Socceroos’ coach Tony Popovic said he wants to spoil predictions his team will struggle to progress out of one of the World Cup’s most challenging groups, as he named the first players selected for training camp and revealed a shock selection lifeline for Qatar 2022 hero Mat Leckie.
Popovic departs for pre-tournament preparations in Florida on Wednesday, and will bring players in as they finish their seasons over the coming weeks, ahead of the deadline for naming squads on 1 June.
Australia meet Turkey, ranked 22nd in the world, in their first match on 14 June, before facing the host nation USA on 20 June and Paraguay six days later. Speaking for the first time since Turkey secured their place at the tournament via the Uefa playoffs, Popovic acknowledged Group D would be “tough”.
“We’re always deemed as the underdog or the team that will be fighting for the bottom spot, and we have an opportunity through our actions and our performances and results to show that that can be different,” he said.
“And that’s what’s exciting for us, and that’s the challenge that awaits.”
Popovic heaped praise on the quality of Turkey, whose squad includes three of the Guardian’s top 100 players – Inter’s Hakan Calhanoglu, Kenan Yildiz from Juventus and Real Madrid’s phenom Arda Guler.
“You have so many individual talents there in Turkey,” Popovic said. “The game smarts, the intelligence, that any one of those individuals can just turn a game in an instant.”
He also warned of the challenge of matches against the US and Paraguay, who are “very disciplined, very organised, very fit, a tough opponent”.
Yet he remained confident in the quality of the Socceroos. “Everything I’ve said about each opponent, I want everyone to feel the same about us, that we are tough and they will not get nothing given to them by us.”
The Socceroos’ plans include an extended training camp in Sarasota, Florida, with players who are finishing their seasons early. The side has a friendly against Mexico in Los Angeles on 30 May, before the squad is finalised on 1 June. A final hit out against Switzerland is scheduled for San Diego on 6 June.
The initial group of players are headlined by two key contributors in Qatar – Harry Souttar from Leicester and Mat Leckie from Melbourne City – both of whom have only just returned from long-term injuries.
Popovic said younger players such as Marcus Younis might still be brought in, but the experience of the veteran pair gives them something perhaps younger Socceroos aspirants have not demonstrated yet.
“There is presence, there is aura, there is a leader,” Popovic said of Souttar’s past two games at Leicester, before heaping praise on Leckie’s A-League Men elimination final performance on the weekend against Auckland.
“If you watch the game that was just played, Matthew Leckie was the best player on the park at 35 with no football under his belt,” Popovic said. “That, a young player can’t do as yet, that’s the difference, and that’s what you need at a World Cup.”
Others to be brought into camp early to build their fitness include Hayden Matthews from Portsmouth, Macarthur duo Anthony Caceres and Mitch Duke, Brandon Borrello from Western Sydney, Nick D’Agostino from Brisbane Roar, and Melbourne Victory’s Nishan Velupillay.
Popovic said others will join this group in coming weeks as their seasons finish, and his coaching staff will help ensure the group builds fitness towards the tournament based on each individual’s recent workload.
While the 26-player squad will be formally named on 1 June, Popovic said more than that number are likely to be in camp right up until the first match. As players arrive, however, others will be released.
“We don’t want to have a squad of 40 or 50 In camp, that’s way too many, but we want to keep it at that mark: 26 to 30 players,” he said.
“If we need to carry a few players when we name the squad – which we can up until the first match – we will.”
