Post-Match Press Conference: Australia's Tony Popovic On 2-0 Win Against Turkiye

[0:00] kick off with joey lynch uh joey lynch for espn question for tony popovich asking in english tony [0:09] congratulations i guess you swung some huge uh calls at the selection table tonight and they [0:15] look like they've paid off in absolute spades could you just maybe walk through some of them [0:21] i guess patrick beach paul icon jr in the midfield and your reflections on how they played tonight [0:27] yeah there were um there may be shocks for a lot of people but not not shocks within our our [0:35] playing group or staff because you know we're all working working together every day and we can see [0:41] the quality of these young boys you know you've got mo to ray nestory young junior ocon patrick beach [0:49] many more um yeah it's a team selected to perform well you never know the result of course we're at [1:01] a world cup but um for me the it's not just it's the performance it's not the the result is the [1:08] satisfaction and the outcome regardless of the result it was the right decision um tony um sorry [1:17] closer to the microphone yeah uh tony uh julian linden from daily telegraph in sydney question in [1:23] english a lot of the talk before this tournament was that the socceroos are the easy beats of the [1:29] group that they're going to finish bottom they can't match it with turkey the americans are going to [1:35] spank them um do you think that this result and this performance will earn you the respect now [1:42] oh i i don't know um nor am i concerned by that um you know the nations we're playing in this uh world [1:54] cup in the group stages are fantastic teams um you know maybe the perception changes slightly because [2:02] we've beaten to kia um a big nation we've beaten two nil so maybe that changes slightly but you know [2:09] we we still um we still got a lot of work to do and um you know we've got to move on to the u.s game [2:16] of course tonight's a special night for all soccer fans here and i'm sure back home watching it in the [2:22] afternoon is is quite special and unique um and i'm glad that we've made them very happy tonight because [2:29] they saw uh you know a team you know fighting throughout the whole game a young team lack of [2:36] experience but a lot of quality and uh we matched it we're with a very good side so we're happy uh we [2:43] need to travel now after this uh long travel uh we'll be home in the early hours um recover well and [2:52] prepare for the next challenge hi tony congratulations um david winner football 360 in english how on [3:01] the two goal scorers how proud are you of nestoria and kund of his performance and his goal tonight [3:07] and also conor metcalf a player that you've backed in so heavily over the last year to see him rewarded [3:12] tonight like he was yeah it's great to see a reward for for both players um the story was struggling at [3:20] half time but he gave us a few more minutes in the second half um he's such an explosive player and [3:26] once he gets his conditioning to the level that's required to be able to do that for 95 minutes [3:32] and he's building towards that but you can see in the first half the goal and there were a couple [3:37] other opportunities that he had where he's so dynamic and dangerous full of belief and um so i'm [3:43] pleased for him and of course connor uh a player that um you know we've we've played so many times [3:51] unfit no match minutes and he's probably the best condition he's been in and still it's not a lot he's [3:57] only played a couple of games at saint paulie but he's come to us this time with some match [4:01] conditioning um and uh you know to finish the game he did a lot of work out there that you know the [4:07] wingers kept changing the quality kept getting better and better that was coming on uh and then [4:12] he scored a wonderful goal we believe he should score more of those we believe he should be having [4:16] more attempts on goal so hopefully that gives him a lot of confidence tony it's david besher from sbs [4:22] congratulations on your victory can you give us an idea of we see the outlets and the attacking [4:28] outlets the soccerers have but the the sort of defensive capabilities your team displayed today [4:33] and the the output that they had you know from your point of view from the your your backroom staff [4:39] how pleasing was that and how organized had you did you have to be against such a world-class [4:44] opposition yes um outstanding defensive display i think from the whole whole squad uh players that [4:51] came on as well um very resilient desperate around the blocks putting their bodies on the line um and [4:58] that's what's required to to win a game in the world cup regardless of who you're playing it's it's the [5:03] world cup so everything is difficult um and we we kept that focus we kept our discipline concentration [5:12] patrick had to make some saves um he was wonderful as well young keeper um yeah just uh proud of all the [5:20] boys and and we scored two nice goals which was really pleasing leah mask and talk sport in english [5:27] tony first of all congratulations on a great victory um during the fed square i don't know if [5:33] you've seen it has gone absolutely bonkers um this afternoon during the week we had um professionals [5:40] from other codes in australia saying they didn't want to play they'd rather watch the ruse what's your [5:45] message for australia to get to rally around football and your team for the tournament it's good to [5:52] hear it's pleasing to hear that um you know elite athletes from other codes would want to watch the [5:58] soccer ruse and i think that's what the world cup and the soccer ruse can do for all australians [6:06] the whole country gets behind um this tournament gets behind the soccer ruse and i'm delighted that [6:13] everyone