Socceroos Celebration

Aziz Behich, Craig Goodwin, Thomas Deng, and Lewis Miller celebrating Miller's goal against China. Photo: Dani Brown/Round Ball Australia

Tony Popovic, in his first game as head coach of the Australian national side, has praised his players’ mentality to fight back and win 3-1 over China after shipping a goal early.

Popovic experimented with the structure and formation of the side, and despite conceding a well taken goal early on, the side persevered with their new style, and were able to find success.

It was a quick Chinese counter-attack that stunned the 46,000-strong crowd at the Oval, as Thomas Deng lost a header on the edge of the box from a goalkeeper distribution, which ended up falling between Harry Souttar and Kye Rowles, with Xie Wenneng able to convert brilliantly into the far corner.

From there, China made adjustments to make life more difficult for Australia – falling into a six at the back shape, absorbing pressure and looking to see out the half.

But Popovic credited his squad’s determination and commitment to the new style of play as the key reason for their success, only a few weeks on from some fans suggesting it was potentially the mentality and quality of the squad that was part of the reason for the Socceroos’ failure to obtain results in their last couple of matches.

“The clear indicator [of the side’s mentality] was the next five minutes after the goal where they continued to play the same way,” Tony Popovic said.

“For myself and the staff, it was a real clear indication that the players were fine.”

A sloppy foul on the edge of the area on the stroke of halftime gave Craig Goodwin the chance to step up from the free kick, and he whipped a beautiful ball in to the head of Lewis Miller, who beat two defenders to header nicely low and away from the outstretched keeper, and was a just rewards for the effort the players had put in.

China’s head coach, Branko Ivankovic, conceded that it was a mistake which cost them dearly, and the sort of thing which they need to stamp out to compete with the bigger sides in Asia.

“[It was] the foul in the first half, which could have been stopped,” Ivankovic said.

“We gave Australia a set piece and that’s one of their biggest strengths in the game.

“This problem is one we need to approach step by step.”

The second half was a different story entirely, with Nestory Irankunda replaced by Riley McGree, and the struggling Deng substituted for Jason Geria.

These two changes helped bring a burst of a certain je ne sais quoi to the Socceroos.

McGree was dynamic and explosive in the half space, enabling the double pivot of Jackson Irvine and Aiden O’Neill to more comfortably find their footing in the game.

But it was Geria at the back who was a revelation, contributing immensely in defence, as well as playing some fantastic line breaking passes.

Unsurprisingly, though, it was none other than Craig Goodwin, upon his return to his hometown, who was the hero for the Socceroos.

With a goal and assist to his name, Goodwin was deservedly the player of the match, and excelled in his new role in Popovic’s system.

Despite making a name for himself as a winger, Goodwin said that playing more as a 10, inverting into the half space and probing the gaps between the defenders, is something he’s more than comfortable with.

“It’s something that I’ve been doing over the last two years in Saudi [Arabia],” Goodwin said.

“So whether it’s on the left or the right, we don’t actually play with wingers in our system, so I’ve learnt a lot more to play in that role.

“Obviously it’s in a different system again, in the way that we do it [for the Socceroos], but the positions are similar and it’s a different style so it’s nice for me to be able to obviously contribute but also to learn the style that we want to play quickly.

“I think it helps that I’ve had that little bit of practice in that area.”

Indeed, it was change, adjustments and a new play style that epitomised the performance of the whole team.

Rather than sticking with the tried-and-tested 4-3-3, Tony Popovic experimented, playing with a back three and two wingbacks to accompany the inverted wingers.

It was a change that was made to enable the best aspects of the players in the squad to shine through.

“I think it’s more about the areas where we can get the best out of our attacking players,” Popovic said.

“We have a few creative players in the squad in those pockets and those half spaces. I feel there’s a lot of good ability to turn on the ball quickly, we can combine quickly and it’s just trying to work out which position each player is better suited [to].”

In fact, this is something that fans should get accustomed to, with Popovic suggesting there is more to come from this system should it suit the players he has available.

“We’ll see how it is going forwards, but it’s something we looked at with the coaches and I felt that we could get the best out of the group, for this game, with a back three,” Popovic said.

With all eyes now on an away trip to Japan, fans will be eager to see if this was simply a case of the new manager bounce, or whether Popovic’s new system and renewed faith in the squad will be enough to reinvigorate the side in their hopes of World Cup qualification.

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