Socceroos vs Mexico/Switzerland - Pre-World Cup Friendlies 2026 🇦🇺🇲🇽🇨🇭

[Decentric]

Sorry should have said our last 4 games in America. The issue is: is Popa's defence-first policy really the best strategy? Thirty minutes into the first half and we were on 16% possession. Maybe we're better than that. The contrast between the Socceroos' first and second halves is huge. Ange might be the extreme on the go for it end of the strategy scale, but boy when it worked it was great to watch. I do actually believe that it is in Australia's sporting DNA to be aggressive, not pull our neck into a catenaccio tortoise shell.At the sam time, losing with glory isn't great fun either but it's certainly not boring like haram football.

I prefer Aus to have the ball more, but not to the extent of failing to play at the WC.

I’ve done a lot of stats recently. Curacao, Cameroon and even a dominant Colombia, played a very low percentage of balls into the Aus pen box that were effective.

Popa seems to have some cunning triggers to suddenly send players forward, so when Aus plays balls into the box, they are effective with more support.

Albeit Aus only played about 7 balls into the Colom box, with 5 effective, whilst they played 28 into the Aus pen box, also with 5 effective.

 

[socceroosmad]

The Mexican coach was impressed with the Aus defence.

Football 360.

There's no doubt our defence is our strongest asset. And good defending is as much an art as good attacking. But much less exciting for the fans. AI (so it may be wrong) says
Yes, defenders have won the Ballon d'Or, though it is incredibly rare. In the history of the award, only three distinct defenders have claimed the honor: [1, 2]

• Franz Beckenbauer (1972, 1976) – The legendary German sweeper, often credited with inventing the position, is the only defender to win the award twice. [1, 2, 3]
• Matthias Sammer (1996) – The German sweeper won the prestigious Ballon d'Or after an incredible year leading his country to the European Championship. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Fabio Cannavaro (2006) – The Italian center-back is the most recent defender to win the award. He claimed it after captaining Italy to the 2006 World Cup title. [1, 2, 3]

 

[JS96]

 

[JS96]

Mexico were incredibly disjointed with all their subs. They understood the assignment of experimenting.

I'll have to give it another watch but Hrustic was missing for most periods. Good in Trewin for having a surprising go.

 

[JRD]

Trewin was excellent. Better than Italiano in my opinion.
Italiano did well but we looked vulnerable on his side when he played.
He looks like the sort of guy who could get a red card at a really bad time.
He makes me nervous.
Just a hunch.

 

[JS96]

Trewin was excellent. Better than Italiano in my opinion.
Italiano did well but we looked vulnerable on his side when he played.
He looks like the sort of guy who could get a red card at a really bad time.
He makes me nervous.
Just a hunch.

It's true yet it was at different stages of the games where the instructions were different too.

I found it interesting that Mexico held back at the start of the second half. Were we just better at controlling or did they sacrifice possession?

Popovic clearly said now we have to give it a go. If this is the case then perhaps Trewin should start and soften up then opponent then Italiano can replace O'Neill and they switch positions that way.

 

[HonestSpursFan]

I thought they were the male equivalent of the Matildas

The reason the Socceroos haven’t come as close to winning silverware as the Matildas is because we’re further ahead in women’s soccer because of investment (since some countries don’t invest enough in women’s sport). Look at the top four teams at the last World Cup: Argentina, France, Croatia and Morocco. In the men’s game they would beat the Roos but in the women’s game the Tillies would beat all of them except France (and even then we knocked France out of the World Cup). Similarly the most successful team at the Women’s World Cup is the US (though European countries are catching up), but the men would never come close to winning a World Cup.

 

[socceroosmad]

Popovic is intelligent and gives a good interview. He implies early in that our players were nervous and lacked self-belief in the early stages. Vince Rugari was obviously not happy and asked Popa (at 1'18" in) how he could make sure that when we play Turkey and beyond that we play more like the 2nd half and less like the 1st half, and Popa responds:"It's not just about us, you've got an opponent as well." so he's given 2 reasons there for a weaker 1st half performance, but he never admits a deliberate strategy of first half catenaccio. It's interesting to hear non-Australian football journos' questions. Popa dealt very well with a question about whether Mexico could go all the way.

 

[socceroosmad]

First 10 minutes or so of this discussion is spot on in analysing the Mexico game and also in making a sound objective assessment of Popovic's strategy:

 

[JS96]

A tonne of post game content to sift through. Afternoon sorted!

