SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA STADIUM, CA — Tony Popovic responded bullishly when asked to explain the rationale behind his Socceroos XI in Santa Clara today, declaring “I’ll always back my decision” as he made six changes to the line-up for Australia’s 0-0 draw with Paraguay.
Popovic brought Aziz Behich, Jackson Irvine, Lucas Herrington, Nestory Irankunda, Cristian Volpato and Connor Metcalfe in for Jacob Italiano, Paul Okon-Engstler, Cameron Burgess, Mohamed Toure, Mathew Leckie and Nishan Velupillay, and the ensuing performance was enough to see the side progress to the World Cup knockout stage.
Every word Tony Popovic said after a 0-0 ‘win’ as Australia sealed a sport in the FIFA World Cup knockout stages
“I think if you look back on where we started, over seventy players have played since we’ve been here for the Socceroos. All twenty six players are here to play a role,” he said.
“It’s not 11 players only, because before the first game, you would have told me you were surprised with a selection, and if we didn’t get the result, you’d be the first one saying, why did I select them?
“Then we leave a couple out the second game, then you ask why are those two not selected?
“And now we make six changes, and now you ask me again, why are those six in and the other ones out?
“That will continue because that’s the analysis that we have back home.
“I’m not going to go into that.
“What I will say is that every player is important.
“No one is entitled to the shirt. And each game is different. And (there are) different circumstances and different situations for each game at a different time.
“And for this game, this is a team I believe needed to play. That’s it. And I’ll always back my decision.”
Popovic switched Toure for Irankunda, with the Watford attacker deployed centrally against the South Americans.
“Well, the system allows a nine and two tens, so it’s the same regardless of who’s up there as a nine,” he explained of the system.
“So they’re not up there alone, they’re up there with the other players. He’s a different type of nine. and we just felt today that he could offer something, which he did.
“In Paraguay if you look at their record it’s very difficult to score against them. And I like to think that we dominated the game in a crucial World Cup qualifier with a very young squad in the third match (when) everything’s on the line and the players showed composure, patience, quality, and resilience.
“And you don’t expect a lot of chances, but when they come you have to try and take them and I thought Nestor played a real part today in our performance and how we, well I say win – winning for me that we went through. So, delighted.”