International friendly LIVE: Socceroos take on 2026 World Cup co-hosts Canada

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HAVE YOUR SAY: Will the Popa-roos stay undefeated?

10.27am

Pandora’s box opens: Why Milan’s trip to Perth could reshape club football

It’s been a busy news week in Australian soccer and in between the action in Montreal, we’ll bring you bits and pieces from it that you might have missed.

For starters: the decision by UEFA to reluctantly allow a Serie A match between AC Milan and Como to take place in Perth, in February. It’s a world-first move by a major European league to take a competitive game, for points, to another country.

I spoke to the head of AC Milan’s Australian fan group about that. You can read the article here.

Luka Modrić and AC MIlan are coming to Australia - for a Serie A game.

10.17am

Tony Popovic speaks on why Italiano, Izzo are starting

We’ve just heard from the Socceroos coach on the live coverage from Stade Saputo, Montreal. Here’s some of what he had to say:

Jacob Italiano comes in, so a special night obviously for him and his family. I’m sure they’ll be very excited watching. He’s come in and done very well in training, settled in very quickly, so I thought he deserved an opportunity.

The rest pretty much remains the same. Ale’s captain again, which is I think wonderful for him. It’s his birthday today. A nice one for the young man. I just want to see whether he can keep growing in that leadership role.

He also explained why Paul Izzo got the nod over Maty Ryan:

I think the last camp with Maty not there, it was either Paul or Joey Gauci playing. I just wanted Paul to have a sense of, you’re playing this time with Maty Ryan here, and I think that’s a little bit different psychologically, as well. Let’s see how he handles that, but I just feel he deserves another opportunity to show us what he can do - away from home, tough opponent, tough conditions, and I really want to see how he handles that.

They are very strong, very well led by their manager, but that’s what we want. That’s why we wanted these games. We want to be here experiencing this. We’re getting ready for the World Cup, and this is part of that preparation. Each game’s important because it’s another opportunity for us to cement some more momentum. Playing tough opposition gives opportunities for players to showcase themselves, new players coming into camp, new players on the pitch. So it’s all a process working towards June.

Paul Izzo will wear the gloves again for Australia.

10.10am

‘Stingy’ Socceroos? That’s a label Popovic is happy to wear

By AAP

Canada have labelled the Socceroos as stingy, and coach Tony Popovic wouldn’t want it any other way.

The Socceroos will get further feedback on their progress under Popovic when they take on world No.26 Canada in Montreal on Saturday (AEDT) and the world No.16 United States in Colorado next Wednesday.

Australia are yet to lose since Popovic took over from Graham Arnold in September, with the Socceroos sealing qualification for the 2026 World Cup as part of their 10-match unbeaten run.

The Socceroos, who are currently ranked 25th, have scored 20 goals and conceded just seven across those matches, and the team have won their past six.

The hot form, and more specifically the tight defence, led Canada coach Jesse Marsch to label the Socceroos as stingy.

“I take that as a compliment,” Popovic, a former Socceroos defender, said on Friday. “I think that (a tight defence) is always important. I could say the same about them, when you look at their recent results and how they defend as a unit.”

Canada enter the match on the back of a 3-0 win over Romania and a 1-0 victory over Wales - with both performances impressing Popovic.

“We’re playing a team in very good form,” Popovic said.

“When you look at their list and see where they all play throughout the world, you see they’re formidable individuals, and they’re forming a team that’s picking up very good results. The last two against Wales and Romania in Europe were clean sheets, two very good performances.”

One notable absentee from Australia’s squad is Melbourne City star Aziz Behich, who scored a stunning goal against Japan in June but was overlooked by Popovic due to a lack of recent game time.

“It would’ve been nice to be there but I understand also that you need to be playing games to get selected,” Behich said. “It’s not really a surprise but at the moment my full focus is on City and starting the season well. I’ll put my name back into that mix once the season starts.”

9.57am

HAVE YOUR SAY: Will the Popa-roos stay undefeated?

9.56am

TEAM NEWS: Italiano to make Socceroos debut

Here is Tony Popovic’s starting XI, and there’s only one change from their last outing:

As you can see, he’s handed an international debut to Jacob Italiano, the Austria-based right-back, who was a late inclusion in this squad due to an injury to Fran Karacic, one of his positional rivals.

Italiano has been logging regular minutes in the Austrian Bundesliga for Grazer AK, and has a real opportunity to impress on the right side of Popovic’s back five.

On the other side of it, Kye Rowles, a natural centre-back, will again be asked to fill in at left-back, a mostly unfamiliar role for him.

Elsewhere, it’s a pretty solid and somewhat expected line-up from Popovic. Nestory Irankunda and Mohamed Toure will again start together up front, and the coach will be hoping that they can dazzle as they did for the Socceroos in Auckland last month.

Alessandro Circati, the central defender from Parma in Serie A, has the captain’s armband. He turns 22 today - well, in Canada, it’s still the 10th, but for us, yesterday. Either way, auguri, Ale. Jordan Bos is on the bench. And somewhat surprisingly, Paul Izzo remains in goal ahead of the returning Maty Ryan; we can only presume that the latter is a totally known quantity for Popovic, and that he wants to see more of the former.

And here, for your perusal, is the Canadian XI:

9.50am

Good morning all!

Hello everyone, and welcome to our live coverage of this morning’s friendly between the Socceroos and Canada in Montreal.

I’m Vince Rugari, and I’m a huge fan of morning kick-offs.

This is going to be one of the toughest tests of Tony Popovic’s year-long tenure as the Australian national team coach. His unbeaten record through 10 games so far will go on the line against a Canadian side ranked 26th in the world; the Socceroos are just ahead of them in No.10 on FIFA’s list, so expect an evenly-matched contest.

Last month against New Zealand, this new-look Aussie side showed some really promising signs. It’s time to see whether they can replicate that performance against a higher-level opponent, in conditions that they’ll need to learn to master for next year.

This is the first of two friendlies the Socceroos will play in this October international window, both against nations that will be co-hosting the 2026 World Cup. After today, they’ll head off to Colorado to face the United States, who are now coached by Mauricio Pochettino.

We’ll have team news coming up for you shortly. Kickoff is at 10:30 a.m. AEDT, and the match is streaming live on Paramount Plus. If you can’t watch, or even if you can, follow along here for all the live updates.