ANALYSIS IN SEATTLE — Tony Popovic has made two changes to the Socceroos XI that beat Turkiye, with both goal scorers replaced in the starting line-up by Mathew Leckie and Nishan Velupillay.
Connor Metcalfe and Nestory Irankunda have been rotated out of the line-up for this blockbuster Group D clash in Seattle, with the rest of the line-up in tact.
There had been speculation before the match as to who would start, with great anticipation given the unpredictable line-up Popovic selected for the opening game. Indeed, in replacing both goal scorers, he has kept to the theme of keeping everyone on their toes, while also bringing in two A-League players, with Melbourne City’s Leckie and Melbourne Victory’s Velupillay. It means of the XI Australia will start in Seattle, there are four A-League players, with City’s Patrick Beach and Sydney FC’s Paul Okon-Engstler also in the line-up. Senior stars Mat Ryan and Jackson Irvine remain on the bench.
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It is a great indication as to the approach today, picking two tactically astute players with pace, mobility and a work ethic to press and work aggressively against a match that could be a bruising encounter and one in which many tip the hosts to come out of the blocks.
That will leave the likes of Irankunda, Cristian Volpato, Metcalfe, Ajdin Hrustic and Awer Mabil as difference makers if Australia needs to change the game in the second half.
Mathew Leckie, ready for a fourth World Cup. Photo: Getty Images
Irankunda’s omission might surprise fans new to the Socceroos, given his exploits in Vancouver. But the 20-year-old put in an enormous shift and in a match where Mauricio Pochettino promised his side will push the physical boundaries right until the edge, Popovic has opted to leave the youngster out of the furnace, to come on and cause havoc when there’s a bit more space in the game. He was caught in the centre of the combustible atmosphere in the October friendly in Denver, as well, which the USA won 2-1 and Pochettino revealed yesterday was a catalyst for him telling his side to muscle up physically after they’d been pushed around by the Socceroos in that first-half.
In his place he has two players he trusts implicitly; Leckie a player he expedited into the squad as soon as he proved his fitness, a player with high tactical IQ and who has thrived at this level, scoring against Denmark in Qatar. He is not the explosive winger he once was, but is a player that should help the Socceroos keep their composure on this stage. Velupillay, meanwhile, is a player Popovic has mentored at Victory and promoted into the Australian set-up since, and brings a robust, physical, disciplined and athletic solution.
“We always call him like a bit of a hybrid because he plays well between the lines but he also likes to run in behind where you have to when it’s a high line. You have to try and penetrate in behind,” Popovic said when announcing his squad.
“(He’s) a player that can get much, much better, of course, but we saw some very good signs last night.
Australia’s Nishan Velupillay. Photo: Aleksandar Jason.
“So I’m pleased to see him keep developing now and very delighted for him and his family because I obviously know him from the Melbourne Victory days and I saw him as a very skinny young kid with no muscle, no power.
“I look at him now and I think… a strong young man, a lot of belief in himself and I’m very happy that he’s made the cut.”
Meanwhile, Lucas Herrington and Irvine, two players mooted as potential inclusions, will remain on the bench, with no changes through the spine of the XI.
The line-up split the pundits working on Australian television, with Harry Kewell backing Popovic, while former Ghana international Kevin-Prince Boateng saying it showed Popovic’s defensive mindset, failing to seize the moment.
“Popovic knows what he’s doing,” Kewell said on SBS.
“We were shocked from the first starting line-up when they played against Turkiye, and we were questioning him then, and now everyone seems to be questioning his line-up now. I think it’s the right decision.
“He’s been watching them all week, the lead up to it, he knows what the USA can bring, he may want a little bit more security in and around those areas, and I believe that these Leckie and Velupillay can bring that.”
His SBS co-panellist, former Ghana World Cup star Kevin-Prince Boateng, had a very different take on the selection calls.
“Sorry Harry, we agree on a lot of things, but I need to disagree with that,” Boateng said.
“You have this massive game, you have a possibility to get another three points, have six points, be top of the group, going through with that win, and you take out your biggest threat? I think that’s showing again, ‘I want to play defensive’ against a team that is the same level.
“I don’t see those Americans as so dangerous. They have some three or four good players, but I would go out with my biggest fireworks against their biggest fireworks, and we see which fireworks are bigger.”
Earlier, Pochettino had to choose an XI without Christian Pulisic, the talisman not fit after a calf injury suffered against Paraguay. PSV Eindhoven’s Ricardo Pepi comes in for the AC Milan star.
The US XI: Matt Freese; Sergino Dest, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Tim Ream (c), Alex Freeman; Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Malik Tillman; Ricardo Pepi, Folarin Balogun
The atmosphere is simmering in Seattle wiht a huge contingent of Aussie travelling supporters throwing their weight around in what will be a parochial furnace in Seattle, known as one of the loudest stadiums in the world.