{"id":777366,"date":"2026-07-03T22:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777366\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T22:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:58:14","slug":"world-cup-australias-story-ends-in-heartbreak-against-egypt-but-socceroos-path-forward-is-now-clear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777366\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup: Australia’s story ends in heartbreak against Egypt, but Socceroos’ path forward is now clear"},"content":{"rendered":"

It comes down to moments. 120 minutes defined in history by the instances that influenced the scoreboard.<\/p>\n

No one will remember Cristian Volpato hitting the crossbar in the fourth minute. No one will remember Jordy Bos’s driving run into the area and the last ditch touch by an Egyptian defender to take away his shot.<\/p>\n

Patrick Beach’s stunning save in the final moments of regular time. A footnote.<\/p>\n

The scoreboard only remembers the goals \u2014 Emam Ashour getting clear of his marker and burying his header past Beach.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Hany’s own goal. The penalty shootout. In the end, history will record this as an Egypt victory after penalties.<\/p>\n

\"Mo<\/p>\n

Egypt’s Mo Salah comforts Australia’s Aziz Behich. (AP: Julio Cortez)<\/p>\n

Tony Popovic spoke about creating the chances and then taking them. The Socceroos created, but they couldn’t take.<\/p>\n

Three shots in the opening 23 minutes, but none on target. Five touches in Egypt’s box, but no big chances. The Pharaoh’s on the other hand had one big chance and took it.<\/p>\n

Australia continued to create, by it was telling that its goal came from the head of an opponent.<\/p>\n

The Socceroos’ inability to make the most of their periods of dominance, of which there were plenty, ultimately cost them.<\/p>\n

This result feels like an underachievement. The belief within the squad, the expectation from the supporters, but no result.<\/p>\n

\"Jordy<\/p>\n

Jordy Bos was Australia’s brightest attacking spark before his injury. (Getty Images: Hannah Peters)<\/p>\n

Tony Popovic asked repeatedly, “why not this team?” and the answer it seems, is a clinical striker in the final third.<\/p>\n

The Socceroos were well drilled, fit, determined and ambitious. But if chances aren’t taken, none of that matters.<\/p>\n

Popovic, who will remain the Socceroos coach until the end of the Asian Cup next year, has to find a way to score goals.<\/p>\n

Across the park there is talent to burn. But on the scoreboard, they are lacking.<\/p>\n

16 shots on goal, but just one on target.<\/p>\n

That all being said, the future is bright. Volpato and Bos had moments. Lucas Herrington could be a generational defender, as he ponders his future at the tender age of 18. Alessandro Circati is just 23.<\/p>\n

\"Cristian<\/p>\n

Cristian Volpato looks to have a bright future ahead as a Socceroo. (Getty Images: Alex Slitz)<\/p>\n

Patrick Beach looks set to be between the sticks for a decade after unseating Mat Ryan in goal, a move that stunned everyone. Equally stunning was the move to take him off for Ryan ahead of the shootout, a gamble that did not pay off for Popovic.<\/p>\n

Nestory Irankunda, for all his raw talent, at times looked lost playing as an out-and-out striker, but his impact in the T\u00fcrkiye win showed what he could be capable of.<\/p>\n

And what of Mo Toure? He came into this tournament as Australia’s most in-form forward, but was relegated to the bench.<\/p>\n

Penalties is a brutal way to lose, but Australia, and Egypt to be fair, had their chances to win it in regular time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It comes down to moments. 120 minutes defined in history by the instances that influenced the scoreboard. No…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,5579,596,44,42150,21418],"class_list":["post-777366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-egypt","tag-football","tag-news","tag-socceroos","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777366","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=777366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}