Popovic draws the line as young star chooses Greece over Socceroos

1 week ago 4

Socceroos coach Tony Popovic once faced the same fork in the road as many of his players, forced to confront the question of his dual nationalities and split loyalties.

Popovic was in his late teens, and had been offered the chance to sign for Croatia’s biggest club, Hajduk Split. He was told that if things went well, the door could open for him to play for the Croatian national team one day.

Socceroos coach Tony Popovic on Thursday with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister for Sport Anika Wells, and Football Australia interim chief executive Heather Garriock.

By that stage, Popovic was already playing for Australia’s youth national teams. Ultimately, he chose not to sign for Hajduk – and he also chose to stay true to the country of his birth, rather than his heritage, for one simple reason.

“I couldn’t see myself not playing for Australia,” he said. “Circumstances are different for everyone … but any player that wants to play for Australia, I welcome all of them.

“And the ones that don’t, I don’t welcome.”

One of the first things Popovic said when he was appointed coach of the Socceroos is that he’d never “sell the jersey” to a player who was contemplating something different. Nor would he seek to cap one merely to lock them in – mainly because, as he explained on Thursday, he would “lose respect” from his other players.

Nectarios Triantis has chosen Greece over Australia.

As such, he bids Nectarios Triantis adieu. Or, rather, yasou.

Selected twice by Popovic without playing a game for Australia, the 22-year-old has decided to represent Greece instead. He looks set for a big career, having recently signed for Major League Soccer outfit Minnesota United. But he won’t be wearing green and gold again.

“Every player has a right to make a decision, and I respect that decision,” Popovic said. “I have no issue with him at all, and if I saw him, I’d wish him all the best. He’s a young man that wants to make a career in football, and he’s chosen to go down a certain path. That was his choice, not ours.

“We selected him for the Socceroos. He was in camp with us in a crucial qualifying period in March. That’s one step, getting into the Socceroos – the next step is to play, but we shouldn’t feel that we need to play someone because we’re threatened by the thought of they may go [to another country] if we don’t.”

Socceroos Alessandro Circati, Milos Degenek, and Joe Gauci meet PM Anthony Albanese and Sport Minister Anika Wells.

As a consequence of being a multicultural nation, many Socceroos players, past and present, have faced this dilemma.

Some of them, like rising stars Nestory Irankunda and Adrian Segecic – who look poised to play big roles in Friday night’s Soccer Ashes clash against New Zealand in Canberra – even subtly threatened to play for another country if not given the chance to represent Australia.

Alessandro Circati, as another example, simply looked within, having recounted earlier on Thursday the story of how Italian legend and former Parma teammate Gianluigi Buffon had encouraged him to follow his heart, having represented the Azzurri at junior level.

“Buffon was at Parma at the time, and I confronted him,” Circati said. “He was reading about it, what could possibly happen. I went up to him and I asked him, ‘Gigi, what would you do in this situation?’

“The first thing he said to me was, ‘What do you feel inside? Forget about everything else. Forget about what pressure you receive from the club. Forget about the pressure you receive from people back home. Forget about everything. What do you feel internally?’

“I told him, and then probably five days later, I made the decision. I’m very happy that I did.”

Popovic was highly complimentary of how Irankunda and Segecic, the two jewels of the Socceroos’ new and exciting generation of players, had started their seasons with Watford and Portsmouth respectively, both in the English Championship.

In Irankunda, he said he had noted a shift both on and off the field since the last time he was called up, in Popovic’s first match in charge of the national team last year.

“He’s had a lot of life experiences,” Popovic said. “It’s tough [doing] what he did in Germany, and then new surroundings in Switzerland, and now new surroundings again – so you learn a lot off the field, you’re by yourself, so you have to grow up quickly.

“I can see there’s a change in discipline, focus – understanding of the game is probably the biggest part that he has improved.

“He just understands tactically when you speak to him now, it makes sense, what you’re asking … he sees the picture, maybe because he’s experienced that picture at Watford.

“He’s scored two wonderful [free kick] goals. Now the next step is that he scores in general play. That’s what we’re trying to assist him with, and give him some ideas on how he can make that more possible.”

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