There has been an avalanche of criticism tumble upon Tony Popovic in the wake of Australia’s shootout loss to Egypt, for which he brought on Maty Ryan and asked 18-year-old Lucas Herrington to take a crucial penalty. Yet the morning after in Dallas, none of it was coming from Popovic’s boss, who instead delivered an endorsement for the Socceroos coach. “Every fan believes he’s a great national coach, right?” said Football Australia chief executive Martin Kugeler.
- Tony Popovic faces tactical scrutiny after World Cup: questionable selections, frequent changes, growing reliance on forwards like Nestory Irankunda, and unclear late-match decisions.
- Players publicly back Tony Popovic; they commit to work and fight for him despite media criticism.
- Football Australia extended Tony Popovic's contract to the end of the Asian Cup and will reassess future plans afterwards.
- Heather Garriock urges a more skilful, creative and adaptable Australian style and is confident Tony Popovic can deliver that evolution.
It sounded like a contentious statement, but until you realise the “he” in the sentence was referring to a fan, not the Socceroos coach. Either way, Popovic is a capable manager who has shown he has a place in professional football, and has guided this team out of a challenging World Cup group.
The key consideration for Australian football now, however, is whether he is the right man to take the Socceroos forward. Was the Egypt defeat a glimpse into his limitations, or a blip in the development of a promising team? “Every fan will think about what can be done better,” Kugeler said. “But the coaching staff and Tony Popovic is always in the best place to judge, in that moment, what is needed for the team.”
Fans and observers have been ask to trust Popovic on more than one occasion at this World Cup. Yes, the wider football community are not privy to the behind-closed-doors sessions, the physiotherapist reports, and the match vision and data the coaches consume.
They do, however, get to watch the games, and a disconnect has snowballed since the opening victory against Turkey. First, the regrettable result against the USA exposed Popovic to criticism for his inclusion of Mat Leckie and Nishan Villupillay in his starting XI. Then the wholesale changes for Paraguay, and a growing reliance on Nestory Irankunda up front in a squad short of forward options. Finally, there was the lack of impetus against Egypt, and the tragedy – or travesty – of the shootout. The confirmation by Ryan and Patrick Beach afterwards that neither knew of the 119th-minute goalkeeper swap made it very difficult to sit back and trust the process.
To be fair to Popovic, one must find praise for the way he engineered the victory against Turkey, and his visionary faith in Beach (even if it ultimately proved selective). Supporters have respected Popovic’s success in steering the Socceroos through a tricky qualification path after taking over from Graham Arnold, and have hailed his commitment to this bright new generation of talent.
Many might read some frustration into Beach’s body language while speaking to media after the match, but the players have stood firm with their coach. Irankunda, whose promising progression into the national setup has been one of Popovic’s biggest success stories, said if the coach wanted to stay with the Socceroos, the players would – like Kugeler – back him. “We’ll work for him, we’ll fight for him as we’ve been doing the last few months and if he decides different, then I don’t know what we’ll do.”
Look broadly at Australian football and it would take a brave person to argue the Socceroos have the talent to take them to a World Cup final, even with Popovic’s mantra of “why not us”. At the same time, most will agree the team ought to compete with those not just in, but beyond, the last 32.
The difference between the alternatives is so slight – a couple of matches, or a couple of moments – as Popovic reflected in his post-match press conference. “The Socceroos played a big match in a big moment, and unfortunately, the margins are very, very small at this level, and we fell on the wrong side tonight,” he said.
Popovic’s contact extension, signed on the eve of the World Cup, takes him to the end of the Asian Cup in February. Kugeler said the Socceroos’ performance at this tournament makes FA happy about getting that deal done. “He is the right person to now take this group into the next major tournament, and deploy all the experiences, all the learnings from this tournament into the next major tournament,” he said.
Kugeler also confirmed FA had not yet cast its mind forward to 2030, and would sit down with Popovic after the Asian Cup. FA’s executive director of football Heather Garriock also endorsed Popovic, but did say the sport in Australia needed to find a new, more skilful and creative style to help propel it to greater success.
“When you hear commentators and pundits talking about Australians – whether it’s men or women, at senior or youth international – it’s about: we’ve always had a physical nature, we’ve had that mentality that is never-say-die, and it’s a character of being able to to play until the end.
“We don’t want to be just that. We want to make sure we can play football. We’ve got a defensive mindset within the Socceroos, which has been fantastic, and that’s certainly worked for us. But creativity is really important, being adaptable, flexible and versatile is really important to the Australian way of playing.”
Can Popovic and that new, creative philosophy co-exist? Garriock said she was “very confident” they can.
