Vancouver: Socceroos coach Tony Popovic says Australia is ready to “spoil the party” but refuses to hit back at pre-match comments from Turkey’s captain that its side will dominate Sunday’s World Cup clash because it is the more talented team.
Australia arrived in Vancouver on Saturday (AEST), a little more than 24 hours before its opening-round match with Turkey, the 22nd-ranked nation, which is making its first appearance at the tournament in 24 years. It is expected that at least 10,000 Socceroos fans will be inside the 54,000-capacity BC Stadium for the Group D clash.
And Turkey captain Hakan Çalhanoglu has helped further ignite Sunday’s clash, telling reporters after training that he predicts his side will dominate the Socceroos because they have “more qualities and a more talented team”.
Popovic did not buy directly into the remarks, but said he believes it was a sentiment shared by the other teams in Group D – the US and Paraguay – and it was up to the Socceroos to prove them wrong.
“I respect his comment, and he has a right to be asked a question, and he has a right to answer it any way he likes,” Popovic replied when asked about the midfielder’s pre-match jab. “They expect to win, but so do most people; they expect they will beat Australia tomorrow, so that’s no different.
“All we can do is try and spoil the party; that’s our challenge tomorrow, and that’s what we have to do.”
Popovic gave nothing away on how he intends to do that. On team selection, all he offered was that he was in the fortunate position that all 26 members of his squad were available. He also dismissed any fitness concerns around forward Mohamed Touré, saying the Norwich City striker had been absent from training earlier in the week because of a “runny nose”.
Touré later trained in front of the media following the press conference in a late session on the eve of the game.
Despite missing the past five World Cups, Turkey will start as favourites. Their starting XI will probably include two of the brightest young stars at the tournament: 21-year-olds Kenan Yildiz, who plays club football with Juventus, and Real Madrid’s Arda Güler. Popovic, however, was reluctant to single out any particular threat in the opposition.
“We know they are strong; we’ve analysed them, but we also have to think of ourselves and think about how we can cause them problems and show Australian football at the World Cup,” Popovic said.
“That’s our aim tomorrow, to be extremely competitive, to show that we are a strong nation, and that we deserve to be respected. We understand that not many people are expecting much from us outside of our own people, our own media, our own team, our own staff, but we’re accustomed to that.”
Calhanoglu’s pre-match comments closely mimic some of those made by US pundits who have laughed off suggestions that the Socceroos pose any threat in Group D.
Earlier this month, former United States international Alexi Lalas said Australia would struggle “against better quality competition and the elites of the world”. The clear difference being pundits weren’t lining up against the Australian team 24 hours later.
“Of course, our coach analysed them with us together,” Calhanoglu told media in Vancouver. “We know that they’re a physical team, that they’re good at the corner kicks and on the free kicks because they are tall and strong.
“But I think that we dominate tomorrow, the game, because we have more qualities and a more talented team, so we will see tomorrow what happens.”
Like his coach, Socceroos midfielder Aiden O’Neill refused to weigh in on the remarks or even say if the team would use them as motivation in Sunday’s clash.
“You know he’s [Calhanoglu] allowed his own opinion,” O’Neill said. “We’ve got quality players in our team too, so yeah, we’re ready for tomorrow, and … we’re extremely excited.”
Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella also did not get involved in the pre-match barbs. He said he had “great respect” for the Socceroos, their mentality and resilience, and had watched many of their games – and, judging by his assessment of Popovic’s side, his words weren’t just empty platitudes.
“They are very well-balanced, very well-disciplined,” he said.
“They are not ashamed to defend also during the last 30 metres with a line of five [defenders] … for a long time in the game. They know that speed in the game can actually create challenges for the opponents.
“I’m expecting a very hard game … where there will be very little space for anything and the talent will make the difference.”
Australia has not won an opening World Cup match since the 3-1 win over Japan in Kaiserslautern in 2006. Popovic, who in a vote of confidence has just signed a short-term contract extension for next year’s Asian Cup, becomes the first Australian on Sunday to have played for and coached the team at the World Cup.
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Nick Ralston is the deputy editor and investigations editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. He has previously spent time as news editor, justice editor and world editor.Connect via X or email.