When asked about the qualities Irankunda provides as a starter, compared to being an impact player, Popovic answered: \u201cWe\u2019ll keep that at the basic level of analysis, which is, people are happy if a player plays and people are unhappy if they see a player they like that doesn\u2019t play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played nine players that played the first match. Only two didn\u2019t play. So we\u2019re more disappointed in the performance, not so much in who played and who didn\u2019t play and and we improved that performance in the second half, which really pleases us, and the players that came on made an impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever starts tomorrow I know can build a strong foundation and whoever comes on can come on and finish what we\u2019ve started. So I\u2019m happy with all the players. Each circumstance or situation is very different.<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very comfortable with the players we chose against the US. I wouldn\u2019t change that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d only change the performance in the first half, that we could match them a bit better. But I\u2019m sure from that experience we\u2019ll be better against Paraguay. And God willing we get through and we\u2019ll be better again for the next experience. And Nestor plays a big part in that of course.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_7074-1024x768.webp\")
It was a packed house for Tony Popovic\u2019s press conference. <\/p>\n
Popovic said that it had been a big week of progress for his side since returning from Seattle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re happy with all the players \u2013 it\u2019s a wonderful experience for us so far in particular the US game and (they\u2019ve) responded extremely well in the second half and we\u2019re growing day by day, even quicker than I anticipated. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m very confident that the boys are well prepared, excited for the opportunity. We\u2019re in this position because we deserve to be here with a game to go and a chance to get to the knockout stages. I know the boys will relish this challenge and they\u2019re ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When pressed on what that improvement has been, he said: \u201cIn terms of growth, I\u2019m not surprised in terms of the quality of the team. It\u2019s just that these young boys are learning on the go.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very quick education and lessons that we are learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m seeing them grow as young men, I\u2019m seeing them grow as players and I\u2019m seeing them mature and I\u2019m seeing them enjoying and embracing the greatest challenge of all, which is the World Cup. It doesn\u2019t get greater than this. I\u2019m excited by this group and can\u2019t wait for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Popovic was famously part of the squad that beat Uruguay in 2005 and said farewell to international football against Paraguay a year later. But at a World Cup, Australia is yet to beat a South American nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand they bring a real toughness.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir qualifying in South America is very difficult. They know how to get a result. They showed that in the last match, scoring early, ten men, and they\u2019re really resilient and tough. (They have a) fantastic manager, a lot of experience and it\u2019s a wonderful challenge, that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for. We love the position we\u2019re in, that we can go through to the next stage, to the knockout stages and we know it\u2019s in our hands and we know what a win does for us tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paraguay started fast in game two, Australia did not.<\/p>\n
With a side that thrives in what Australia assistant coach Paul Okon described as \u201cunorganised chaos\u201d, how do the Socceroos prepare to combat that?<\/p>\n
\u201cUnorganised chaos is really a credit to them; it seems that way at times, but they\u2019re very organised, they know what they\u2019re doing in each moment of the game, in each phase. And we\u2019ve been preparing the players for that to understand what is coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cLessons, you always learn lessons from games and it\u2019s different opposition as well, different circumstances, situation from six days ago to now. Six days later, we\u2019re better again. And I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll show that tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last time Popovic faced Paraguay, he scored a goal before being applauded off in his last game of international football.<\/p>\n
Reminiscing on that, it was a chance to see a more relaxed side of the Australian coach ahead of what might well be the biggest game of some of his players\u2019 careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I saw that we\u2019ve got Paraguay, it was a bit, personally, something a little special.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also scored in my last game, I (didn\u2019t) score many, so I remind you of that also for Ale, that I did score against Paraguay!<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was a special way to end my international career.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then to think that all these years later I\u2019ll be the head coach and we\u2019re up against Paraguay is quite special.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that was a great day and hopefully tomorrow will be a wonderful, wonderful day for Australia against Paraguay once more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA STADIUM, CA\u00a0\u2014 Tony Popovic insisted he would not have changed a thing with his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[148624,64,63,44,6248],"class_list":["post-758220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-alessandro-circati","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-tony-popovic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758220","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=758220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}