T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/popovics-candid-admission-over-huge-gamble-as-socceroos-coach-makes-stunning-ref-claim\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T03:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T03:00:00","slug":"popovics-candid-admission-over-huge-gamble-as-socceroos-coach-makes-stunning-ref-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/popovics-candid-admission-over-huge-gamble-as-socceroos-coach-makes-stunning-ref-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Popovic\u2019s candid admission over huge gamble as Socceroos coach makes stunning ref claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Socceroos coach Tony Popovic has conceded his penalty shootout gamble backfired following Australia\u2019s World Cup exit, also taking aim at the officiating during the Round of 32 clash against Egypt.<\/p>\n

Australia was eliminated from the World Cup<\/a> after losing the penalty shootout 4-2 in Arlington on Saturday morning AEST, progressing through to the Round of 16 where they will face reigning champions Argentina. <\/p>\n

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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It comes after Popovic replaced goalkeeper Patrick Beach<\/a>, who was enjoying a breakout tournament in goal, with veteran Maty Ryan in the 119th minute, also sending two centre-backs to take spot kicks instead of strikers.<\/p>\n

Ryan, making his first appearance in the tournament, didn\u2019t get a hand on any of the four shots, while defenders Harry Soutar and Lucas Herrington missed their penalty attempts.<\/p>\n

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

TALKING POINTS: Vanishing act that must be explained<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

PLAYER RATINGS: Courageous act that can\u2019t be ignored<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

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Popa sheds light on Mat Ryan sub… | 00:26<\/p>\n

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Speaking to reporters in the post-match press conference, Popovic emphasised the players should not be blamed for the loss, admitting his plan didn\u2019t go as hoped.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always have options to come on in the match and, with a couple of minutes to go, we didn\u2019t lose any players in extra time through injuries, so we still had one sub and we put Maty on,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, it didn\u2019t work, so we can look at many things in the reasons behind it, but, with Maty\u2019s experience \u2026 and I think if you look at his record in saving penalties.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatrick is new as a goalkeeper, not just in the national team, but even in club football.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just felt that Maty\u2019s experience will be the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the decision to choose teenager Herrington as the team\u2019s fourth kicker<\/a> for the shootout, Popovic responded: \u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019d be saying something else if the young kid scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d probably be sitting there saying how wonderful it is that an 18 year old took a penalty and scored.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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Popovic also criticised the officiating at Dallas Stadium, specifically when no foul was awarded after Socceroos defender Jordy Bos was hacked down<\/a> by Egypt\u2019s Ramy Rabia in a hefty challenge. <\/p>\n

The injured had to be replaced at halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s struggling, so it was a big loss for us,\u201d Popovic said of Bos.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had to come off, not a very good challenge. Unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t even a yellow card.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think those things keep going against Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil we can change that by getting to a certain level in these major competitions, I think, once we\u2019re respected as a nation that belongs with the elite and the very best, some of those things you see will go our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed on the dodgy calls, Popovic added: \u201cUnfortunately, until you achieve certain things, the respect is always less.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is that country that\u2019s trying to play football and all our opponents that we\u2019ve played so far are elite at football.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe perception is that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way we can change that is by competing with the elite, more often in major tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy our performances, that should already take a major step, but we\u2019ll have to keep doing that to gain the necessary respect, whether that\u2019s in this room, whether that\u2019s people in general, whether that\u2019s officials, whether that\u2019s opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be a range of different areas, and we\u2019re on a path to achieving that and knowing that we will have to earn that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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Despite the disappointing outcome, Popovic predicted a bright future for Australia\u2019s young team, who escaped a challenging group last month with victory over Turkiye and a clean sheet against Paraguay.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this moment, right now, everything\u2019s a little bit tough to take, but I\u2019m sure every Australian is proud of the group and what they did throughout the tournament and, tonight, the effort they put in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure their families and friends and every Australian back home that\u2019s watched, will be very proud tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cWe want this to inspire us to do better, and hopefully we can take a step forward again in the Asian Cup, which is coming up for us in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, in four years\u2019 time, let\u2019s have bigger targets, bigger expectations. But we also know that being at a World Cup is not easy to firstly arrive, to qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at all the nations that don\u2019t progress, and all the big nations that haven\u2019t had success over a big period of time, we can\u2019t take this for granted, what we\u2019ve achieved, and we need it to keep growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, if we get to this point again in four years time, we can take that next step and progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Socceroos coach Tony Popovic has conceded his penalty shootout gamble backfired following Australia\u2019s World Cup exit, also taking aim at the officiating during the Round of 32 clash against Egypt. Australia was eliminated from the World Cup after losing the penalty shootout 4-2 in Arlington on Saturday morning AEST, progressing through to the Round of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251392,"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-251391","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\/251391","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=251391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}