DALLAS, Texas — Football Australia has branded the Socceroos‘ run to the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup as an “enormous success,” backing Tony Popovic to lead Australia’s men into next January’s AFC Asian Cup.
Australia’s World Cup came to an end on Friday afternoon, suffering a penalty shootout defeat against Egypt that saw them eliminated from the round of 32 — the third time overall and the second time in as many tournaments the side had progressed to the knockout stages only to be immediately eliminated.
It led former Socceroos captain and current Newcastle Jets boss Mark Milligan to ask in the aftermath when focus would shift from qualifying to making a mark on the world stage.
“These moments are hard to see. I don’t like seeing them. I’ve lived those moments as well, and now we’re seeing it again,” Milligan said on SBS. “When are we as a nation and as a federation well, decide who we are?
“When we qualify, is that just always going to be enough? What do we want moving forward?”
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While it will take until at least 2030 for the Socceroos to secure a first knockout stage win, they won’t have to wait long to get another chance to compete in a major international tournament; set to take part in the Asian Cup next January in Saudi Arabia, where they’ve been drawn in a group with Singapore, Tajikistan, and Iraq.
With his contract initially set to conclude after the World Cup, coach Tony Popovic signed a new deal on the eve of the tournament that will take him through to the end of the Asian Cup, where he could be set for a showdown with his predecessor Graham Arnold, who oversaw Iraq‘s campaign at the World Cup.
And speaking to media on Saturday morning, Football Australia’s newly installed executive director of football Heather Garricok said that the federation was “satisfied,” with the side’s World Cup, while flagging the Asian Cup as the next major target.
“We certainly are satisfied with the result, but there’s always more left in us,” said Garriock. “Would have, should have, could have — you reflect on different decisions that were made. But one thing is for sure is [that] bringing in Tony Popovic as coach some 18 months ago, and him lifting the elite standards of our national teams, not just on the field, but off the field as well, is what makes us proud.
“The reason why we [re-]signed Tony Popovic 24 hours before the World Cup is because we’re in a unique situation, we’ve got six months until we embark on another major competition, the Asian Cup. And [stability] for us, for the players and for the staff was important, and I really feel this is only going to help the team grow for the Asian Cup. Our expectation is high for the Asian Cup for this group.”
Football Australia chief executive Martin Kugeler, for his part, said he was having no second thoughts about extending his coach’s contract on the eve of the World Cup.
“It brings me back to how successful this campaign has been,” Kugeler said. “Just going back to the time when Tony Popovic took over, we were in a difficult spot for the World Cup qualification. He took us to direct qualification, a winning streak of 11 games, building depth of the squad.
“Getting out of a very difficult group and qualifying for the round of 32 has been an enormous success.
“So, yes, we’re absolutely happy about the decision to extend this contract. He is the right person to now take this group into the next major tournament and apply all the experiences, all the learnings from this tournament into the next major tournament.”
With so little time between the World Cup and the Asian Cup — the Socceroos will have just two windows and a maximum of six games before the start of the confederational tournament — there has long been a push for Football Australia to contract its coaches for the former cycle, rather than the latter.
Invariably, however, the short nature of Popovic’s extension means that the federation will once again need to make a call on his status following the Asian Cup. However, Kugeler highlighted that focus, for now, would be on maximising the Socceroos’ performance at that tournament.
“All major tournaments of ours have got reviews,” he said. “That’s not only the Socceroos, but that’s the Matildas. That’s standard procedure. Which not only involves decisions and coaches, it includes everything that we do, from nutrition, high performance, and all components. Review is a standard procedure and we do that with all tournaments.
“Now, really, the focus of all of us and the coaching staff goes after digesting what the learnings that we take out of [the World Cup] and the learnings that we take into the Asian Cup. All our focus will be on that.”
At some point, however, Football Australia — led by Garriock and Kugeler — will need to make, and own, a decision about the Socceroos’ direction for 2030.
“We will sit down with Tony and the coaching staff as well and how do we think about the cycle after the Asian Cup and what do we need to do to be again successful at the next World Cup,” said Kugeler.
