Maybe it was just the adrenaline talking. Perhaps he really believes it. But in the hours after the Socceroos’ 5-1 win over Indonesia, wing-back Lewis Miller made a bold declaration about where this team can go and what it could become under Tony Popovic.
“As long as we maintain that, and we feel confident in the team, and we just continue playing the way we’re playing … we’re going to be unstoppable,” Miller said.
Yeah, but it was only Indonesia, some will say. However, their FIFA world ranking of 127 belies the fact that they rolled out, in effect, something resembling a third-choice Netherlands team. This was not a bunch of no-hopers from a nothing league in south-east Asia, but a group of hardened professionals from a list of clubs across Europe that compares favourably with the Socceroos. And they had Australia genuinely rattled for 15 minutes. On Aussie soil.
But Miller is onto something. Maybe “unstoppable” is a bit much; they remain very much a work in progress, but there is progress being made.
You didn’t even have to squint to see it. It was there in the way they responded to Indonesia’s onslaught, and certainly in the way they operated in the final third. There was a touch of fortune about the 5-1 result, but only a touch.
It’s worth remembering that Popovic picked up this Socceroos team at a very low ebb. Graham Arnold opted to resign after September’s shock 1-0 home defeat to Bahrain and 0-0 away draw with Indonesia, saving Football Australia from a difficult decision. Something had to change. After six years in charge, Arnold’s side had grown stale, and opponents knew they only had two real methods of scoring goals: get the ball out wide and whip it in, or through set pieces.
Lewis Miller celebrates a goal with his Socceroos teammates.Credit: Getty Images
Popovic promised a more “dynamic” style of play when he took over, and it is slowly coming to life. Slowly, because it’s not easy to implement a new style in the middle of the most consequential round of World Cup qualifying, when the stakes are so high, with as little time to prepare as he has had. But it’s happening. Australia’s attacking patterns are much more varied now, and when they move the ball quickly as they did on Thursday night, they are as damaging and threatening as they have looked in many years.
If Arnold thought Australia didn’t have the cattle to do any better, Popovic is showing the benefits of a fresh perspective on tactics and selection. Nishan Velupillay, his old charge at Melbourne Victory, is growing into international football in a way few others thought was possible. Martin Boyle looks like his old self again. Miller, whose mistakes caused the Socceroos’ disappointing Asian Cup crash-out last year, is a player reborn.
This was the first time in his six-month tenure that Popovic said he felt like the team was beginning to coalesce into what he has pictured for them in his head.
“I aim quite high,” he said.
Australia head coach Tony Popovic looks on during the match between the Socceroos and Indonesia at Allianz Stadium.Credit: Getty Images
“They’re not there where we want to be, but that’s not a negative, that’s a positive. They’ve taken strides forward, and it’s not easy to do what they did tonight. Five goals is difficult against anyone. We’ve played a good opponent. It’s a World Cup qualifier. We all want to always get better and try and improve the game style … that will happen with more games together.
“Unfortunately, with a lot of injuries and a lot of changes, it’s hard to build that continuity. But what we are building is squad depth.”
There is, obviously, significant room for improvement. Though they were the dominant team, the Socceroos only had 40 per cent of possession; their retention and control of the ball can and must get better. And while they are missing up to four members of Popovic’s likely first-choice back five through injury (Harry Souttar, Alessandro Circati, Hayden Matthews and Jordan Bos), they also can’t afford to defend as they did against superior opposition.
All three centre-backs on Thursday night – Jason Geria, Cameron Burgess and Kye Rowles – made bad individual mistakes. Geria’s cost them a goal in the 78th minute (and a clean sheet, which could have been their first under Popovic), while Burgess and Rowles both erred in the lead-up to the penalty Indonesia missed in the seventh minute.
Jackson Irvine scores his second goal.Credit: Getty Images
“I think the goal they scored probably summarised how we defended today,” Popovic said.
“They didn’t create. We gave them chances. We gave them the penalty. We gave them the goal as well. Defensively, we weren’t great. We were a little bit on edge, a little bit sloppy in our defending.”
Had that early penalty gone in, or were it not for Maty Ryan’s miraculous save moments earlier to deny their captain Jay Idzes, Tim Garuda would have had something to defend, and it might have been a different game. Such was the ferocity of the Australian fightback, two-goal hero and man of the match Jackson Irvine reckons they would have found a way regardless.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Irvine said. “We showed a lot of different elements to our game.”
Much bigger tests await. The next is on Tuesday night in Hangzhou against China, the team they faced in Popovic’s first match in charge. The Socceroos are a better team now, but they need to prove it.
Three more points should bring direct qualification within reach. In a best-case scenario, they will need only a draw from their final two games in June to confirm it, and lock in a sixth consecutive World Cup appearance.
That’s important – not only so that everyone can breathe easy, but so Popovic can avoid an extended scrap for qualification and instead dedicate the following five international windows to fine-tuning his blueprint.
That way, come the 2026 World Cup, the Socceroos will be closer to the team that Miller – and everyone else in green and gold – thinks they could become.
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