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When Socceroos coach Tony Popovic replaced goalscorers Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe with A-League pair Nishan Velupillay and Mathew Leckie, the steady stream of cranky comments from fans became a deluge.
That ‘Popa’ was playing favourites in World Cup team selections. Picking his ‘mates’, even.
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Velupillay surprisingly started a marquee World Cup game against co-host USA having once starred under Popovic at Melbourne Victory, though off the back of a modest four goals last A-League season. The winger came on as a sub for Irankunda in the opening win over Turkiye.
Right-back Jason Geria has come on as a substitute in both games, having also been a Victory man under Popovic before moving to Japanese J2 club Albirex Niigata. Geria had his international career resurrected after eight years when Popovic took charge of Australia in 2024, while Velupillay made his Socceroos debut under Popa.
It’s questionable that either player would have made the World Cup squad under another coach.
Paul Okon-Engstler has been a shock midfield starter over veteran Jackson Irvine; an A-Leaguer over a Bundesliga player with more than 80 caps who has captained the Socceroos. Okon-Engstler is the son of assistant coach and Socceroos great Paul Okon, Popovic’s close friend, and may also have been a touch-and-go squad selection under another coach.
Paul Izzo was previously Popovic’s goalkeeper at Melbourne Victory and claimed a squad spot that had other worthy contenders, though along with benched captain Maty Ryan has been leapfrogged by Melbourne City youngster Patrick Beach for the starting job.
Is Popovic really playing favourites?
The reality: Every coach does, to a degree.
There are players who are completely undeniable selections. Then, where the margins get finer, there are players who get the nod through elements of trust, familiarity and gut-feeling. Players who the coach knows can play the role that he requires, from personal experience. Players who have directly earned his faith and won’t bend.
Occasionally, like in Beach and Okon-Engstler’s case, he just has an undeniable feeling that a player is ready.
“A lot of people have their opinions and the one thing that you have to respect is the manager’s decision,” Socceroos great Harry Kewell said on SBS, albeit having added to the pile-on after the USA game by suggesting that Popovic had not backed Australia’s best talent for the game.
The real factor in whether the coach is a genius or a goose when it comes to contentious selections? Winning. The Beach and Okon-Engstler picks were hailed as masterstrokes when Australia beat Turkiye and the youngsters impressed, while the nation raged over Velupillay and Leckie after a disappointing loss to the Americans.
Socceroos great Robbie Slater was among the most pointed about Popovic’s selections against the USA.
“He picked Mathew Leckie and Nishan Velupillay who had nothing seasons in the A-League and that’s why we lost. We didn’t give ourselves a chance to threaten USA,” he wrote for CODE Sports.
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The more sinister accusation, that Popovic is playing favourites, has been confined to online and social media commentary from fans — but there has been a LOT.
Pundits have stuck to debating whether the selections stacked up on tactical merits — though have also raised the damning question of whether Australia raised the white flag against the USA by not going all-out with their best attackers, especially after Irankunda, Metcalfe and Serie A ace Cristian Volpato sparked the Socceroos to life in the second half.
“I think that a lot of the frustration after the US game wasn’t about only the result, it was that — I had the feeling — we didn’t have a crack at the game,” former World Cup Socceroo Tommy Oar said on SBS.
“I feel like we didn’t give ourselves a chance to get a result in the game, the way we set up. I want to see Toure, Irankunda, Metcalfe, Volpato on the field at the same time.
“Is that realistic? I’m not sure, but I think that if we do that … we saw Paraguay in the first game against the US, the US’s movement, their positivity, was too hot to handle for Paraguay. And I think that we need to heed the lesson, not play defensively and passively like Turkiye did against Paraguay, but do what the US did — to put our good attacking players on.”
Kewell insisted that regardless of personnel, Popovic had set up his team wisely for both games, with an eye to counter-attack. And with Popovic having revealed that Irankunda struggled physically in both games (cramp), the Socceroos icon questioned whether the coach had complete trust in his attacking whiz and his overall output.
“I understand everyone is raving about the unbelievable result we had against Turkiye and the incredible goals that we scored. But if I’m putting my coach’s head on at the moment and I’m looking at what else happened in that game, we did a lot of defensive work. And when we need certain players to step up and maybe control the game, were they there?” Kewell said.
“And my problem is, with this decision that everyone’s talking about … I believe Metcalfe should start because I thought he was excellent in Turkiye and he done exceptionally well when he came on (against USA). But there must be something with Irankunda because the talent that he has, and if Popovic is always thinking, ‘Do I start him or not start him?’
“I understand that you want to go out there and you want to throw all your eggs in one basket and go and attack football, and I’m the first person to attack every single game. But my question is, why is there always something that we’re questioning with Popa when he sees him day in, day out? There must be something there that is stopping him from actually stating, ‘Hey, you’re my guy, go out there and do it’.
“That’s Popovic’s style: defensive first, he works and wants to see his team being solid first and foremost. If we can get these options going forward, he’s a great person to have these options but he needs to be able to be solid first. And you need to work off the ball. In this day and age, football, you have to work off the ball.”
Oar countered that with Popovic’s back-five defensive line, the Socceroos should be able to gamble on attacking flair.
“There’s a misconception that you’re losing defensive stability by having these offensive players on the field. Because the more time you can spend in the front third dictating the game, the less defending you’re going to have to do.,” he said.
