I think it's a lot simpler than that. I think Popovic felt he had better players available in his position.
NB: I can't comment on if I think he should be in the squad or not. I don't watch League 1 football and have only seen him for the 10 minutes or so he got in Melbourne where he showed me...
Don't forget the intermediate plan to replace the temporary stands at QEII stadium with brand new temporary stands, although that one had a pretty short lifespan.
Next time the Asian Cup may be two years after the world cup so it will have its own cycle. By the next world cup cycle guys like Circati, Bos Toure, Irankunda etc should be the tried and tested players. If they are still fit and playing well then yes we should go with them.
I understand your point here and pretty much agree. I read the original post I repled to more as a lets retire the old brigade and start looking at the 2030 World Cup and use the Asian Cup as a development tool which I don't agree with.
This is how I would handle it if I was selecting a squad...
National vote share is pretty important in the House of Reps. If you only poll 5% nationally you don't end up in the final two candidates very often. With 25% nationally you end up in a few of them. With 30% you end up in the majority of them. Unless you make it to the final 2 candidates...
The Asian Cup is the natural end of this cycle. Sure some of the older players in this squad won't be there, but the focus should always be on winning the Asian Cup. It's the only major trophy we have a chance of winning. We should be picking the best available squad for this.
Whilst I think around 8 of yesterdays starting 11 will start at some point in the 3 games I think he was deliberately putting match minutes into the legs of those who had injury interrupted seasons. Popovic seems to like rotating players. Has he ever had less than 4/5 changes between matches...