Tony Popovic is challenging Australia to fight fire with fire and ditch their habit of poor starts as the Socceroos look to take a giant leap towards World Cup qualification against China.
Popovic’s men face the Chinese on Tuesday where a win in front of an anticipated capacity crowd at Hangzhou’s 80,000-seat Olympic Sports Centre Stadium would further boost their chances of automatic qualification.
And Popovic is urging his side, who sit just one point clear of Saudi Arabia in the second automatic qualification berth in Group C, to start as they mean to go on after developing a trend of starting slow.
The Socceroos conceded first against China in October before rallying to win 3-1, and were under heavy pressure in the opening 20 minutes of last Thursday’s 5-1 win over Indonesia in Sydney.
China’s hopes of automatic qualification are hanging by a thread after last week’s 1-0 loss to the Saudis, and the pressure will be on the host to breathe some life into their fading World Cup hopes.
“That (starts) is something that we understand and we want to improve,” Popovic said.
“We expect a difficult opponent tomorrow – they’re at home.
“We expect them to come out very fast. We have to match that, but we also have to have the confidence and be brave to play the way we want to.
“It’s a good challenge. We come into the game with a lot of confidence.
“We have to show that and we must be prepared to fight really hard as China will I’m sure, because it is such a crucial game for both sides.”
Popovic has made a habit of tinkering with his teams in between qualifiers, with only midfielder Jackson Irvine and right wingback Lewis Miller starting every game of his unbeaten five-game reign in charge of the Socceroos.
One position where the Australia manager will be forced to make changes is in the frontline, with injuries to Kusini Yengi and Adam Taggart opening the door to a recall for Mitchell Duke.
Workaholic forward Duke was on holidays last week after being left out of Popovic’s initial squad but will compete with Brandon Borrello to lead the line.
Popovic has preferred to play with one lone striker during his time in charge.
“Mitch has come in, he’s looking good, sharp and well very accustomed to the Socceroos shirt and what is required,” Popovic said.
“We have options in that striker position and we have some ideas that the players are aware of.”
https://thewest.com.au/sport/soccer/popovics-socceroos-aiming-for-strong-start-in-china-c-18145570
