One of things that I found best about what Tony Popovic said after the victory against Türkiye was that the win was far from what the end game.
Popovic said the result, a 2-0 win built on clinical counter attacking brilliance from the most solid of defensive bases, should inject some extra confidence.
They his young team are nowhere near their best yet.
“Yes, they should get a boost, of course,” he said.
“Ceiling? They’re nowhere near it.
“They’re a young group with no experience in the World Cup, very limited experience playing for their national team.
“Their ceiling should come in four or eight years, really, most of these boys.
“We know we need that, but we are delighted with the result.”
The starting XI that the Socceroos put out in Vancouver had an average age of just 24 years and 226 days, the youngest ever by Australia at a World Cup.
In fact, seven (7) of the Socceroos’ World Cup squad will be 22 years of age or younger as of the first day of the tournament: Lucas Herrington, Patrick Beach, Mohamed Touré, Alessandro Circati, Cristian Volpato, Paul Okon-Engstler and Nestory Irankunda.
Only Senegal with eight have more amongst the 48 teams participating.
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