OAKLAND, CA — When 22-year-old Patrick Beach packed his bags after the A-League finals bound for Sarasota, not even he could have imagined that he’d have played three matches and kept two clean sheets at a FIFA World Cup, having displaced the country’s captain, playing like a seasoned veteran on the biggest stage of all.
But when Tony Popovic and goalkeeper coach Frank Juric gave the Melbourne City stopper the nod for the game against Turkiye, his career changed forever.
“I came in here, I had not expected anything. I came in here first and foremost just to give it my best, work my hardest and improve every day. And that’s still my mindset,” Beach said.
“To go out there and become better.
“Very grateful for the opportunities that have been given to me by the staff and the boss.”
Beach’s name is consistently being mentioned amongst breakout stars content online, and as happens during a World Cup in Australia, he’s been taken to heart back home, so much so, St Kilda Beach has been renamed Patrick Beach for the duration of the tournament.
“Social stuff that comes with it, I guess I just block that all out – doesn’t really bother me. I achieved a dream so far by being here in a World Cup like everyone else in this team and that’s what excites me.”
Having been given the green light and obviously trained the house down to displace both Ryan and Paul Izzo, has Beach ever felt more at the peak of his powers?
Patrick Beach celebrates. Photo: Getty Images
“I always try to stay level-headed, very relaxed and understand it on my own game and keep it very simple,” he said.
“I feel in a good place at the moment.
“I feel very confident and relaxed at the same time. Just trying to improve every day. That’s the main thing, just to keep it simple, improve it daily. And then knowing that I’ve done the work during the week leading up to the game if I get selected to be able to put my best foot forward.”
Beach had been in spectacular form at times during the A-League and AFC Champions League seasons, but with respect to those leagues, the environment is a lot different to the packed houses in Vancouver, Seattle and Santa Clara, with some of the most extraordinary stadiums on the planet heaving with pulsating atmospheres.
Beach hasn’t just been impressive in the saves he has made (particularly against Turkiye), distribution, or poise on the ball, but also in the way he has kept his composure in such imposing surroundings.
Speaking on Football360 Today after the Paraguay draw, Australia’s most capped player – and goalkeeper – Mark Schwarzer said: “I said that I would potentially look at bringing in Maty Ryan for this game because of how the magnitude of the game, but Patrick Beach, again, another one.
“Just took it all in his stride and didn’t look out of place whatsoever.”
While at AAMI Park he can bark at his defence boisterously and confidently, it is a different story in a heaving World Cup furnace.
“It’s tough. It’s tough when you’ve got 70,000 people around you,” he explained.
“It’s just building relationships. The last five, six weeks of training, on the pitch every single day with each other, off the pitch, we’re together all the time talking about so many different things every day, whether it’s game-related or non-game-related, and that builds a relationship with everyone.
“Then you step into the training pitch and we’re working on certain tactics or how we’re going to play or key parts of information that needs to be spoken about. And that work that you’re putting in during the weeks leading up to the first games, it becomes second nature between each other, the back line, or whether it’s the back line to the midfielders or to the attackers.
“It’s very tough when there’s a big crowd – I’d been screaming at H (Harry Souttar) and I’d be screaming at Lucas (Herrington) and Alia (Alessandro Circati) last night and they couldn’t hear a word I was saying at times.
“I was like, ‘I’m wasting my voice here!’ But it gets to a point where you’re together for so long and you train together and everyone has a clear understanding of what needs to be learned at what times and when they can’t hear me, they can definitely hear me.”
Harry Souttar, Patrick Beach and Alessandro Circati will be key again in defence. Photo: Aleksandar Jason
One moment where that might have been the case came in Santa Clara when Aziz Behich made a back pass that was anxiously cleared.
Behich ripped into the keeper for the miscommunication, and Beach responded, but listening to the way they spoke about each other on Friday, it is fair to say that’s the sign of a tight relationship.
“Beach is a great boy,” Melbourne City captain Behich said.
“When he came to City obviously he wasn’t the first goalkeeper but I’ve seen how hard he’s had to work to make that position…how much he had to work on his game to adapt the way we play football. And he’s the type of kid that puts in the work every single day.
“He wants to learn, he asks questions, and he wants to be a top player. He does that already at a young age. So for me, was no surprise that he’s here, maybe to a lot of you…I see what they do every day. And for me, it’s no surprise that he’s here and obviously he got the chance to play in the first game and prove what he can do.”
“Aziz is top and I don’t mind saying this in front of him – he’s helped me a lot since I’ve started, obviously a few years ago with City,” he said.
“He’s helped me grow up a lot as a person, as a player, understanding my role more with the team.
“It was a great moment in my young career to share a pitch with him at a World Cup.
“Obviously playing at club football is one thing, but to also play with a teammate from your club at a World Cup is a really special moment and one that I will carry with me for sure.”
He added: “He’s a great person off the pitch. Everyone knows what he’s like as a player in the career he’s had, but I think off the pitch he’s just as important. Whether it’s Aziz or it’s Lecks (Mathew Leckie), Aziz has had chats with me over the past two or three years about just general things, things that can help to become better, to be a better person and that’s the stuff that I appreciate the most and he’s helped me a lot.”