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The Socceroos not only have their noses in front in the race for direct qualification to the 2026 World Cup, but they might just be timing their run to perfection as coach Tony Popovic makes his mark on the squad. With an emphatic victory over Indonesia on Thursday night, Australia now have their hopes of booking a ticket to the showpiece event in North America firmly in their own hands as results in Group C of the third round of Asian qualification continue to fall their way.
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Australia first had to weather a storm that started brewing when a sea of red in the stands at Sydney Football Stadium belted out the Indonesia national anthem, then turned into an onslaught of intense pressing and all-out attack as the visitors set out to impress in their first game under coach Patrick Kluivert. A sharp save by goalkeeper Mat Ryan and a missed spot kick from Indonesia midfielder Kevin Diks kept the Socceroos hanging on, until Martin Boyle converted a penalty at the other end and Nishan Velupillay doubled the lead just two minutes later.
A 2-0 scoreline after 20 minutes was a barely believable reflection of how the opening stanza had played out but as time went on the 5-1 result pointed to a ruthless edge that the Socceroos have been craving for years. The final margin was the most comprehensive of Popovic’s relatively short tenure as the side finally clicked to tighten their grip on the critical second spot in the group behind runaway leaders Japan.
As clinical as the Socceroos were with their five goals coming from nine shots, while Indonesia found the net once from 11 attempts, the hosts had an unusually meagre 40% possession on home turf. The pattern was in stark contrast to the 12 shots to three and 63% possession that Australia enjoyed when frustrated by Indonesia in a 0-0 draw in Jakarta last September.
Both teams have experienced a changing of the guard since then with Popovic taking over from Graham Arnold in the wake of that stalemate and Indonesia more recently parting ways with head coach Shin Tae-yong and handing the reins to Kluivert in January. Popovic has had six months to put his imprint on the Socceroos, while the longer the game went the more apparent it was that the Dutch great has had limited time with his charges.
Kluivert has arrived with a clear plan to play on the front foot but also carried a touch of naivety into his new role as Indonesia allowed the Socceroos to get the game on their preferred terms. With the visitors looking to dominate and push forward at any opportunity, Australia grew in confidence by turning to the approach that often works well against top-tier nations, and waiting to exploit the open spaces behind the Indonesia defenders with pace.
Partly due to an injury crisis in defence and partly due to Popovic’s selection calls, the Socceroos had four starters in Sydney – Ryan, Aziz Behich, Cam Burgess and Jackson Irvine – who had also kicked off in Jakarta, while Indonesia had six starters return from the previous meeting even amid their own aggressive naturalisation program. Craig Goodwin was relegated to starting among the substitutes with Nishan Velupillay handed a first international start up front alongside Adam Taggart and Martin Boyle, but with all four players – as well as player-of-the-match Irvine and Lewis Miller – having a hand in the goal rush there are signs that Popovic’s grand plans are working.
“I aim quite high, so I’d say they’re not where we want to be but that’s not a negative, that’s a positive,” Popovic said after the victory. “They’re taking strides forward and it’s not easy to do what they did tonight, five goals is difficult against anyone. We played a good opponent, it’s a World Cup qualifier, we always want to get better and try to improve the game style. That will happen with more games together.
“Unfortunately with a lot of injuries, a lot of changes, it’s hard to build that continuity, but what we are building is squad depth. This window is the first time I felt in training and just around the hotel that this group is now starting to build into something.”
The Socceroos remain one point ahead of third-placed Saudi Arabia, and their resounding win over Indonesia has perhaps most crucially lifted them to an seven-goal buffer over their nearest challengers with three matches to play.
A win in China on Tuesday night could take the Socceroos to the brink of direct World Cup qualification with Japan hosting Saudi Arabia at the same time. But there is little margin for error with a pair of crunch clashes against the latter two sides still to come in June. If Australia were to tumble to third or even fourth-place in the group, they would head to a fourth round of Asian qualifiers, but that is an all-too familiar long and winding road to securing a World Cup spot that Popovic is keen to avoid.
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