More than pride on line in Socceroos’ US World Cup prep
Anna Harrington |
For the Socceroos, taking on the United States less than a year out from North America hosting the World Cup is both the perfect preparation and a golden opportunity.
Qualifying directly for the first time in three campaigns has allowed Tony Popovic to organise friendlies against a range of opponents ahead of next year’s finals.
After a 1-0 win over Canada in Montreal, Australia will attempt to back up against the US at Dick’s Sporting Park in Colorado on Wednesday (AEDT).
“We’ve been accustomed to going through the playoffs, so this is quite rare for us to be automatically qualified with a year to prepare,” Popovic said.
“We’re looking always for top opposition; challenges that can make it difficult for us. We had that against Canada and we expect the same against the US.
“Playing opposition that are tough, that have quality, and here we are up against a host nation. We know the quality they have.
“They’ve got a wonderful manager, they’ve got players that are playing at the peak of their powers in the best leagues in the world.
“We want to challenge ourselves and that’s why we happily took on these two games. We’d like to grow further from the Canada match and try and improve, and try and take that into another another difficult encounter.”
It wasn’t addressed in Popovic’s press conference but every match now could have an impact on how the Socceroos’ World Cup group shakes out.
Australia’s 1-0 victory over Canada, combined with Austria’s shock 1-0 loss to Romania, meant the Socceroos are projected to leap into world No.24 in the FIFA rankings and sneak into Pot 2 of seeding.
If they maintain that spot until the December 5 draw, they will have opponents from the top-ranked Pot 1, plus Pots 3 and 4, theoretically making for a less difficult group stage than if they landed in Pot 3.
A win or draw against the world No.16 US would clearly help in that regard, while also maintaining their unbeaten record under Popovic (seven wins, four draws).
“Well, we want to win every game. It’s always easy to say when you don’t get the result that the result doesn’t matter, because it’s a friendly. That’s a throwaway line that’s easy to use,” Popovic said.
“We want to keep our run going. We know it’ll be difficult.
“That’s why we’ve taken on this game and we appreciate the US giving us this opportunity to test ourselves against them.”
Mauricio Pochettino’s US lost 2-0 to South Korea on September 7 but have since bounced back with a 2-0 win over Japan and a 1-1 draw with Ecuador on Saturday.
“We’re impressed with them,” Popovic said.
“… (They have) a lot of top individuals and I think they’re gearing up well for the World Cup, and they look like they’re (going) in the right direction.”
Skipper Maty Ryan is no certainty to replace the impressive Paul Izzo in goals, while Popovic flagged he could make several changes to his starting line-up.
“Maty’s our captain and that won’t change,” he said.
“We’ll make a decision after tonight’s session.”
AAP
