- Underwhelming performance from start to finish
- Midfielder Max Balard scored a late winner
- Coach knows many players ‘didn’t look comfortable’
Tony Popovic will keep throwing his untested Socceroos in the deep end after an unglamorous win over New Zealand proved his side still have a long way to go before they are at the level he demands.
Popovic accused his team of being too ‘negative’ in the first half of Friday’s 1-0 win at GIO Stadium in Canberra that extended his unbeaten start to life as national team coach to nine matches.
It was only in the last quarter of an hour when Popovic rolled out young guns Nestory Irankunda, Mohamed Toure and Max Balard, who scored on his debut two minutes after coming on in the 85th minute, that Australia had any real spark.
For Popovic, who left most of his top-line European-based players at home to pick an experimental side, it was proof that work needed to be done to ensure the Socceroos are at a level to go deep into next year’s World Cup.
‘I can’t say I’m totally satisfied, because I want to see us do better, but I know there’s a process and I know that you can’t just get there overnight,’ Popovic said.
‘There are so many players that we haven’t seen before and players that we haven’t seen for six months that have come back in.
‘You don’t get a lot of time you get one or two sessions, so hopefully, by time the World Cup comes, we can get more continuity.’
Popovic added: ‘When you play for the national team and you play international football you need these games.
The Socceroos may have beaten New Zealand 1-0 on Friday in Canberra – but coach Tony Popovic knows they must rapidly improve ahead of the 2026 World Cup
Midfielder Max Balard came off the bench to score the winner late in the second half (pictured, celebrating his goal)
‘You need to get comfortable and we had a lot of players that didn’t quite look comfortable.’
Except perhaps for left wingback Jordan Bos and debutant goalkeeper Paul Izzo, few members of the Australian starting side did much to vindicate Popovic’s selection.
Popovic said Izzo ‘looked like he belonged’ and labelled the marauding Bos, who tormented the New Zealand defence, a ‘much-improved player’.
While Izzo faces an almighty task to dethrone captain Mat Ryan from the No.1 jersey, Bos’ form and renewed fitness gives Popovic a more creative outlet on the left side of defence to challenge the dependable Aziz Behich.
Toure was the most productive of Australia’s substitutes and it was his hold-up play and calm decision making that helped Balard deliver the winning goal.
Former Adelaide United forward Toure – a clubmate of Izzo’s with Randers in the Danish top flight – has a chance to make his case to be Australia’s first-choice striker.
But the biggest drawback to giving Toure a start is whether Popovic can trust the 21-year-old attacker to last the course.
‘He needs to find a way of getting 10 or 15 consecutive games. He seems to break down after every two or three games,’ Popovic said.
Paul Izzo impressed on debut for the Socceroos and Popovic felt the veteran goalkeeper ‘belonged out there’
‘That’s the issue for Mo and he came here on the back of another hamstring injury.
‘At the moment, he’s an impact player. I don’t know whether he can start the next game, physically.
‘We have to take that into consideration and look after the young man, because he’s still developing his body, and he’s finding it difficult to go week after week.
‘In saying that, we can see there is talent there.’
Australia play the second match of the ‘Soccer Ashes’ in Auckland on Tuesday.
