‘Be patient’: Why Popovic is making his players wait for a Socceroos cap

1 week ago 3

It’s one thing to earn selection in one of Tony Popovic’s Socceroos squads. But as many of those in it are finding out, it’s quite another to actually get on the field.

Just ask goalkeeper Paul Izzo, who had to wait four long years (and four camps run by Popovic, his former club coach at Melbourne Victory) to finally get his maiden cap in Friday night’s 1-0 win over New Zealand.

Max Balard celebrates his goal against New Zealand.

Or Max Balard, who was called up for the first time in November, overlooked in March and June, told to go away and work on a few things, did so, and then was given a run … for five minutes. At least he made it count by scoring the decisive goal.

Or Nectarios Triantis, who was picked in March, described it as an honour, declared “my time will come”, then withdrew from a training camp two months later and subsequently declared himself available for Greece instead.

Of all the virtues Popovic wants to see in his players, patience might be the most important. He won’t experiment for experimentation’s sake on the road to the 2026 World Cup.

“Coming to camp is the recognition for what you’ve done at your club,” he said.

“But that doesn’t also necessarily equate to getting a cap. We’re not going to go through the list and say, ‘OK, these players are remaining now that haven’t got a cap – let’s just put him in.’ It doesn’t quite go that way.

“They have to be patient, and if the opportunity presents, I’m open to giving all of them an opportunity – but we’ll make those decisions tomorrow.”

Debuts for Izzo, Balard and the impressive Nicolas Milanovic – the latter two coming off the bench against the All Whites – mean that there are four uncapped players left in Popovic’s 25-man squad for the Soccer Ashes series. None of them are guaranteed anything. In fact, there’s no guarantee that they’ll even make the bench, since Popovic is restricted to naming just 23 in his match-day squad. Striker Noah Botic and midfielder Anthony Kalik were left out entirely last week.

Portsmouth whiz Adrian Segecic, one of the most exciting inclusions this window, was the most glaring unused substitute in Canberra, given his rich form in the English Championship. But that alone obviously is not enough to clear the lofty bar Popovic has set for his players. He said the 21-year-old had settled well in camp and had done nothing wrong, but that his non-involvement on Friday did not ensure he would play in Tuesday night’s rematch with New Zealand at Auckland’s GO Media Stadium.

Adrian Segecic has made a terrific start to life in England with Portsmouth, but couldn’t get a start for the Socceroos.

“It’s still very early stages in his club career,” Popovic said.

“They’re all young boys that have come in for the first time and we’re really assessing to see where they are now. It’s not to predetermine where they’ll be in camps to come, or in six months time when hopefully all these boys have another 30-odd games under their belt, hopefully injury-free, experiencing the intensity of training and needing to back up in Europe under pressure.”

The good news is that everyone is fit and available for selection, with many of the newcomers to the Socceroos dealing with short turnarounds between international fixtures for the first time. Popovic even said he was “pleasantly surprised” with how they had moved at training since the team shifted operations across the ditch.

What he will be looking for come Tuesday night is more assertiveness and positivity on the ball than in the first half against New Zealand, in which Australia’s only good moments in attack came via the brute force and directness of Jordan Bos. Things changed after the break, when substitutes Balard, Mohamed Toure, Nestory Irankunda and Nicolas Milanovic added some much-needed spark, but Popovic wants that from the outset.

“You can tell a player that in training, replicate this in the game, but there’s a reason why only a small group play for their country … it’s not easy, and you’ve got to start somewhere,” he said.

“When you put them in there, you learn a little bit more about each individual, and we’re seeing some players becoming more comfortable as the camp goes on, and they’re starting – and some players that maybe started below others in the first two days, I feel that maybe they’ve progressed and gone past a few. We can only learn that by seeing them together.

“We have limited time with these players, but the point of this exercise was to bring young, talented, potential players for the future and see where they fit in. We’ll be happy either way. We have learned a lot about them, regardless of who gets minutes in this game.”

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