Popovic delivers special message after Japan success

West Australian

a day ago

The Japan hoodoo is over, but Socceroos coach Tony Popovic has a stern message for his players: The job isn't done yet.
Australia all but locked in a spot for the 2026 World Cup after Aziz Behich's 90th-minute stunner lifted the Socceroos to a 1-0 win over Japan in Perth on Thursday night.
The 'all but' quantifier comes due to the fact Saudi Arabia are technically still in the hunt to steal the Socceroos' automatic qualifier spot.
The Saudis (13 points) kept their hopes alive by beating Bahrain 2-0 just hours after the Socceroos' win.
Australia (16 points, plus eight goal difference) are still well and truly in the box seat.
But if Saudi Arabia (13 points, zero goal difference) beat the Socceroos by five goals or more in Jeddah next Tuesday in the final match of the current qualifying phase, Australia will miss out on an automatic World Cup berth.
Given Saudi Arabia have scored only six goals across nine matches, that scenario is unlikely, but Popovic doesn't want to take any chances.
"We need to do a job in Saudi," Popovic said.
"We're in a great position, but we have to finish it off.
"It's been a really intense period since I've come in, but everyone's embraced what we're aiming to do.
"We're very close now to achieving our goal."
Thursday night's win in front of 57,226 fans marked the Socceroos' first victory over Japan since 2009, and inflicted a first loss on the Samurai Blue since their defeat to Iran at the Asian Cup in 2023.
But it was far from a pretty display by the Socceroos against what was effectively a Japanese B team.
Given they had already secured their World Cup berth, Japan's starting XI against Australia featured a total of nine players with four caps or less, including three debutants.
Despite that Japan dominated for almost the entire match, finishing with 69 per cent possession and creating the better chances until Behich's late heroics.
Popovic was proud of his team's defensive grit and believed getting a win over Japan - albeit against a severely depleted opponent - was significant.
"They (our players) know they've done something that hasn't been done for quite a while," Popovic said.
"We kept a clean sheet, and we've done something that many Australian sides have found hard to do.
"Japan have been on a wonderful run and there's a reason for that.
"They are the best (in Asia) and we want to challenge them to be the best.
"We shouldn't shy away from that and hopefully we take a big step forward knowing we can beat Japan."
Socceroos defender Milos Degenek said his side wouldn't take an ultra conservative approach into the game against Saudi Arabia.
"You don't go into any game thinking, 'Oh, we just don't want to lose 4-0'," Degenek said.
"You go in wanting to win the game. Very simple."