Popovic encourages fans to get out and support Socceroos in Canberra

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Subway Socceroos Head Coach Tony Popovic said that he is eager for locals to come out in Canberra and support the Socceroos in the first international window since their spectacular FIFA 2026 World Cup qualification in June.

Popovic was speaking to the media in Canberra after the announcement of the 25-player squad for the September international window.

He spoke about the excitement of the Socceroos returning to action for the first time in three months, and discussed his latest squad selection.

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The first camp since June…

We’re excited to be back together. It's been three months since we had that wonderful June window where we qualified automatically, and the players have gone away, had their breaks, gone into pre-season, and we're very excited to get the boys together and come up against an opponent in New Zealand, where there's always a fierce rivalry.

Playing New Zealand is not a 'friendly'...

I don't really like that word, to be honest, 'friendly'. When you play for the Socceroos, it's an international, it's a cap that you can get. And if you ask any of these young boys that could debut now whether it matters to them if it's a friendly or not, I'm sure they say no. So we have to take this game very seriously. We're excited that we're playing New Zealand. We know how big that rivalry is in all our codes, so this should be no different. And also, congratulations to them. They've made the World Cup. So we're playing a World Cup opponent.

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Returning players and maiden call-ups

We've got some players that are back after a while, in terms of Jordy Bos, who was with us in November. So in seven months, we haven't seen him. Alessandro Circati came in June. It's the only time we saw him. Connor Metcalfe in June. So we need to build some continuity with some senior players, but also we need to get the balance right and give some of these young boys an opportunity where they could feature at the World Cup. They could be a surprise. But also, we know that these young boys have a lot of potential, and possibly they have two or three World Cups ahead of them. So, it's an exciting camp and an exciting squad.

It is not just that we need to work on our playing style and the way we want to play the game, and we need to keep developing that. And every time you have it, have a window, there's a break, and players go off to their clubs, and we need to make sure that everyone understands what we want with the Socceroos. And part of that is also to blood new players into the system and into the culture, and see which players can step up at this moment - which is obviously what we're looking for - and how they deal with pressure and the expectation of playing for the Socceroos, and how they deal with our environment.

The selection of Nestory Irankunda…

I had Nestor in camp with us in my first window in October. We haven't had him since, so it will be nice to see him. And I think since that time, we've seen him probably mature as a player. He's had a year in Europe, which is a great experience for a young player. Bayern Munich, which obviously shows the talent that he has. And he got some game time at Grasshopper in Switzerland, and now we're seeing him progress further at Watford. So, we know he certainly has the talent, and he's young, he's still got the potential. He's still maturing and getting better, and we hope to see him in two, three, four World Cups to come. So I'm excited to see where he is at the moment.

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Replacing Maty Ryan for this window…

He's a captain, so he's got over 100 caps, so I think he knows very well what's required with the Socceroos. But he's obviously had a couple of months [without playing]. He's a guy that is very fit, looks after himself, but he hasn't had that team training or pre-season games, but we're very happy that he's found a club [in Levante]. I'm sure he'll get back to training and playing very soon, and we look forward to getting back in camp, hopefully in the next window.

I'm sure the three other goalkeepers that are here will be very excited, and they all know that one of them will get an opportunity to play. So, we want to see who can step up under the pressure that Maty is very used to playing for his country, and we need to increase the depth and the quality of the squad. Part of this is obviously getting some new players in, rewarding them for their good form.

Playing in Canberra…

We want people to remember the players and what they did in June and what they did in Perth and that amazing game against Japan, and, here in the capital, we want people to come out and support these young, talented players that will show a lot of pride in representing their country, and their support, we respect, we value very highly. We'd love to see a lot of people out there on Friday and Tuesday in New Zealand.

We know that come the World Cup, that everyone that's here in Canberra, that lives here, resides here, or works here, will be watching, so they have an opportunity now to come and see some of the stars, the players that have got us to the World Cup, and obviously some of the future stars that have been selected.

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