wanted to watch a game and i'm delighted that um you know so many places held the game um i [6:21] haven't seen anything as yet but um i'm sure if i get an opportunity i will but i'm very appreciative [6:29] of the support the support we had here in in the stands as well um you see the genuine love and joy [6:35] for these uh for the soccer ruse and it's something that um you know i i saw during the game and i felt [6:43] it after the game and um you know i'm sure i'll remember this game uh myself as well hi tony jai bednell [6:51] from news corp australia uh when did you deliver the news to matt ryan that he wasn't going to be [6:56] playing and how did he react in that moment and then also what did you see from him during the [7:01] game today as well i'm not going to go into when i delivered that news um yeah that's between the [7:08] coach and player and um and mattie is a super professional over 100 caps for his country um and he [7:17] conducted himself as i expected as a leader as a top player joshua cloak at the athletic here forgive [7:28] the very canadian question but what did you like about your goalkeeper tonight um his composure he's [7:39] uh he looked very at ease on the big stage uh he made some good decisions in the first half with playing [7:48] out um you know we didn't panic and just kicked the ball long you know he we we changed sides the point [7:55] of attack and and he he looked composed and then he made the saves that he had to make and [8:02] uh with the quality they have some some wonderful free kicks they took and you know he was up to the [8:08] task i'm sure he'll probably won't sleep much tonight and he'll he'll remember this day for a very long time [8:16] uh what we noticed with the turkish team is what we knew before the game they have a lot of quality [8:50] individuals um and they will dangerous throughout the whole match so that was nothing new to us um [8:58] um we had to be strong we had to be resilient we had to defend very well against them and uh but [9:06] we also showed that we had some very good passages of play that we found some areas that we could um [9:14] hurt them and uh and we were very clinical and and took our opportunity as well oh yeah sorry uh tony [9:23] um me again um the nature of tournament football is you know you've got to play next week and you've got [9:28] to get better than next week than you were this week you've improved really quickly what improvements [9:34] can you see that this team can make in the space of a week and like how close are they to their [9:39] ceiling do you and do you expect that they will get a huge boost of confidence from the resultant [9:44] performance tonight yes they should get a boost of course um ceiling they're nowhere near it because [9:50] they're a young group with no experience in a world cup very limited experience playing for their national [9:56] teams so uh their ceiling should come in four or eight years really uh most of these boys so we're [10:01] nowhere near that um but you know we we are delighted with the result um we from our previous two friendly [10:10] games we struggled in the first half we were much better this first half we competed very well with [10:16] and without the ball which is growth for the team um and now we have a different challenge we play a host [10:22] nation quality manager quality team uh it will be different we're playing at 12 o'clock so that's also [10:29] also different um we're playing the host nation so another special occasion for us and we need to [10:36] recover from this world but also emotionally we need to recover because our young boys would never have [10:42] experienced something like this so we need to enjoy it recover from it uh and see how they are for [10:50] for the next match today asking in english so you know going into this match that you were set to [10:59] become the first australian to both play in a world cup and coach a world cup so i was wondering after [11:06] winning this first match what are the emotions that you're feeling especially after having played [11:12] previously um i think as a coach it's very different to a player um you know i think as a coach you're [11:23] you're proud of obviously the group you're proud of the staff you're proud that you made so many people [11:30] happy uh in the stands you don't really reflect too much on what it does for you but um i think that's [11:38] that's normal for a coach because you're already thinking is there anyone that's injured um we need [11:44] to recover well we need to fly back and we need to get the boys um focus quickly on the next challenge so [11:51] personally of course i'm proud but um maybe one day in the in the future i can look back on this and [11:58] uh reflect and and remember and um and probably be a very special moment for me and my family tony [12:08] patrick johnston from the vancouver province here uh in english um you referenced that the the crowd and [12:15] the noise early on it's felt especially loud in terms of the turkish fans i'm just wondering how you [12:21] felt your guys managed through that early on especially as you're trying to establish your [12:25] your sort of pace of play and then just maybe just your thoughts in general about the stadium and and [12:30] and what you found here yeah the i thought we we competed well at the start and and um you know we [12:38] had to work our way into the game i thought after the break we scored soon after after the the first [12:46] break um so we came out quick from there and i i thought as the half wore on we looked more and more [12:52] confident without giving any real opportunities away and that helped the young players build confidence [12:59] build belief and then when you started seeing we started seeing some combinations of play and good [13:04] passing and build up from the back under pressure um you know that's that's normal