“We saw against the US, you’re defending for 45 minutes, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before a moment of brilliance, a mistake, they’re gonna get through — where does it leave you? You’ve got 10 defensive-minded players on the pitch; I think that that balance with the back five, it allows you the luxury of having these unpredictable players in the front third, like Irankunda, like Toure. I just think we’re more of a threat when they’re on.”
Next comes Paraguay, with selections again up in the air. Australia needs only a point to guarantee a spot in the Round of 32, with a draw or win good enough for second in the group behind USA. Whichever players Popovic chooses for the task, no doubt the debate will rage on.
Popovic less than pleased by referee | 04:36
WHAT HAS HAPPENED WITH AUSTRALIAN WORLD CUP MANAGERS BEFORE
Below are summaries of Australia’s other two World Cup campaigns under Aussie managers, and some of the selections they made which were notable given their past history with players.
GRAHAM ARNOLD — 2022
Arnie’s Socceroos only reached this World Cup via a playoff penalty shootout against Peru — in which the coach made the ultimate ‘my guy’ move.
Maty Ryan, who debuted under Arnold at Central Coast, was pulled as goalkeeper for the shootout and replaced by Arnie’s Sydney FC gloveman Andrew Redmayne, who he had also known long prior at the Mariners.
Arnold would have been crucified if the move had gone awry — but Redmayne produced his instantly iconic ‘Grey Wiggle’ act and put Australia through to Qatar 2022.
Redmayne, who has just four Socceroos caps, played a lead-in friendly against New Zealand then never played for Australia again. He made the Cup squad alongside fellow Mariners product and one-time Sydney FC keeper Danny Vukovic, who got the third and final nod partly because he was a ripping bloke to have in camp; much to the consternation of Mitchell Langerak, who had come out of international retirement leading into the tournament — at Arnold’s request.
There were a stack of players in that squad who Arnold had worked with in the Olyroos side, notably full-back Nathaniel Atkinson. A pair of Mariners strikers playing under Arnie’s old championship midfielder Nick Montgomery, Jason Cummings and Garang Kuol, also made the cut and got game time; as did ex-Central Coast and Olyroos defender Kye Rowles, a starter in every game (v France, Tunisia, Denmark and Argentina).
Mitchell Duke was handed his A-League debut by Arnold at the Mariners and famously scored the headed goal that delivered a group stage victory against Tunisia. The busy striker, then in the Japanese second division, also started every game in 2022; preferred over Cummings and Jamie Maclaren, who got three substitute appearances.
ANGE POSTECOGLOU — 2014
‘Big Ange’ began his sudden Socceroos tenure with a bang when he was suddenly thrust into the Socceroos job right before Brazil 2014, with the axing of German boss Holger Osieck. He axed captain Lucas Neill four caps short of 100, and also dumped 80-cap golden generation right-back Luke Wilkshire.
Postecoglou had produced arguably the best club side in Australia’s domestic football history at Brisbane Roar from 2009-12, a high-possession, high-octane attacking outfit that pundits dubbed ‘Roar-celona’. It shouldn’t have been a surprise when a pair of players from that team became favoured World Cup pieces.
Matt McKay was a well-established international midfielder by the time Postecoglou took the reins, though had bounced around several overseas clubs (including Rangers) before landing back in Brisbane in 2013. He played the full 90 minutes in two of the three group matches, against the Netherlands and Spain.
Ivan Franjic was the dynamic right-back of Postecoglou’s Roar team and went into the World Cup as a starter, providing the cross for Tim Cahill’s goal against Chile before a hamstring injury ruined his tournament. The inadvertently led to Ryan McGowan playing right back against the Netherlands — and firing in the long ball for Cahill’s iconic volley.
Veteran midfielder/defender Mark Milligan got his third consecutive selection in a World Cup squad after playing under Postecoglou at Melbourne Victory, though played only against Chile, while James Troisi was another Victory charge picked by Ange and made two sub appearances (Chile and Spain); and went on to score the winner for Ange in Australia’s 2015 Asian Cup final triumph. Then-Victory ace Tom Rogic would have gone to the tournament if not for a groin injury.
Certainly, Postecoglou, Arnold and Popovic have ushered in a far more A-League friendly attitude in Australian World Cup selection. The low bar was Pim Verbeek in 2010, when he picked only golden generation mainstay Jason Culina after declaring that merely training in Europe was better than playing in the A-League.
Australia’s modern World Cup appearances are split evenly by manager nationality — three Aussies, three Dutchmen.
A-LEAGUE SELECTIONS BY YEAR
2026 (Tony Popovic): 5 – Patrick Beach (Melbourne City),
2022 (Graham Arnold): 7 – Jason Cummings (Central Coast Mariners), Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United), Garang Kuol (Central Coast Mariners), Mathew Leckie (Melbourne City), Jamie Maclaren (Melbourne City), Andrew Redmayne (Sydney FC), Danny Vukovic (Central Coast Mariners)
2018 (Bert van Marwijk): 2 – Daniel Arzani (Melbourne City), Dimitri Petratos (Newcastle Jets)
2014 (Ange Postecoglou): 7 – Ivan Franjic (Brisbane Roar), Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide United), Matt McKay (Brisbane Roar), Mark Milligan (Melbourne Victory), Matthew Spiranovic (Western Sydney Wanderers), Adam Taggart (Newcastle Jets), James Troisi (Melbourne Victory)
2010 (Pim Verbeek): 1 – Jason Culina (Gold Coast United)
2006 (Guus Hiddink): 2 – Michael Beauchamp (Central Coast Mariners), Mark Milligan (Sydney FC)
USA beat Socceroos in TENSE clash | 02:48
