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

Kick off with Joey Lynch.

Joey Lynch for ESPN.Question for Tony Popovich, ask it in English.Tony, congratulations.I guess you swung some huge calls at the selection table tonight, and they look like they've paid off in absolute spades.Could you just maybe walk through some of them, I guess Patrick Beach, Paul Ocon Jr. in the midfield, and your reflections on how they played tonight?

Yeah, there were...There may be shocks for a lot of people, but not shocks within our... playing group or staff because we're all working together every day and we can see the quality of these young boys.You've got Moture, Nestori, Young, Junior, Ocon, Patrick Beach, many more.It's a team selected to perform well.You never know the result, of course.We're at a World Cup.

But for me, it's not just the performance.The result is the satisfaction and the outcome.Regardless of the result, it was the right decision.

Tony, sorry, closer to the microphone, yeah.Tony, Julian Linden from Daily Telegraph in Sydney.Question in English.A lot of the talk before this tournament was that the Socceroos are the easy beats of the group, that they're going to finish bottom, they can't match it with Turkey, the Americans are going to spank them.Do you think that this result and this performance will earn you the respect now?

Oh, I don't know.Nor am I concerned by that.The nations we're playing in this World Cup, in the group stages, are fantastic teams.Maybe the perception changes slightly because we've beaten Turkey, a big nation.We beat them 2 -0.So maybe that changes slightly, but we still got a lot of work to do.

And we've got to move on to the US game.Of course, tonight's a special night for all the Socceroo fans.Here, and I'm sure back home, watching it in the afternoon is quite special and unique.I'm glad that we've made them very happy tonight because they saw a team fighting throughout the whole game, a young team, lack of experience but a lot of quality and we matched it with a very good side.We're happy, we need to travel now after this long travel.We'll be home in the early hours, recover well and prepare for the next challenge.

Hi Tony, congratulations.David Wiener, Football 360 in English.On the two goal scorers, how proud are you of Nestorija and Kunda for his performance and his goal tonight?And also Conor Metcalf, a player that you've backed in so heavily over the last year, to see him rewarded tonight like he was.

Yeah, it's great to see a reward for both players.Nestorija was struggling at half -time, but he gave us a few more minutes in the second half.Yeah, he's such an explosive player.once he gets his conditioning to the level that's required to be able to do that for 95 minutes and he's building towards that but you can see in the first half the goal and there were a couple other opportunities that he had where he's so dynamic and dangerous, full of belief and so I'm pleased for him and of course Connor, a player that we've played so many times, unfit, no match minutes and he's probably the bestcondition he's been in and still it's not a lot, he's only played a couple of games at St. Pauli but he's come to us this time with some match conditioning and to finish the game he did a lot of work out there, the wingers kept changing, the quality kept getting better and better that was coming on and then he scored a wonderful goal.We believe he should score more of those, we believe he should be having more attempts on goal so hopefully that gives him a lot of confidence.

Tony, it's David Beshear from SBS.Congratulations on your victory.Thank you.Can you give us an idea of...We see the outlets and the attacking outlets the Socceroos have, but the sort of defensive capabilities your team displayed today and the output that they had, you know, from your point of view, from your backroom staff, how pleasing was that and how organised did you have to be against such a world -class opposition?

Yes, outstanding defensive display, I think, from the whole squad.players that came on as well.Very resilient, desperate around the blocks, putting their bodies on the line.And that's what's required to win a game in the World Cup.Regardless of who you're playing, it's the World Cup, so everything is difficult.And we kept that focus, we kept our discipline, concentration.

Patrick had to make some saves.He was wonderful as well, a young keeper.Yeah, just proud of all the boys, and we scored two nice goals, which was really pleasing.

Liam Askin, TalkSport in English.Tony, first of all, congratulations on a great victory.During the Fed Square, I don't know if you've seen it, it's gone absolutely bonkers this afternoon.During the week, we had professionals from other codes in Australia saying they didn't want to play, they'd rather watch the Roos.What's your message for Australia to rally around football and your team?for the tournament?

