Socceroos coach Tony Popovic has warned their World Cup rivals not to underestimate his side, shrugging off arrogant and condescending early predictions from American pundits that they will be a mere “lay-up” for co-hosts the United States.
At the most bizarre and overwrought draw ceremony in World Cup history, Australia’s fate was assigned to them in perhaps suitably American fashion: by the giant paw of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, who reached into pot 2 early on Saturday morning (AEDT) and placed them into Group D, alongside the USA and Paraguay.
The fourth and final member of the group won’t be known until UEFA’s qualifying play-offs wrap up in March, but it will be one of Turkey, Romania, Slovenia or Kosovo.
Tony Popovic is happy with Australia’s World Cup draw.Credit: Getty Images for Soccer Australia
Whichever nation it is, they’ll join what is the 2026 World Cup’s most evenly matched group on paper, and certainly the kindest that the Socceroos have encountered on the global stage.
“I think we feel, like everyone else in the group, that it’s a group that you can get out of,” Popovic told Australian media. “I’m sure every nation looks at the teams and says, ‘OK, we’re a chance’ – and we’re no different.”
Australia will probably go into all three of their matches as slight outsiders, but not by much. It is a group from which almost any outcome is feasible; they could win three times and top the group, lose three times and finish bottom, or anything in between.
Shaq ushers the Socceroos to their fate.Credit: Getty Images
It all depends on how they turn up, who can stay fit, and if they can produce their best football.
Equally, as the lowest-ranked team in pot 2, many other nations would have been hoping to draw the Socceroos. Indeed, initial reactions from the US media was that they have struck gold.
Former US international Mike Grella borrowed a term from basketball in describing Australia as a “lay-up” for the US national team, or a team they should easily account for.
“Take nothing away from the Socceroos, they’ve always been competitive and good,” Grella said on CBS Sports. “But they stumbled a little bit through qualifying, they were not so impressive. This is an amazing first team to have for the US.”
Popovic’s reaction was typically measured.
“I’m sure every Australian would disagree with that, and so we should, but I’m not surprised by those comments,” he said.
Jordan Bos fights for the ball with Alex Freeman in Australia’s friendly with the USA in October.Credit: AP
“If you’re the US and you look at the draw, you’re the host nation, you’re playing at home, you’d want to fancy yourself to be able to get through. That shouldn’t stop us from believing we can get through the group as well. We’ll go into it with a lot of optimism and confidence and I’m sure the boys are looking at the draw and can’t wait to get over there.”
In any case, Grella might want to do a bit more research: yes, the Socceroos stumbled initially in qualifying – but that was in September 2023, the first window of Asia’s critical third round, prompting then-coach Graham Arnold to leave his post. Popovic, his replacement, went undefeated through the remainder of qualifying, only tasting defeat for the first time in 11 games in a narrow 2-1 friendly defeat to the US in October.
That was an often spiteful, physical contest, and afterwards, American defender Chris Richards claimed he would have “killed somebody” if he hadn’t have been on a yellow card – so expect a very adversarial build-up.
Paraguay, meanwhile, was the team Popovic faced in his 58th and final appearance for the Socceroos as a player. They’re also one of the few South American teams against whom Australia has a strong record: in five previous meetings, the Socceroos have won two and drawn the other three.
Stylistically, Popovic believes the Socceroos’ counter-attacking plan should hold them in good stead for all of their games.
“We can’t go away from our strengths,” he said.
“We know what we’re strong at: when we break forward quickly, we’re really dangerous, we’re good at that. We have exciting players [who] like to go forward with pace and power.
“There’s areas we have to … I wouldn’t say improve, but just get a little bit better at: having longer possession and knowing when we can do that, and when we’re under pressure, can we get out of that pressure? That’s something that is a constant that we have to work on.
“The best sides always defend really well, and that’s something that we have to keep evolving and improving, and [we] know that every part of our game will have to go to another level, which is also exciting.
“Anyone that underestimates us, I think will get a rude shock when it comes to those group games.”
Dates, times and match venues for Australia’s matches will be confirmed by FIFA by Sunday morning (AEDT), but Group D will be played in the tournament’s western region, which means they will play in three of four possible cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver.
That is advantageous from an Australian perspective on several levels. Firstly, it ensures friendlier timezones for home broadcasters, and secondly, the conditions will be slightly kinder than at least what Popovic had been bracing for, with no altitude or extreme heat to contend with.
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The next steps for the Socceroos involve locking in their base camp – where they will train in the immediate lead-up to the World Cup, which begins with a clash between co-hosts Mexico and South Africa on June 11 – and their friendly opponents in March, when they will play two games on home soil.
Early indications are that European sides will be reluctant to travel to Australia at that time, Popovic said. But if they can’t line up a UEFA team to play against, he said they would look to do so in a warm-up clash just before the tournament.
“We know now we’ll be playing on the 13th of June, so we can work our way back from there,” he said.
“We’re in a good place. There’s some work to do, but nothing excessive. With the staff that we have – and we’ve got a lot of people here with a lot of experience at World Cups, a lot more than me – they’re confident that we’ll get everything that we want in terms of being ready.”