History is written by the victors, and so Tony Popovic’s bold selection gambles ahead of Australia’s opening clash with Turkiye will go down in folklore, alongside those of Guus Hiddink and Graham Arnold.
When the team sheets dropped over an hour before kick off at BC Place in Vancouver, Australia’s collective jaw dropped.
Captain and first choice goalkeeper, Mat Ryan: dropped.
Midfield general and inspirational leader, Jackson Irvine: dropped.
For two stalwarts of the national team, the captain and vice-captain no less, with almost 200 caps between them, selection calls don’t come much bigger, especially given who Popovic selected to replace them.
Standing in for Ryan was not the notional second-choice goalkeeper, Paul Izzo, but the third-choice, 22-year-old Patrick Beach, who plays his club football for Melbourne City in Australia’s A-League and had just two caps to his name.
Replacing Irvine was 21-year-old Paul Okon-Engstler, also plying his trade domestically in Australia, who had just a handful of caps to his name.
Selection gambles don’t come any bigger for the opening game of the World Cup, but Popovic has nothing if not belief in his young charges, and will now be hailed a tactical genius with Beach producing a near man-of-the-match performance, making nine saves throughout the night to keep Turkiye at bay, while Okon provided the assist for Australia’s opener and was a workhorse in midfield before being replaced by Irvine with just over five minutes of regulation time remaining.
That’s not to say Popovic isn’t, he has always been one of Australia’s more astute football minds, even as a player. But they were hero or zero type selection gambles, and because it worked out as intended, the term genius will be thrown around with regular abandon in coffee shop conversations over the coming day.
That Okon provided the assist for Irankunda, another bold selection call from Popovic, was vindication for Popovic and a glimpse into Australia’s future for the next decade.
“It was quite special seeing the young boys combining to score a goal,” a beaming Popovic told Australian broadcaster SBS after the game.
“You can’t underestimate what this will do for their confidence and belief. Emotionally it will take a lot out of the players this game, so we’ve got to get back and recover well and focus on the US.”
This was not just a result won on matchday, however. It was the result of five weeks of meticulous planning by Australia’s coaching staff, who enjoyed one of the longest preparation camps of any nation at this World Cup, firstly in the fierce Florida sun and then at their team base camp in Oakland, and that time spent in camp was evident in their performance in Vancouver.
This team, as is almost a stereotype for any Australian side, was fit. They worked tirelessly right across the pitch, from Mo Toure at the point of the attack, to the defence that were resolute across the entire 90 minutes.
The coaching staff demand a lot from the players, and they in turn demand a lot from each other. It is, to quote former coach Graham Arnold, that ‘Aussie DNA’ that is just intrinsic in every Australian footballer.
But to win a game of football you need more than fitness. This was a team that was also meticulously prepared tactically. Australia knew Turkiye were likely to enjoy more possession of the ball given the quality of players in their line-up, such as Real Madrid’s Arda Guler and Juventus’ Kenan Yildiz, who surprisingly started on the bench.
So Australia found a way to work around that. They compressed space, they cut off passing lanes and they used speed on the counter as their most offensive weapon, and it worked to perfection.
The combination of Toure and Irankunda in attack caused the Turkiye defence no end of trouble. Merih Demiral is a player Asian audiences will know well given his exploits for Al Ahli, but he was showing every one of his 28 years when up against Irankunda, who not only burned him for Australia’s opener, but almost did so again before half time.
He is a weapon unlike any Australia has had before, perhaps not since Harry Kewell in his prime. A rare combination of speed, power and skill that just frightens defences.
Turkiye would’ve been aware of his threat, but either chose to ignore it and didn’t give it enough respect. The world now knows what Australia has known for some time: this kid is special.
Certainly the Turkish were confident, perhaps too confident, before the game; telling reporters that they expected to dominate Australia because they had better players and a better team.
It only served to provide inspiration and motivation to the Socceroos, who love nothing more than being written off.
“Yeah it was extra motivation,” Irankunda told Australian TV network, SBS, after the game.
“Obviously we don’t like to hear people talk bad about us, because we’re a great team, people underestimate us a lot. But we showed them today that we can play.
“Obviously they kept the ball a lot more, but who scored the goals?! We scored the goals and we showed them that we can play football.”
And so, with three points in the bag, attention now turns to Seattle on Friday where Australia will face co-host, the United States, who like Turkiye have had plenty to say about the Socceroos and their prospects in this game, and the World Cup in general.
Or at least, their media has on their behalf. But that won’t phase Australia one bit, in fact quite the opposite. This is the context in which they thrive, as Irankunda said best when speaking after the game.
“At the end of the day you’ve got to let these people talk, and they can talk all they want, but at the end of the day we’re going to put the performance on the field, and we did that today.”