It's good to hear.It's pleasing to hear that elite athletes from other codes would want to watch a Socceroos.I think that's what the World Cup and the Socceroos can do for all Australians.The whole country gets behind this tournament, gets behind the Socceroos, and I'm delighted that everyone wanted to watch a game, and I'm delighted that so many places held the game.I haven't seen anything as yet, but I'm sure if I get an opportunity I will, but I'm very appreciative of the support, the support we had here in the stands as well.You see the genuine love and joy for these, for the Socceroos and it's something that, you know, I saw during the game and I felt it after the game and, you know, I'm sure I'll remember this game myself as well.

Hi Tony, Jai Bednall from News Corp Australia.When did you deliver the news to Matt Ryan that he wasn't going to be playing and how did he react in that moment and then also what did you see from him during the game today as well?

I'm not going to go into when I delivered that news.That's between the coach and player and Matty is a super professional, over 100 caps for his country and he conducted himself as I expected as a leader, as a top player.

Joshua Cloak at The Athletic here.Forgive the very Canadian question, but what did you like about your goalkeeper tonight?

His composure.He looked very at ease on the big stage.He made some good decisions in the first half with playing out.He didn't panic and just kick the ball along.We changed sides, the point of attack, and he looked composed.And then he made the saves that he had to make.

With the quality they have, some wonderful free kicks they took, and he was up to the task.I'm sure he'll Probably won't sleep much tonight and he'll remember this day for a very long time.

What we noticed with the Turkish team is what we knew before the game.

They have a lot of quality individuals.and they were dangerous throughout the whole match, so that was nothing new to us.We had to be strong, we had to be resilient, we had to defend very well against them, but we also showed that we had some very good passages of play, that we found some areas that we could hurt them, and we were very clinical and took our opportunities well.

The nature of tournament football is you've got to play next week and you've got to get better next week than you were this week.You've improved really quickly.What improvements can you see that this team can make in the space of a week and how close are they to their ceiling?And do you expect that they will get a huge boost of confidence from the result and performance tonight?

Yes, they should get a boost, of course.Ceiling, they're nowhere near it, because they're a young group with no experience in a World Cup, very limited experience playing for their national team.So their ceiling should come in four or eight years, really, most of these boys.So we're nowhere near that.But, you know, we We are delighted with the result.From our previous two friendly games, we struggled in the first half.

We were much better this first half.We competed very well, with and without the ball, which is growth for the team.And now we have a different challenge.We play a host nation, quality manager, quality team.It will be different.We're playing at 12 o 'clock, so that's also different.

We're playing the host nation, so another special occasion for us, and we need to recover from this world, but also emotionally we need to recover, because our young boys would never have experienced something like this.So we need to enjoy it, recover from it, and see how they are for the next match.

Today, asking in English, so you know going into this match that you were set to become the first Australian to both play in a World Cup and coach a World Cup?So I was wondering, after winning this first match, what are the emotions that you're feeling, especially after having played previously?

I think as a coach, it's very different to a player.I think as a coach, you're proud of, obviously, the group.You're proud of the staff.You're proud that you made so many people happy in the stands.You don't really reflect too much on it.it does for you, but I think that's normal for a coach because you're already thinking, is there anyone that's injured?

We need to recover well, we need to fly back and we need to get the boys focused quickly on the next challenge.Personally, of course, I'm proud, but maybe one day in the future I can look back on this and reflect and remember.and it'll probably be a very special moment for me and my family.

Tony, Patrick Johnston from the Vancouver province here in English.You referenced the crowd and the noise.Early on, it felt especially loud in terms of the Turkish fans.I'm just wondering how you felt your guys managed through that early on, especially as you were trying to establish your pace of play, and then maybe just your thoughts in general about the stadium and what you found here.

