![\"Tony](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/8976342d012575755115972563e29cc00123c280.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nCraig Foster is predicting that Australian fans will see a whole new starting XI again when the Socceroos face Paraguay on Friday. <\/p>\n
Tony Popovic has made several big calls in his first two games with the team at the World Cup, but only one of those starting line-ups managed to end in a win. <\/p>\n
The US exposed flaws within Australia\u2019s attack and defence. A win or draw against Paraguay is now needed to ensure that the Socceroos get out of the group stage. <\/p>\n
And while many fans will be calling to see certain young faces start on Friday, Foster is unsure that all those calls may be answered. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou never quite know with Popa,\u201d Foster told Nine\u2019s Today. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tony Popovic’s Socceroos starting XI against the USA.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth line-ups were very surprising in different ways and one paid off. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe rightly got amazing credit here in Australia. He was being spoken about as an amazing leader, which was great because that is coaching. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe made some big calls leaving (Nestory) Irankunda and (Connor) Metcalfe off, it didn\u2019t pay off. But that is what coaching the Socceroos is like. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just that because the USA did do a job on us. If we can get that second half in the first half, we will be in a great position. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think we will see a different line-up in the third game.\u201d<\/p>\n
A second-place finish will be the most ideal spot for the Socceroos to be, with round of 32 opponent set to be either Iran, New Zealand or Belgium.<\/p>\n
If they finish third, they could be tasked with a fierce European nation. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we finish third, we will get one of the best eight which could be Portugal, France – who we\u2019ve just had enough of in World Cups – or Germany,\u201d Foster added.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Second in the group) is a great position to be in. All we need is a draw or a win, which will make it certain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig Foster is predicting that Australian fans will see a whole new starting XI again when the Socceroos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-751691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751691","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=751691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}