🔗 Share this article

As soon as Tony Popovic at last gathered his maiden Socceroos squad, the fresh coach presented a series of standards. A lot were unambiguous and to the point – suitable considering the disruption around his abrupt entry, after Graham Arnold’s resignation, and with less than three weeks to prepare for critical 2026 World Cup qualifiers against China and Japan.

Popovic asserted that any player who aspired to represent in a Socceroos shirt would need to embrace an “elite” mentality to deserve, or continue to earn that honour. But there was another point. More an inspiration and more an evocation – and one that has been cast more distinctly into view with each step taken on the path towards the World Cup in North America.

“My expectations were to do something extraordinary, in my initial talk to the players,” Popovic says. “That stays constant.”

A little more than a year on from that team talk in an Adelaide hotel, plenty of other things have evolved, even if Popovic’s expectations stay the same. The coach, for one, looks really at home as Socceroos head. The 52-year-old’s reputation for discipline stands in stark contrast with the open and at times jovial figure speaking freely for over an hour in what have become periodic interviews with football media. So too have the results of his team changed, with memories of a loss to Bahrain and tie with Indonesia feeling fairly distant after victories over Japan and Saudi Arabia in June guaranteed the Socceroos’ berth in next year’s worldwide tournament.

Those wins came as part of an 11-game undefeated streak under Popovic, one that was only broken away by the United States earlier this month. It’s momentum that has taken the Socceroos to the unlikely edge of entering pot two in the World Cup draw. The performances of November warm-up matches against Venezuela, presently positioned 50th in the world, and 13th-ranked Colombia – as well as Ecuador’s games against Canada and New Zealand, and the remaining games of European qualifying – are significant in this context.

While Popovic admits that he arrived in the job expecting to only be able to depend on a key players of players, he now thinks the selection he can call upon has swelled. This doesn't only come through the emergence of young players such as Nestory Irankunda, Max Balard, or Mohamed Touré as authentic international players. There are also the examples of Miloš Degenek’s reappearance from the wilderness and Paul Izzo’s growth into a bona fide Socceroos keeper with the ability to challenge Maty Ryan.

“The squad has completely changed in my mind – of what’s possible with players that have joined,” Popovic says. “I first thought, ‘OK, this is my group; I don’t really have much outside of this. Just make it work and make them better.’ Now, I believe like there are 15, 20 players that have joined that, and I’m convinced there are more to come that I trust can help make us better as a squad at the World Cup.”

This unexpected rise of talent, and the transformation in mindset it has sparked in Popovic, has opened the door for players on the edges of the squad. Even those not yet regarded amongst those group can hold out hope that, in June next year, they could be on the flight. A player like Adrian Segečić might be about to miss a month of playing due to an ankle injury, but if he – or any other player – continues to deliver steadily, then the coach is emphasizing they’re highly likely of being part of his plans.

“I don’t want to put a cap or a stop on that – to reveal in March that this is our squad, and there may be one or two more new faces,” Popovic says. “No, I want every player to believe that they have an possibility. Why can’t there be another player that comes in in June?”

But this expansion, in a way, leads back to Popovic’s introductory talk as Socceroos head coach. For just as much as he wants players to exceed expectations him, to do something special and exceed the expectations others have for them, he wants his team to have the same philosophy.

“Saying I want to do something special is just ‘we don’t want to have restrictions’,” Popovic says. “We don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into ‘let’s be competitors at the World Cup, and let’s go home and celebrate for being there’.

“I keep saying it to the group: one day, Australia will go a long way in the World Cup. And why not this group? Why do we have to wait two or three World Cups, when I’m sitting back and cheering something exceptional from the Socceroos? Why should we have boundaries? Why not do it now?”