Yeah, I thought we competed well at the start and we had to work our way into the game.I thought after the break we scored soon after, after the first break.So we came out quick from there and I thought as the half wore on we looked more and more confident without giving any real opportunities away.And that helped the young players build confidence, build belief.And then when we started seeing some combinations of play and good passing and build up from the back under pressure, that's normal for this group to just keep growing with every good moment that you have.So I thought we matched them very well in the first half, took a crucial lead, took a deserved lead, and in the second half we had to be very resilient and tough.

So we showed both sides of our game.

Tony, for the second goal, I think it was a pretty deeply personal moment with Paul Oak on your assistant on the bench.He got really emotional with that goal.Can you just share that moment?He obviously has never played at a World Cup Finals.His son is playing.Can you just share something about that experience?

Yeah, with Paulo, we go a long way back.He's passionate, he's emotional.For me, playing his son, it's special.I play him because he deserves to play.I love the kid.I've loved him since 12 months ago when I first brought him in.

I knew there was a special talent there and he proved it today.It's just a special moment with two close friends embracing and, you know, just understanding what's just happened and proud for his boy but also proud for us that we've managed to do something special together here at the World Cup by winning this game.

Tony, me again.If you'll forgive me a two -prong question, but we've heard you talk about recovery and the importance of that.We know how the exhaustive detail that you and your staff have gone into in the build -ups this tournament, planning everything out.Could you give us an insight into what the next few days look like for your staff and the players to make sure you're as best as you can be for the United States?And second prong, do you have any fitness concerns from tonight that you'll now have to account for in that?

I'll answer the last one first.I think everyone is healthy, which is positive, but always the next day things can pop up, you know, when the players cool down.So from all accounts, a lot of bumps in the road.bruises, as you'd expect.A lot of tired bodies, you'd expect.We're travelling back tonight, so we won't be back till maybe 4am.

So that's unusual, but we feel that that will help us get back into our base camp, our familiar surroundings, food, hotel, training pitches.So we made that decision.It'll be about recovery, really, the next two or three days, and make sure that everyone's recovered physically, but also, as I said earlier, emotionally, that we're proud of what's happened, but we need to, once we're back home and we wake up tomorrow, we need to start thinking about moving on to the next challenge, because we've had a wonderful result, but we don't want to have a poor performance now against the US.So a good performance gives us a chance.That's the minimum that's required at the World Cup, and we need to make sure that we have a squad ready and able to perform once more.

Tony, Harry Soutar, Alessandro Cirocati, Cameron Burgess, how immense were they?Can you talk us through the selection of Cameron again in this line -up?We didn't start in the last two friendlies.And also, just how essential were they to you tonight to completing the game plan that was almost executed to perfection?

Yeah, outstanding, all three.They were constantly in the right position.Tough, won challenges, good on the ball as well.It's not easy to do both when you're working so hard.They all complemented each other and I'm very happy for them.They set a very good foundation for us, the three of them, with

behind.And Cam, he's had a wonderful season.He's fit, he's strong and you could see today he was outstanding along the other two.So he gives us good balance on that side and he really helped us play out of pressure in the first half on numerous occasions with Geordie and young Paulie on that side and Cam was starting all of those plays.So, overall, fantastic display by all three, and obviously when you get a clean sheet, it makes them even happier.

Last question.

Hi, Tony.

You spoke about, in your own experience, in 2005, previous to 2005, you had a good team, just didn't have the experience or the sort of occasion.Playing that Mexico game in preparation, did you see any signs from your preparation for this tournament for the young boys, where they really had that experience to now sort of put it into practice?

I think they're growing in belief.That comes from games.In Mexico, we saw good signs in the second half, but maybe a little bit nervous, edgy, anxious in the first.Switzerland was similar.So we didn't know what we would get, but we were confident that there would be an improvement in the first half.And those same players have taken another step forward because they were well and truly in the game.

They showed composure, under pressure.and they were very resolute and tough when required.That's another step forward for us.We will need to take another step to beat a very good US team, but that's a wonderful challenge that we have and that's why we're here at the World Cup, to test ourselves against the very best.The first step is done, winning tonight.and we'll give it our very best that I can assure everyone next week.

Thank you.

Thanks.That was the last press conference for tonight.Have a good evening.