Under fire Australia coach Tony Popovic has received the backing of the FA after his side were dumped out of the World Cup by Egypt.
The Socceroos lost 4-2 on penalties in the round of 32 and Popa had received significant criticism from many corners after a number of gambles and strange team selections.
His first one paid off when he decided to play the inexperienced Patrick Beach over captain Maty Ryan.
Beach was stellar in goal and made a number of key saves for his side, but was strangely withdrawn just before the penalty shootout against Egypt.
Ryan, who was brought on to try and make an impact in the shootout, failed to save a single penalty and was sent the wrong way by a Mohamed Salah panenka that summed up the decision.
On top of the strange decision ahead of the penalties, many fans and pundits were left bemused by the team selections throughout the tournament.
Tony Popovic has received the backing of the FA after he had come under fire for his decision to bring Maty Ryan on to face Egypt’s penalties
He had previously been praised for his gamble to play Patrick Beach over Ryan to start the tournament
Australia were knocked out on penalties by Egypt meaning they are still yet to win a World Cup knockout tie
Australia beat Turkiye 2-0 with both Mohamed Toure and Nestory Irankunda playing together.
After that win, the pair never saw the pitch together again with Irankunda rested against the USA and then tasked with leading the line against Paraguay and Egypt.
Despite that loss meaning they will need to wait another four years to win their first knockout game, FA chief executive Martin Kugeler defended Popovic’s decision making ahead of the penalty shootout.
‘Every fan will think about what can be done better, but the coaching staff and Tony Popovic are always in the best place to judge in that moment what is needed for the team,’ Kugeler said.
‘In hindsight, everyone always knows better, but you have to make those calls in the moment based on what you’ve seen in training, what is your impression in talking to the players.
One of the criticisms Popovic faced was over the decision to not play Nestory Irankunda and Mohamed Toure together after their opening win
‘So Tony Popovic has absolutely our confidence.’
Kugeler also called the tournament an ‘enormous success’ and said they had made the right decision to extend Popovic’s contract.
‘Just wind back to the time when Tony Popovic took over, we were in a difficult spot for the World Cup qualification,’ he said.
‘He took us to direct qualification, a winning streak of 11 games, building depth of the squad – and then let’s look at this World Cup.
‘So getting out of a very difficult group and qualifying for the round of 32 has been an enormous success.
‘So, yes, we’re absolutely happy about the decision to extend this contract.
‘He is the right person to now take this group into the next major tournament and apply all the experiences, all the learnings from this tournament into the next major tournament.’
Despite making the knockouts, Tony Popovic’s side failed to score – Egypt own goal aside – after their 2-0 win over Turkiye.
Football director Heather Garriock, though, said the FA are ‘certainly satisfied with the result, but there’s always more left in us.’
The Socceroos’ attention will now turn to the AFC Asian Cup in January next year.
