Australia head to China with renewed confidence in their World Cup project after scoring a rare glut of goals and earning a ringing endorsement from coach Tony Popovic.
The Socceroos’ 5-1 demolition of Indonesia in Sydney on Thursday kept them second in Group C of Asian qualifying and well placed to take the second automatic ticket to the 2026 finals in North America after leaders Japan sealed the first. Up until Indonesia, 26th-ranked Australia’s progress had been far from smooth in Popovic’s first six months in charge since taking over from Graham Arnold. Profligacy in front of goal had consistently hurt them along with costly errors in defence.
For all that, the Socceroos have yet to lose a game under Popovic who is convinced they are finally turning into the dynamic outfit he wants them to be.
Fans are unlikely to get too carried away by a big win over 127th-ranked Indonesia but it was a vast improvement on the insipid 0-0 draw in Jakarta last year which preceded Arnold’s resignation. “I aim quite high, so I’d say they’re not there where we want to be, but that’s not a negative, that’s a positive,” Popovic said of the Socceroos’ progress. “They’ve taken strides forward, and it’s not easy to do what they did tonight. “We all want to always get better and try and improve the game style That will happen with more games together.
“I felt that this camp is the first time I felt in training and around the hotel that this group is now starting to build into what we’re trying to build.”
Australia beat China 3-1 at home last year in Popovic’s first match in charge and the teams meet again in Hangzhou on Tuesday. China, who lost 1-0 away to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, are bottom of Group C but level on six points with fourth-placed Indonesia and fifth-placed Bahrain. All five teams apart from already-qualified Japan are still very much in the hunt for a World Cup berth. The Socceroos will want to come away from China with maximum points to keep the third-placed Saudis, a point behind them, at bay. Anything less would put pressure on Australia before their last two matches in the June window as they seek to avoid having to qualify via the treacherous playoffs route.