 

[Encomium]

I thought everyone looked incredibly nervous for some reason in the first half, the second half we were all over them and were in total control from the start.
We created some great chances and should have had 2 goals, a couple of the greatest chances we've had in years but couldn't put them away. We also had a few half chances that if lucky, could have gone in.
I thought Trewin, Velupilay and Okon looked great as subs and would consider Okon to start, I wish we could have seen Devlin to see what he is like in the green and gold. Hrustic had one of his better games, but didn't do anything effective.
I love Leckie and Behich, but I am afraid the game may have passed them, they didn't look great for me and should be cut imho as well as a keeper.
Poppa deviated more from the 541 box midfield than usual, it was there in moments but we tended to play as a standard 541 or 343 for most of the game, 334 lopsided with the WB advancing on one side. I thought our WB's were much more reserved than they have been in any other game under Poppa except when Rowles played there once and it stifled our attacking threat, meaning we were looking for the through ball in more central areas, or the ball over the top more than not. In the second half they got more involved.
I think it was a bit of an experiment for Poppa, in the first half to play Haram ball formation if we needed to defend, I think he was expecting to come in at HT 0-0 and surprise them in the second half just as we did, but that's speculation on my part.
Hopefully we will play more like we did in the second half than the first, it's disappointing result wise but I'm not worried yet, the result and performance against Switzerland will probably be the balance that tips the scale either way.

 

[rebelliousfeminist974]

We beat Cameroon 1-0 and Curacao 5-1, whilst previously losing to Colombia 0-3.

Colombia was fine with the starting line up, till Popa made subs.

Colombia are ranked 13th, Mexico 16th, USA 15th. When we played them they all looked a step up from us - like Japan, who are ranked in the teens too.

To be fair the Socceroos defeated a second-string Cameroon side during the March international window and also had the benefit of home advantage but if we're losing to sides like Colombia, Mexico and the USA that are more physical than us then clearly it shows that something is going wrong with Popovic's tactical system.

 

[JS96]

I thought everyone looked incredibly nervous for some reason in the first half, the second half we were all over them and were in total control from the start.
We created some great chances and should have had 2 goals, a couple of the greatest chances we've had in years but couldn't put them away. We also had a few half chances that if lucky, could have gone in.
I thought Trewin, Velupilay and Okon looked great as subs and would consider Okon to start, I wish we could have seen Devlin to see what he is like in the green and gold. Hrustic had one of his better games, but didn't do anything effective.
I love Leckie and Behich, but I am afraid the game may have passed them, they didn't look great for me and should be cut imho as well as a keeper.
Poppa deviated more from the 541 box midfield than usual, it was there in moments but we tended to play as a standard 541 or 343 for most of the game, 334 lopsided with the WB advancing on one side. I thought our WB's were much more reserved than they have been in any other game under Poppa except when Rowles played there once and it stifled our attacking threat, meaning we were looking for the through ball in more central areas, or the ball over the top more than not. In the second half they got more involved.
I think it was a bit of an experiment for Poppa, in the first half to play Haram ball formation if we needed to defend, I think he was expecting to come in at HT 0-0 and surprise them in the second half just as we did, but that's speculation on my part.
Hopefully we will play more like we did in the second half than the first, it's disappointing result wise but I'm not worried yet, the result and performance against Switzerland will probably be the balance that tips the scale either way.

Didn't take long for Behich to do something silly. That grab was very risky. He had one or two swift movements forward. Another he reverted to going back when little passes forward would've worked.

I feel we've got 30 and about 9 of them are not proving they're up there compared others who aren't there. Many on the bench don't fill me with faith.

 

[JS96]

Imagine how we'd all be feeling if someone important got hurt? We got through it have a clearer picture.

 

[JS96]

If Popovic is going to sacrifice the first half to soften the opposition up then we shouldn't be playing people who are better when the opponent starts to break up after an hour.

I think we need to try for early goals to unsettle the opponent. We're clearly organised to absorb pressure. Get a goal then the opponent will come and space opens up for us.

 

[rebelliousfeminist974]

I love Leckie and Behich, but I am afraid the game may have passed them, they didn't look great for me and should be cut imho as well as a keeper.

Leckie and Aziz Behich definitely need to be culled from the Socceroos playing list as both are clearly past their prime and regressing, and they'll only increase the average age of the squad in addition to the fact that they won't be able to handle the physicality of many of our opponents at the World Cup.

 

[tsf]

Ryan clearly fucked up a few time again

 

[rebelliousfeminist974]

I think we need to try for early goals to unsettle the opponent. We're clearly organised to absorb pressure. Get a goal then the opponent will come and space opens up for us.

Even if we go for early goals to unsettle the opponent we have to be careful not to get complacent in the second half because it'll lead to us needlessly conceding against our opposition if they put too much pressure on our defensive line.

 

[tsf]

Ryan clearly fucked up a few time again

Gave a corner for a ball that should’ve been an easy collect

 

[Bbouy]

Leckie and Aziz Behich definitely need to be culled from the Socceroos playing list as both are clearly past their prime and regressing, and they'll only increase the average age of the squad in addition to the fact that they won't be able to handle the physicality of many of our opponents at the World Cup.

Leckie was poor in the first half for sure. I don't mind keeping Leckie in the squad but even Popovic admitted that he wasn't up to match-standard level and fitness in the post-game presser. If you're going to keep Leckie, then he cannot start. Use him as a substitute when we are defending a lead or parking the bus. He was never technical but these days even his speed has seriously declined.

I'm glad we got that experiment out of the way instead of Popa thinking he's the answer sporadically during the World Cup.