Popovic wants to see Socceroos on the ball, both on and off the field

With focus turning to the World Cup and a young and exciting side called up to face New Zealand, Tony Popovic wants his side to be on the ball both on and off the field during the Soccer Ashes.

Featuring seven uncapped players and a further eight with fewer than ten international appearances, Tony Popovic’s squad for Australia’s two-game series with New Zealand has been met with plenty of excitement. But as the coach himself observed in his pre-game press conference on Thursday evening, getting into the Socceroos squad is only one step on the road. And for those with intentions on being a part of the journey that will culminate at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America next year, both the fresh faces and the more wizened ones, it will be far more than just their on-field performances that those looking to endear themselves to the coaching staff will be judged by.

With qualification for next year’s global showpiece event secured by wins over Japan and Saudi Arabia back in June, continuing his unbeaten run since he was thrust into the role last October, few were quite certain what to expect from Popovic ahead of the Soccer Ashes. In a way, he had built up an almost contradictory habit of both fostering a collection of key contributors throughout his first squads, whilst also throwing at least one curveball in each of them. In the end, though, the biggest twist was perhaps that there wasn’t one: the coach observing that World Cup qualification had been secured, that the A-League Men was still in its offseason, and that several key contributors were either injured or just resolving their club situation by taking the opportunity to pick a young and experimental squad.

Nonetheless, as one would expect from a side coached by Popovic, an unfamiliar side doesn’t mean there’s been any kind of shift in expectations for those that will feature in the ACT and Auckland. Nor does the supposed lessening of stakes associated with this being a friendly fixture rather than a cutthroat World Cup qualifier.

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“It's do-or-die games to get a spot in the World Cup, for selection,” defender Cameron Burgess remarked. “On top of progress that we're looking to make going into the World Cup as well. So nothing [about the squad’s mindset] changes.”

For players coming in after earning a spot in the side through their performances at clubland, this means the expectation they find another level coming into a domain that Popovic has made very clear he sees as possessing a greater, elite expectation than the domestic one remains. And these demands stretch far beyond just what a player does during the 90 minutes of a match, too. Indeed, in some regards, the off-field stuff is even more important, given it helps establish a baseline of trust when it comes time putting players into crunch moments or selecting the next squad.

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Thus, as important as it undoubtedly is, it’s not just about playing well against New Zealand this window for the likes of Adrian Segečić, Noah Botić, Nestory Irankunda, Nicolas Milanović, Mo Touré, and more. It’s also about elite training, elite diet, elite recovery, elite confidence and mindset, and much more. For if there was any word that has become something of a catchcry of the Popovic-era of the Socceroos, a mantra repeated by players and staff alike, it’s ‘elite’.

“It's a step up for these young men, and we want to see how they handle that,” Popovic said on Thursday. “We want them to be confident and full of belief. That's why they're here.

“They should walk around knowing that we've been selected due to our performances. They should have that confidence. And now we want to see how they grow each day in training. What are they like off the field? How do they recover from the sessions? How do they recover from a long flight? That's new for some of them as well, that you have to fly and you need to perform the next day of training. So it'll be a great experience for them.

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“We're delighted with what we've seen so far. Their energy is high, [as is] their enthusiasm. They want to be Socceroos, which is great. They're proud to be here, which is everything that I want to see in all the players, and you want to see that from the senior ones as well. Hopefully, you'll see a lot of the energy that we're seeing at training displayed out on the field.”

Of course, there are games to play, too. They’re pretty important as well, especially given that they’re against a potential opponent come World Cup time. And coming up against a New Zealand side that remains strong even with the injury-enforced departures of Marko Stamenić and Liberato Cacace, the focus is on putting in a different kind of performance than the ones that characterised the recent wins of the Samurai Blue and Green Falcons.

For as famous as Aziz Behich’s goal against Japan has become, it came after 90 minutes in which the Socceroos had 31% of the ball and struggled to get out of their own half of the field in the opening 45 minutes. Against Saudi Arabia, they looked more comfortable but still surrendered 71% of their foes, fell behind to an early Abdulrahman Albud goal, and gave up a late penalty that forced a save from Maty Ryan.

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Indeed, as good as they are at impacting games without the ball – Japan only managed a single shot on target, from long-range, in that June loss, for example – and results have helped to mitigate criticism, purposeful possession and taking on the impetus against embedded opponents remains an area in which the Socceroos have scope to demonstrate improvement. In their last seven fixtures, they’ve had more than 51% of possession just once: a 2-2 draw with Bahrain in which they were forced to come from behind and equalise in the 96th minute.

“There are a couple of things. In the last couple of days, we've been working on ourselves with the ball,” said Popovic. “We've had some different experiences in the qualifiers in terms of how teams have tried to stop us playing out. So we're trying to work, in the limited time we have, on how we can do that better.

“We'd like to see signs of that tomorrow and Tuesday. That's really been the focus on how we can improve.

“[We're] certainly respecting the opponent. They're going to the World Cup; they deserve their respect. That's why we're delighted to have these two games. But that's really been the focus on how we can improve. What we've done well -- acknowledge that, set that line and say how can we go higher? How can we do that better and try and build towards the World Cup so that we can have an all-around game that is a lot better than when I started? That's the goal for us.”

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