Socceroos still confident Popovic style can deliver
With their bid for direct World Cup qualification in the balance, the Socceroos are confident their improving form under Tony Popovic has them well-placed to deliver a clutch away win over Bahrain.
The Socceroos will have to quickly move on from Thursday night’s 0-0 home draw with Saudi Arabia, when a lack of clinical edge proved costly, ahead of taking on Bahrain in Riffa on Tuesday (Wednesday morning AEDT).
Bahrain beat Australia 1-0 on the Gold Coast in the disastrous start to the campaign under Popovic’s predecessor Graham Arnold.
With group C particularly tight, the reverse fixture looms as a pivotal one.
“Of course, it’s important,” Popovic said.
“But we take the point from today, we move forward. It’s another positive result, not the three points that we wanted.
“We know it’s a huge game in Bahrain and we need a much better performance than we had here, where we lost 1-0.
“So if we can improve that performance, then we’ve got a chance to win.”
The horrendous home performance against Bahrain was the beginning of the end for Arnold, who finished up after the subsequent 0-0 draw with Indonesia.
But in three games under Popovic, the Socceroos have gone unbeaten.
“You can feel the structure of the team is clearer, the game plan,” midfielder Jackson Irvine said.
“We can feel on the pitch that we can see exactly what it is we’re trying to do.
“And listen, we know it’s gonna be a totally different game for us on Tuesday night, but we’re working within a framework that allows us to play.
“We’ve played against a very deep block against China, we’ve had to defend deep against Japan and now tonight, almost man-against-man kind of style game from the Saudis.
“We’re facing totally different ways of football, but we’re still sticking to what we’re trying to do, and we’re finding solutions, good enough solutions, probably should have won us the game.”
Both Irvine and midfield partner Aiden O’Neill lamented a lack of clinical finishing – which will be crucial against a Bahrain defence expected to hunker down.
Attacker Riley McGree insisted Australia were “only going in the right direction”, as did goalkeeper Joe Gauci.
“We’re definitely in a better spot than where we were a few months ago, that’s for sure,” Gauci said.
“I think we have more belief in ourselves and our style of play and real confidence in the way that we’re going to do things.
“We’re going to continue to build as a group.
“And I think as the performances and the games keep coming, and we get towards the latter stages of this qualification process, you’re going to see a new and improved Socceroos every time we step onto the field.”
The Socceroos will wait on an update on Nishan Velupillay (ankle) and Popovic said it was “too early” to think about a potential replacement for the Melbourne Victory attacker.
But they will regain key creative outlet Craig Goodwin from suspension.
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