Don’t panic, Australia. Popovic says Socceroos are ‘ready’ for the real thing

San Diego: If you’re looking at Australia’s pre-World Cup form and you’re only focused on the result, you’re doing it wrong.

That is, at least, what coach Tony Popovic wants you to think. He says he got everything he wanted out of the Socceroos’ 1-1 draw against Switzerland, describing it as an “exercise” in preparation – and not a true measure of where they sit a week out from their first game of the tournament against Turkey.

Fans who got up early back home on Sunday morning (AEST) would have preferred to watch a more complete performance from the Socceroos, but that’s not what this was about.

For Popovic and his coaching staff, this was just another brick in the wall they are trying to build with a squad of mostly World Cup first-timers; another training session (albeit an opposed one, against by the world’s No.19-ranked side) in their lead-in to next weekend’s World Cup opener against Turkey.

This was a dress rehearsal, but only in a logistical sense. Both Australia and Switzerland play a game at the World Cup starting at midday local time – for the Socceroos, it’s their second Group D fixture against the United States – so they agreed to treat this friendly at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego as a dry run, to see if there are any kinks in their routines that need ironing out.

But it was not a footballing dress rehearsal. Popovic could have fielded his first-choice XI and told them to run the Turkey game plan a week early, if he wanted to.

Instead, he made seven changes to the side that fell 1-0 to Mexico last week, naming the youngest line-up he ever has in the job – with an average age of just 24.6, more than a year below the previous record – and threw them to the lions, without skipper Maty Ryan’s reassuring voice marshalling them from the back, or Jackson Irvine organising the midfield.

This was about trying untested combinations, boosting the match fitness of certain players who needed it – including the two latest arrivals in camp who made their debuts, goalscorer Tete Yengi and Italian ‘recruit’ Cristian Volpato – and putting certain others into situations they haven’t been in enough, all against a battle-hardened, top-class opponent.

“If you just go through their team sheet and see where all their players are playing, and just count how many games they’ve all played this year, it’s a large number compared to what we have and the experience they have,” Popovic said of the Swiss, captained by Premier League stalwart Granit Xhaka.

“If we don’t play these games, if we don’t expose our players to this, we don’t evolve, we don’t improve. That’s why we did it. Unless the players are exposed to that … you can’t just tell them about that, they need to go through it.

“We were happy with the exercise for both games. We saw an improvement in the second half from players that don’t have experience at this level. We saw more confidence in the second half from players that haven’t played at this level. We’ve got no injuries. We scored a very nice goal. Overall, we’re happy.

“Everything we wanted from the game, we got … we’re ready for next week.”

Popovic has spoken about the lack of “maturity” in his squad; this is how you develop it in real time.

The question is whether they’ve matured enough to be ready for what awaits them in Vancouver next weekend – and only those with access to a time machine will be able to answer it right now.

But you won’t need one to know what will happen if the Socceroos turn up against Turkey in the same timid way as they did against Switzerland, and against Mexico the week before.

For most of the first half, they were played off the park by a team that looked capable of scoring each time they ventured forward. Xhaka’s excellent ball for the rampant Dan Ndoye’s 14th-minute goal was far from the only moment when Australia’s defence was torn to shreds – and were it not for the heroics of goalkeeper Patrick Beach in just his second cap, or the steadiness of defender Harry Souttar, the damage would have been far greater.

Faced with a more dominant opposition, when things aren’t going perfectly for them, these Socceroos go into their shells too often, too soon, which impacts all phases of their play.

“It was a hard one to put your finger on,” Souttar said.

“We were just off it a little bit. I just think we need to be a little bit more aggressive in the times we do go and press.”

Is Souttar worried about this developing pattern?

“No, not really,” he said. “That’s also the sign of a good team, that you can change something and then it does work.”

Indeed, this time Australia accounted for the early goal they conceded by scoring one of their own.

Yengi’s 56th minute tap-in highlighted how dangerous the Socceroos can be when they believe in themselves and play more freely, and substitute Cameron Burgess’ terrific long pass to set it up also highlighting the benefits of a left-footer in the backline.

A lively performance by Nestory Irankunda, who forced Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel into a fingertip save to stop a trademark long-range shot, also gave Popovic more food for thought about whether he should start against Turkey, or if his rare talents are better deployed off the bench against tiring legs.

“I think he found the first half difficult,” Popovic said.

“At times he’s too deep and he’s too high. But we had three new front players, so that also didn’t help him to understand clearly when to run forward, when to sit off, when to be in the pocket. In the second half, like the team, he did better, and we know he’s got those moments.”