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Vancouver: Socceroos coach Tony Popovic says Australia is ready to \u201cspoil the party\u201d but refuses to hit back at pre-match comments from Turkey\u2019s captain that its side will dominate Sunday\u2019s World Cup clash because it is the more talented team.<\/p>\n
Australia arrived in Vancouver on Saturday (AEST), a little more than 24 hours before its opening-round match with Turkey, the 22nd-ranked nation, which is making its first appearance at the tournament in 24 years. It is expected that at least 10,000 Socceroos fans will be inside the 54,000-capacity BC Stadium for the Group D clash.<\/p>\n
![\"Socceroos](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/57c8ef1cdc2f089b4dbc0dbe58bf36b8b9935f70.jpeg\")
Socceroos coach Tony Popovic at a press conference ahead of their first match tomorrow.Getty Images<\/p>\n
And Turkey captain Hakan \u00c7alhanoglu has helped further ignite Sunday\u2019s clash, telling reporters after training that he predicts his side will dominate the Socceroos because they have \u201cmore qualities and a more talented team\u201d.<\/p>\n
Popovic did not buy directly into the remarks, but said he believes it was a sentiment shared by the other teams in Group D \u2013 the US and Paraguay \u2013 and it was up to the Socceroos to prove them wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect his comment, and he has a right to be asked a question, and he has a right to answer it any way he likes,\u201d Popovic replied when asked about the midfielder\u2019s pre-match jab. \u201cThey expect to win, but so do most people; they expect they will beat Australia tomorrow, so that\u2019s no different.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll we can do is try and spoil the party; that\u2019s our challenge tomorrow, and that\u2019s what we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Mohamed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/7b9fd4d6c3fb96f12d14d5b36533c2740988ddbc.jpeg\")
Mohamed Toure (left) and Jackson Irvine. Popovic says Toure will be fit for Sunday\u2019s clash.AP Photo\/Abbie Parr<\/p>\n
Popovic gave nothing away on how he intends to do that. On team selection, all he offered was that he was in the fortunate position that all 26 members of his squad were available. He also dismissed any fitness concerns around forward Mohamed Tour\u00e9, saying the Norwich City striker had been absent from training earlier in the week because of a \u201crunny nose\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tour\u00e9 later trained in front of the media following the press conference in a late session on the eve of the game.<\/p>\n
Despite missing the past five World Cups, Turkey will start as favourites. Their starting XI will probably include two of the brightest young stars at the tournament: 21-year-olds Kenan Yildiz, who plays club football with Juventus, and Real Madrid\u2019s Arda G\u00fcler. Popovic, however, was reluctant to single out any particular threat in the opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know they are strong; we\u2019ve analysed them, but we also have to think of ourselves and think about how we can cause them problems and show Australian football at the World Cup,\u201d Popovic said.<\/p>\n
![\"Turkey\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5514f345f3df240f15e6cbeb23384f50646ff450.jpeg\")
Turkey\u2019s Hakan Calhanoglu warms up during a training session in Vancouver on Friday.Ethan Cairns, the Canadian Press<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s our aim tomorrow, to be extremely competitive, to show that we are a strong nation, and that we deserve to be respected. We understand that not many people are expecting much from us outside of our own people, our own media, our own team, our own staff, but we\u2019re accustomed to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calhanoglu\u2019s pre-match comments closely mimic some of those made by US pundits who have laughed off suggestions that the Socceroos pose any threat in Group D.<\/p>\n
Related Article Earlier this month, former United States international Alexi Lalas said Australia would struggle \u201cagainst better quality competition and the elites of the world\u201d. The clear difference being pundits weren\u2019t lining up against the Australian team 24 hours later.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, our coach analysed them with us together,\u201d Calhanoglu told media in Vancouver. \u201cWe know that they\u2019re a physical team, that they\u2019re good at the corner kicks and on the free kicks because they are tall and strong.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think that we dominate tomorrow, the game, because we have more qualities and a more talented team, so we will see tomorrow what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Like his coach, Socceroos midfielder Aiden O\u2019Neill refused to weigh in on the remarks or even say if the team would use them as motivation in Sunday\u2019s clash.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cYou know he\u2019s [Calhanoglu] allowed his own opinion,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got quality players in our team too, so yeah, we\u2019re ready for tomorrow, and \u2026 we\u2019re extremely excited.\u201d<\/p>\n Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella also did not get involved in the pre-match barbs. He said he had \u201cgreat respect\u201d for the Socceroos, their mentality and resilience, and had watched many of their games \u2013 and, judging by his assessment of Popovic\u2019s side, his words weren\u2019t just empty platitudes.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are very well-balanced, very well-disciplined,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are not ashamed to defend also during the last 30 metres with a line of five [defenders] … for a long time in the game. They know that speed in the game can actually create challenges for the opponents.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m expecting a very hard game … where there will be very little space for anything and the talent will make the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Australia has not won an opening World Cup match since the 3-1 win over Japan in Kaiserslautern in 2006. Popovic, who in a vote of confidence has just signed a short-term contract extension for next year\u2019s Asian Cup, becomes the first Australian on Sunday to have played for and coached the team at the World Cup.<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Socceroos](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781354963_618_321c69881a839b36f856ec3b4f4d50f9a854f2bb704715e9550489ec141b38e3.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Socceroos](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6ac6bd3a6f86f28f75b96d551857557ad98b7eab25c3cd75b5198762438ba51e.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/701d003f5db455f48c207750ee37848da7ebaa7e.png\")
Nick Ralston<\/a> is the deputy editor and investigations editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. He has previously spent time as news editor, justice editor and world editor.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-734018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}