‘Without a doubt’: What sparked Socceroos gamble as Popovic explains biggest World Cup calls

Socceroos boss Tony Popovic has named his final 26-man squad for the FIFA World Cup with Cristian Volpato making the final cut just days after pledging his allegiance to Australia.

The 22-year-old winger, who previously wanted to play for Italy, is one of two uncapped players in the squad alongside Tete Yengi, who has been rewarded for a breakout season in Japan.

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Volpato rejected Graham Arnold’s advances four years ago when he was making waves with AS Roma as a teenager under legendary manager Jose Mourinho, but the Sydney born and raised prospect, who still plays in the Serie A but is now with Sassuolo, has had a change of heart.

“Look, he’s a very talented player, young player,” Popovic said during his press conference.

“So it’s another young player that is doing well in the Serie A, of course, with Sassuolo. Can be much better because he’s young, so there’s a lot of growth and potential still there, which pretty much sums up a lot of our players at the moment.

“Even a few of the ones that played last night. They’re talented, they’re young, but you know, they still lack a lot of experience and maturity, but that will come. So with these games this will help him I’m sure in years to come and he’s definitely one of those and he fits into that category.

“When you see him play for Sassulo he hasn’t played a lot of minutes which we would have liked that he played more minutes but that’s a situation we face with him.

“But you know when he has come on, you know you can see technically a very good player, great left foot, he’s comfortable under pressure, which you have to be in the Serie A. So I’m really looking forward to working with him.”

EVERY SOCCEROOS GAME >

Yengi, meanwhile, received his first ever call-up to a national squad just a week ago after the 25-year-old netted six goals in 22 appearances across the JLeague 1 and the AFC Champions League Elite for Machida Zelvia.

“I saw some games online of him playing in Scotland and we saw him, we were monitoring him, we wrote some notes on him and left it at that at that stage. Then he moved to Japan and we saw he was playing well, playing regularly for a very good club. Obviously challenging in the Champions League and challenging for the J League,” Popovic said.

“Then I went to watch him personally, watch him play a game and he’s just stayed on our mind in terms of the profile that he has. It’s very different to anything that we have here in terms of his size and presence on the pitch. And he’s really improved and he’s got a lot of game time in the last four months.

“So we felt that that gives us a different option, a different avenue up front and yeah, I’m delighted for the young man.”

The Socceroos will have a new look about them in the United States and Canada as 17 squad members head to the World Cup for the first time, and the squad announcement comes after the Socceroos were beaten 1-0 in a friendly by tournament co-hosts Mexico yesterday.

“Look, I don’t want to dampen anyone’s expectations. It is a young squad. If you look at the youngsters that are playing and Lucas Herrington, what he’s done since March and now he’s in the squad. So I think we’ve shown that we’re not afraid to play the youngsters,” Popovic said.

“Will they be better in four and eight years? Without a doubt. But that’s not to say they’re not good enough now. If they weren’t I wouldn’t play them and I wouldn’t have him in the squad. So I don’t need anyone to dampen the expectations. They should believe, they should love to see these boys play and have the mix of the experience and the youngsters.

“I think it’s quite clear that in time and maturity when they get mature as a footballer, get the experience of playing in big games, it’s natural that you will get better as a footballer. And I had that in our generation, you know, I experienced that we had an eight to ten year cycle. We lost against Uruguay and were really bullied in the second leg.

“That same group played four years later and didn’t get bullied. That’s maturity, that’s maybe another 100 to 200 league games under your belt at the highest level.

“So you can handle those occasions better. We weren’t poor players four years earlier. We were very good players. We were a great group. But four years later, we’re much better. So these boys will be good now, without a doubt. And I’m very, very happy they’re here. I’m very confident to play them and have them involved. And it’s a pleasure to coach them.

“But you know, hopefully they can keep growing in their club football. They need to keep playing regularly, they need to get the games, and then let’s hope that in the next four and eight years we’re looking at this core group of players just growing and having more continuity together and getting to know each other better, which can just help Australia keep growing because we want to keep evolving and this is part of that process to keep evolving, getting a new generation into the Socceroos.”

