Tony Popovic: Second leg of Soccer Ashes is a new challenge

CommBank Socceroos Head Coach Tony Popovic said that the second leg of the Soccer Ashes will be a "new challenge" as his young and inexperienced side prepares to take on New Zealand in Auckland on Tuesday evening.

Popovic reiterated some of his thoughts about the first leg - which the team won 1-0 in Canberra - and elaborated on some of his selection decisions at the pre-match press conference.

He also clarified that the full squad is fit and available for the match.
 

New Challenges

It's a new challenge. There are lots of new faces. It's the first time that these boys have experienced the travel, having to play soon after that, and then needing to back up. But we had a training session last night, and I was pleasantly surprised with how the players moved. They moved well, they look really positive, full of energy. So they look like they're really looking forward to this game.

Potential debut for Adrian Segecic

Look, he's done well. Like all the players, they've settled. It's a jump up for all of them, and I'm sure it's a great experience. Coming to camp is the recognition for what you've done at your club. But it's still very early stages in his club career, and he's been rewarded with a spot here with us, as many of the other players have. That doesn't also necessarily equate to getting a cap. We're not going to go through the list and say, 'okay, these players are remaining now that haven't got a cap, and let's just put them in' - it doesn't quite go that way. They have to be patient. If the opportunity presents, I'm open to giving all of them an opportunity, but we'll make those decisions tomorrow.

Developing youngsters

They're all young boys that have come in for the first time. We're really assessing to see where they are now. It's not to predetermine where they'll be in camps to come or in six months' time, when hopefully all these boys have another 30-odd games under their belt, hopefully injury-free, and experiencing the intensity of training and needing to back up in Europe under pressure. You assess the players differently. For us, it was really to see in this moment, in September, a lot of the players have moved - where are they at right now? In terms of what we've seen so far through the qualifying, the players that we have, the players that are missing, either through injury or not selected, and compare right now where they fit in with the group. And then we'll see moving forward, how things develop.
 

Reassessing the first leg

I thought in the first half we probably showed a lack of experience in how we played. It's expected with all the changes on the pitch and the lack of international experience that a lot of the boys have. It's the first time that they're trying to build relationships with partners - whether that's in midfield or whether that's a wide player with a 10 - they're trying to build something that they haven't had yet. You're trying to understand what the player likes, where they like to receive it, what their strengths are. 

And that comes with just training and playing together. Unfortunately, in international football, we don't get a lot of time for that. When you throw players together for a match for the first time without that experience, you're learning on the run. In the first half, we found that difficult. A couple of changes at half-time helped steady the ship, and then the boys that came on were dynamic. They made a great impact when the game was a little bit more stretched and open. It was a good way for the young boys to come into the match.

It wasn't that the intentions weren't right. It's just that, when the players are together for the first time - and you've got so many players with limited international experience - their first thought is not to make an error. And when you're on the pitch, you're telling yourself, don't make an error. So you're playing very safe. And in the end, you're thinking, 'okay, we'll just keep the ball and go around the back, go to the goalkeeper'. They pressed us well, and we started giving the ball away. Yet maybe three phases earlier, there was a chance to play forward and be positive - but they're not giving the ball away initially, they're thinking about the safe option. So what we're seeing in training is real positivity, great energy, confidence on the ball, combining. Well, it's about transferring that when you put the jersey on and the national anthems are played, and you've got to go and play for your country - it takes time.

World Cup spots up for grabs

What you did up until June - they're learning very quickly - doesn't guarantee your World Cup spot. It certainly guarantees your recognition and going down in history for what you did in the qualifiers. But now you need to keep performing. You need to keep playing well to get on that plane to go to the World Cup, and the young boys have as much an opportunity as the senior players. We want to increase the pool of depth and quality, not just numbers. 

In this window, these young boys have got a chance. Maybe in the next window, there'll be several faces there that are not here now, and we may have a look at different players and see where they compare to the ones we've had here in September.