for this group to [13:11] just keep growing with every good moment that you have so um i thought we matched them very well in [13:17] the first half took a um a crucial lead took a deserved lead and in the second half we had [13:24] to be very resilient and tough and um so we showed both sides of our game tony for the second goal i [13:33] think uh it was a pretty deeply personal moment with paul oak on your assistant on the bench he got [13:39] really emotional with that goal can you just share you know that moment what he obviously has never [13:45] played at a world cup finals his son is playing um can you just share something about that experience [13:50] yeah he's um yeah with paulo you know we go a long way back and he's he's passionate he's emotional [13:59] um you know for me you know playing his son is you know it's it's special you know i play him because [14:09] he deserves to play i love the kid i've loved him since well 12 months ago when i first brought him in [14:16] i knew there was a special talent there and he proved it today and just a special moment with [14:23] two close friends embracing and um you know just understanding what's just happened and and proud [14:32] for for his boy but also proud for us that we've managed to do something special together um here at [14:40] the world cup by winning this game tony me again um if you'll forgive me a two-prong question but we've [14:47] heard you talk about uh recovery and the importance of that we know how the exhaustive detail that you [14:53] and your staff have gone into in the build-up to this tournament planning everything out could you [14:57] give us an insight into what the next few days look like for your staff and the players to make sure [15:02] you're as best as you can be for the united states and second prong do you have any fitness concerns [15:08] from tonight that you'll now have to account for in that uh i'll answer the last one first i think [15:13] everyone is healthy um which is positive but always the next day um things can pop up you know when the [15:20] players cool down so from all accounts a lot of bumps and bruises as you'd expect a lot of tired [15:27] bodies bodies you'd expect um yeah we're traveling back tonight so we won't be back till maybe four [15:34] four a.m so that's um unusual but we we feel that that will help us get back into our base camp um our [15:44] familiar surroundings food hotel training pitches so um we made that decision and it'll be about [15:53] recovery really the next two or three days and make sure that everyone's recovered physically but also [15:58] um as i said earlier emotionally that you know we're proud of what's happened but we need to [16:03] you know once we're back home and we wake up tomorrow we need to start thinking about moving on [16:09] um to the next challenge because you know we've we've had a wonderful result but um you know we we [16:16] don't want to uh have a poor performance now against the us so a good performance gives us a chance and [16:25] that's the minimum that's required at the world cup and you know we need to make sure that we have a [16:30] squad ready and able to perform once more um tony harry suta alessandra chukati cameron burgess [16:39] how immense were they can you talk us through the selection of cameron again in this line and we [16:44] didn't start in the last two friendlies and also just how essential were they to you tonight to [16:49] completing the game plan that was almost executed to perfection yeah outstanding all three and uh [16:56] uh yeah they were constantly in the right position um tough one challenges good on the ball as well [17:05] um and it's not easy to do both uh when you're working so hard and um you know they all complimented [17:12] each other and you know very happy for them and um they set a very good foundation for us [17:18] the three of them with with patrick behind um and cam he's he's had a wonderful season he's he's [17:25] fit he's strong um and you could see today he was he was outstanding along the other two [17:32] so he gives us good balance on that side and he really helped us uh play out of pressure in the [17:38] first half on numerous occasions uh with geordie and young paulie on that side and cam was starting [17:44] all of those plays so um overall you know fantastic display by all three and and obviously when you get [17:50] a clean sheet it it makes them even happier last question hi tony um you spoke about in your own [18:00] experience in 2005 previous to 2005 you had a good team just didn't have the experience of this sort [18:06] of occasion playing that mexico game in preparation did you see any signs from your preparation for this [18:12] tournament for the young boys where they really had that experience to now sort of put it into practice [18:17] i think they're they're growing in in belief um that comes from games in mexico we saw good signs in [18:26] the second half but maybe a little bit nervous edgy anxious in the first switzerland was similar so we [18:34] you we we didn't know what we would get but we were confident that there would be an improvement in [18:39] the first half and and um and those same players have taken another step forward because they were [18:46] well and truly in the game though they showed composure um under pressure and um and they [18:53] were very resolute and tough when required that's another step forward for us we will need to take [18:59] another step to beat a very good us team um but that's a wonderful challenge that we have and that's [19:06] why we're here at the world cup to test ourselves against the very best and um you know first step is [19:13] done beating winning today and uh we'll give it our very best uh that that i can assure everyone [19:20] next week thank you thank you thank you thanks that was the last press conference for tonight have a good [19:26] evening