Popovic unfazed by late outs, arrivals as China showdown looms
Tony Popovic has been given a quick introduction to the realities of international management across his 19 days in charge of the Socceroos but having expected the unexpected, he's at ease.
ADELAIDE, Australia — One of the early pieces of advice that Tony Popovic received when he took on the Socceroos post was to expect the unexpected. Thus, despite the late withdrawals from his squad and the staggered arrival of his players into Adelaide, the new boss of Australia’s men is cutting a confident figure ahead of Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against China.
It was less than three weeks ago that the former Melbourne Victory boss was unveiled as the successor to Graham Arnold following his shock resignation following last months’ 1-0 loss to Bahrain on the Gold Coast and 0-0 draw with Indonesia in Jakarta – but there’s been a lot packed into those 19 days.
Not only has he unveiled a brand new support staff and named an extended 26-player squad for this month’s fixtures against China and away to Japan – as well as gone back and watched those games against Bahrain and Indonesia – he’s also had to rapidly move to replace Connor Metcalfe and Massimo Luongo with Patrick Yazbek and Luke Brattan after the farmer duo suffered injuries with their clubs.
And once into camp, he’s had to deal with his players arriving not as a unit but in dribs and drabs as they jetted in from around the world; goalkeeper Paul Izzo, after keeping goal in Randers 1-1 draw with Lyngby on the weekend, only arriving on Wednesday morning after a more than 30-hour commute.
“It's been everything that I was told to expect,” Popovic. “Not to expect the squad will remain the same because injuries do occur. We're pretty calm about that and injuries are always unfortunate for a player, for any individual, obviously, for the squad, but it gives another player an opportunity.
“We have to take everything into consideration [when determining a starting XI] and we are doing that. But you know, we're pretty calm about the process. We've got a very good group of players here and I'm very at ease with the decisions that have to be made.
“Paul arrived today, we had a lot of late arrivals last night. Some things are out of our control but I don't want to use that as an excuse. We feel we have enough time to show the players how we'd like to play and I'm sure the players have seen it, they're comfortable with it, and they'll show some good signs of that tomorrow night.”
Fortunately for Popovic, he reported that none of the group arrived in camp carrying any maladies that would restrict their availability for Thursday, giving him a full deck to choose from in his stated goal to instil a quicker, more dynamic attack.
“Patience… that's very clear that we don't force the action,” explained the coach. “But we also need to play with a tempo that forces them to be uncomfortable while they're defending. And the more we can do that, I'm sure we'll give ourselves real, really good opportunities to score follow-up.”
China, for their part, entered into Thursday’s game as the only side below the Socceroos in Group C of the third phase of Asian Qualification, defeated 7-0 by Japan – in a game that drew significant criticism from fans in China – and 2-1 to Saudi Arabia last month.
Their coach Branko Ivanković recalled watching Popovic play against his native Croatia at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and with the sudden change from Arnold has been watching footage of Melbourne Victory’s last seasons in addition to the Socceroos’ recent games to gather insight into what awaits his side.
The veteran coach said on Wednesday that his players would be seeking to leave their hearts on the field as they represented the biggest country in the world and Popovic is also expecting a reaction after their last disappointing results.
“They’ve had a poor start,” said Popovic. “So you have to expect real determination and desperation from the opponent. [They'll be] desperate to get a result any way they can. And we have to match that desire.
“And if we do that, we're at home, we will be confident tomorrow night, but I'm sure that we can win the game. We have to get that balance right between being calm with and without the ball and also having that dynamic edge when we get our opportunities to be creative in that front third.”
Asked about the absence of Alex Robertson from his squad, Popovic remarked that the youngster wasn’t considered for this window as he was ineligible. After initial confusion as to what that meant — given that the Cardiff midfielder has already played for the Socceroos — Football Australia officials subsequently moved to assuage fears by saying his absence was regulatory and that the federation was working with him to ensure his eligibility in future windows.
Image Credit: 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC)