Tony Popovic says it’s a dream come true to become the new coach of the national team, understanding the challenge amid their floundering World Cup qualification campaign. Popovic, a member of the “Golden Generation” of players that ended Australia’s long World Cup drought, is likely part of the reason several members of the current squad are even footballers to begin with.
“I want to make sure that the players understand that no one is entitled to that shirt,” he said at his unveiling. “Regardless of talent, regardless of age, we need to be honoured to be wearing that shirt and to be called up for the national team.”
However, fond memories of a penalty shootout win won’t score goals against top opponents. With Popovic being parachuted into the job after the previous coach’s shock resignation, there are plenty of questions facing down the 51-year-old as he goes to work in his first international posting.
Short-termism is an all-too-familiar curse in Australian football, but given the circumstances greeting Popovic, the here and now will inevitably dominate the conversation. The new coach is required to submit a long list of players ahead of next month’s qualifiers, before then whittling that down to a final squad soon after.
“It’s the best time to take [over]. Why wouldn’t it be a good time?” Popovic asked. “[Bad results] happen. That’s football. Results can sometimes mask when something’s good as well.”
On paper, Australia should be able to defeat China in their upcoming match, regardless of changes in the dugout. But those same things could have been said about the previous coach, too. So just as important will be the new coach’s ability to show some signs that a foundation is being put in place beyond results, of signs of a new, refreshed, upward trajectory.
It’s obvious to all involved that the most pressing priority is qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. And that is crucial. It’s often remarked that missing out on qualification might just be what Australian football needs to force it to get its act together, but no country should ever see missing out on a World Cup as being anything but disastrous.
Beyond the black and white of 2026, it is worth remembering that national sides are supposed to be the manifestations of not just the talent of a footballing ecosystem but also its character. Because regardless of the rhetoric, marketing, and mythologising that occurs around them, what the national team produces on the pitch will always represent the sum total of Australia’s parts, what it really is as a footballing nation.
Wins are the priority, but how do Popovic and the federation envision securing them in both a sustainable manner and one that reflects what Australian football wants to be? Australia wants to qualify and perform at World Cups. But it always wants to be amongst the best sides in Asia.
Popovic said he wanted his side to “play better than the national team has ever played” and the federation’s XI Principles document speaks of identifying “characteristics of a style of play which are authentic and resonate with Australian society.” So long-term, how does it get there?
Because, as recent games have shown, the truth, eventually, will always manifest on the pitch. “The Australian public is on board,” Popovic said. “If you win, the public is on board. And then when you win, there will always be the discussion, how can we do it better? And that’s a good discussion. That’s the right discussion.”
Ok, now onto more of the minutia. The bedrock of Popovic’s success as a coach has been his ability to instil a rock-solid defensive foundation for his teams. But defending has not been the issue for the national team, either, with the unit only allowing opponents to put the ball into the net four times across 16 fixtures over the past year.
Moving forward, that’s the issue, scoring goals and, to an even greater extent, playing the kind of football that creates goalscoring opportunities at all. Thus, if Popovic is going to make a material impact on the national team as a footballing unit, it will be the changes he implements to raise their functionality in possession that will be key.
And it’s here where many of the eyebrows being raised surrounding his appointment have come from given that, throughout his decade-long career as a head coach, dynamic and free-flowing football isn’t something that has generally been associated with Popovic’s teams.
“The [games against Bahrain and Indonesia], obviously the performances probably were not what everyone wanted. I’m sure the players would take responsibility for that as well. I don’t think it’ll take too much to change the way we play against China.” he said.
While the national team’s struggles to break down stubborn defences ran far deeper than who was leading the line, Arnold’s inability to call upon a No. 9 who can be relied upon to consistently put the ball in the back of the net did hamstring his efforts.
Since the conclusion of the 2022 World Cup, strikers have only scored in six of the 19 fixtures the team have played and in only three competitive fixtures, none of which came at the Asian Cup. Throughout this period, it’s been apparent that Arnold has been seeking to groom Kusini Yengi to become the national team’s main striker, with Mitch Duke serving as the preferred backup but, with the arrival of a new gaffer, that may all change.
Does the shift in the dugout open the door for Adam Taggart or Brandon Borrello to force their way to prominence? When fit, can Apostolos Stamatelopoulos or Nick D’Agostino — whose career was revitalised by Popovic at Perth Glory and Victory — take a chance to force their way into contention?
There’s also the question of who dons the gloves in the months ahead. Mat Ryan and Joe Gauci have been entrenched as the first- and second-choice options for Arnold but given that the former hasn’t played a game of competitive club football since May and the latter hasn’t done so since last December, it’s not unfair to question if the arrival of Popovic could see a reassessment.
Admittedly, there’s not exactly a horde of options banging down the door. But at the same time that Ryan and Gauci have been on the bench for AS Roma and Aston Villa, Paul Izzo has been playing week in and week out for Randers in the Danish Superliga. What’s more beneficial, training every week in two of the best leagues in the world Serie A and the Premier League, or playing regularly at a lower level?
Popovic might have his own view of that and given Izzo’s move to Denmark was only made possible after a standout 2023-24 A-League Men season under the new boss at Victory, there is already a baseline of trust that’s been established between those two.
And then there’s the wildcard in this whole equation, Mitch Langerak. The veteran shot-stopper retired from international football during COVID and though he was briefly lured back into the national setup before the World Cup, the decision to leave him out of that squad saw him return to international seclusion. With a move back to Victory already teed up for January, the 36-year-old could opt to remain unavailable as his career winds down but given the high-level of
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