Just hours after the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against Bahrain in November, the team’s accommodation was growing increasingly silent. What had once been a hive of activity, meeting rooms and hallways reserved for preparations for the 2-2 draw, had given way to a hush; bleary-eyed players already heading to the airport to return to their clubs for weekend fixtures. Tony Popovic wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself.
For two months, his life had been a whirlwind – named Australia coach three days after Graham Arnold’s surprise resignation and given just over a week to assemble a staff and squad for qualifiers against China and Japan. Another squad was required to be selected a fortnight later for qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Two draws left the Socceroos paradoxically in the box seat to qualify for the 2026 World Cup but also in some peril. But now, as his players dissipated from Riffa, there was ennui as a career spent in the near-endless grind of clubland gave way to four months of inactivity.
