To serve as the coach of the Socceroos is to exist in a world of immense scale. It is to embrace the challenge of coaching players who arrive in camp just days out from the first match of the international window after a series of arduous long-haul flights. It is to tackle the hurdles of crisscrossing the largest confederation in world football to play another game in the days that follow. As Australia will do on Tuesday, it is to face 62,000 Japanese fans at Saitama Stadium in a World Cup qualifier, producing an endless roar of “Vamos Nippon” from the opening to the final whistle. But for new Socceroos coach Tony Popovic, confronting these giant challenges starts not with thinking big but, instead, small.
As his players staged their first training session in Japan on Sunday, cast in the shadow of Saitama Stadium on one of the training pitches that dot its surrounds, a plan was afoot. Under Graham Arnold, who resigned as coach of the Socceroos last month, the opening minutes of training had generally carried an air of brevity, players staging raw action drills that ended in foot races as the boss occasionally interjected with jokes and banter. Here, it carried a more business-like air, more deliberately methodical in execution. Neither approach is inherently better than the other, of course; Arnold’s more relaxed, “Socceroos Family” style approach helped deliver Australia their most successful men’s World Cup in 2022. But the relatively minor contrast gives insight into the change in priorities that have come with the arrival of Popovic.
After moving through their initial warm-ups, players broke into a simple passing drill, the lone ball work that media were allowed to observe before more detailed preparations for the Samurai Blue began and unwanted eyes were asked to leave. From the sidelines, it all seemed rather unremarkable, something to knock cobwebs loose and give players a feel for the ball before the real work commenced. But for the detail-obsessed Popovic, who played 58 times for the Socceroos across his 19-year playing career, it was another opportunity to impart critical principles of movement and possession into his new playing group in just his 23rd day on the job.
“Every player takes information in differently, so he didn’t want to overload that,” 74-cap veteran Aziz Behich says. “But in training, even when we’re doing passing drills, you might just think it’s a passing drill but it’s actually leading to the way we want to play and the positions we need players in. There are little subtle things like that. When we analysed [last week’s 3-1 win over China] today, you actually see our passing drill implemented on the pitch without realising it.”
Ever since he first moved into the dugout over a decade ago, Popovic has emphasised moments, fine margins, little details, and opportunities, no matter how banal, to be better. As a coach, he expects a level of professionalism and commitment towards this – on and off the pitch – that mirrored his own.
Players are given the tools and framework to meet these expectations but don’t have their hands held: they’ll either do the work or they don’t. Popovic knows which way the players turned when the time comes for body fat to be measured and for the gruelling days on the training track to commence. During his time in the A-League Men, Popovic became well-known for the high level of turnover in his squads, players shown the door just as quickly as they entered if they didn’t meet his standards. Those who met them, though, earned his trust and received fierce loyalty in return.
“[Elite is] what you eat, how you sleep, how you recover, how you perform, how you train,” Ajdin Hrustic says. “Every detail that you can think about in football, for him, [needs to be] elite. That’s why I think he’s special, because he pushes us to the limit.”
How exactly that will manifest in the Socceroos given the inherent differences that come with club and international management will only become apparent in time. Popovic will now have to make do with a week or two with his players during international breaks, rather than day-in-and-day out during a league season.
In the aftermath of the win in Adelaide last Thursday, the 51-year-old preached that the national team needed to be a more difficult environment for players than they encountered at their clubs. He concedes that it to be hard work for those that come in and, if they wish to return, they need to maintain an elite level outside international duty. Indeed, if there has been one theme that has run through the Socceroos since Popovic’s arrival, it has been a demand to be elite each and every day, not just in green and gold.
“That 1% can be the difference between winning a game, losing a game, finishing second or third, going to a World Cup,” says defender Jason Geria. “If you can get that last little drop to make yourself better. Why not?”