On the other end of the scale, captain Mat Ryan and goal scorer in Qatar four years ago Mathew Leckie have been named for their fourth World Cup – matching Tim Cahill and Mark Milligan’s national record.

“Well, the obvious one, the experience, something that we don’t have too much of in terms of age or World Cup experience,” Popovic said when asked what Ryan and Leckie bring to the squad.

“So they can really lead the way and you know, guide these younger players through the different days and times that you go through here, which you can have your ups and downs and they can really help through the experience they’ve had.

“And Maty’s obviously the captain… he expected to see himself coming to the World Cup.

“Mathew Leckie’s probably different. A couple of months ago, God knows what he was thinking in terms of his football with all the injuries that he’s had.”

Popovic later added: “I think the luxury of Mathew Leckie is that he can play anywhere. He has the experience and maturity that you don’t need a week or two of training in a position with him. You can basically show him a video and he would know what to do.

“That’s a luxury of having someone with his quality. Last time was the first time he played as a 10 with us, but so he knows the position.”

Aziz Behich, Milos Degenek and Jackson Irvine have been selected for a third World Cup, while Cameron Devlin, Ajdin Hrustic, Awer Mabil and Harry Souttar also return from the squad that reached the Round of 16 in Qatar.

Thirty players had been involved in Australia’s training camp in Florida and then California in the lead up to the squad announcement.

Martin Boyle, Brandon Borrello, Joe Gauci and Kye Rowles are the four players to miss out.

It is a particularly bitter blow for Boyle, who missed the last World Cup with injury and does not have time on his side at 33 years of age to make a maiden appearance in the global showpiece event.

Boyle has scored ten goals in 41 appearances for the Socceroos, while he and Rowles – who was in the World Cup squad four years ago – both featured in the match day squad against Mexico but were unused substitutes.

“Look, I’m not gonna go into how he took the news, that’s a private conversation that we had. But he knows he’s played an important role in getting here,” Popovic said.

“As I said earlier, you know, we’ve given so many players an opportunity at different times and you know, we just spoke about Tete Yengi, Cristian Volpato coming in late and you can remember a couple more in March that made their debuts, Herrington come in, Awer Mbail. So that’s four players that had nothing to do with our campaign and are now going to the World Cup.

“I’ve always kept the door open for everyone and when you do that, it can cost someone that’s been through the journey a spot at the World Cup and unfortunately for Martin, you know, he was one of those players.”

They are not the only hard luck stories as Middlesborough midfielder Riley McGree was ruled out with a hamstring injury last month, while Mitch Duke, who scored the winner against Tunisia in Qatar, was part of a group of eight players cut from the training squad roughly a week ago.

The Socceroos will play their final pre-World Cup friendly against Switzerland in San Diego on Sunday morning AEST.

Popovic stressed that it is exciting times ahead for the national team.

“I think what we have is a lot of young exuberance, a lot of exciting talent, which is I think the start of a new cycle,” he said.

“We will see Cristian Volpato when he’s with the ball, it’ll be exciting. You see Nestor with the ball, you see Mo (Toure’s) power running in behind last night and causing them all kinds of problems and the two centre backs that will play in the World Cup.

“So you see that and it’s exciting. You sort see young Pauly (Okon) Jr., you see Luke Herrington and then the list goes on, Jordy Bos, these are all young guys. They’re fearless.

“I’d like them to be more fearless than what they are because I think sometimes that comes with maturity and experience that when the pressure’s on they go in their shell a little bit.

“Then when they do two or three good actions you can just see them open up and relax and off they go and they’re themselves again. Just trying to get that more consistent, but that comes with games, you know, and the more they play then they get it they have to go through that. And the senior boys are there to guide them through that, that they don’t crumble when there’s one or two bad moments, that they can shift the momentum quicker than just letting it pass by a whole half of football.

“So that’s where the senior boys can help and yeah we’re trying to get that right mix between it. But yeah, I think it’s a very it should be a very exciting group for I think for the Australian public.”

FULL SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Mathew Ryan (c), Paul Izzo, Patrick Beach

Defenders: Aziz Behich, Jordan Bos, Cameron Burgess, Alessandro Circati, Milos Degenek, Jason Geria, Lucas Herrington,Jacob Italiano, Harry Souttar, Kai Trewin