Racing
League
Rugby
Football
Cricket
Golf
Olympics
Motorsport
Netball
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
FWC on Sport Nation guide“Game of regret”: Did Tony Popovic get it wrong?
Jaiden Sciberras • June 20th, 2026 11:25 am
Tony Popovic opted into a double change ahead of the USA, and it may not have worked the way the coach invisioned.
Ahead of Australia's match against the co-hosts at the FIFA World Cup 2026™, Popovic made two changes to the starting XI that defeated Turkiye 2-0, and incredibly, it was the two goalscorers that were made to give way.
Wonderkid Nestory Irankunda set the world alight during his masterful performance against Turkiye, only to start on the bench against the USA.
The same fate was handed to midfielder Connor Metcalfe, who was also benched despite scoring the winner in their first World Cup match.
Veteran Matthew Leckie and Melbourne Victory's Nishan Velupillay were instead rewarded with starts.
Unfortunately for the pair of them, the first half went far from the way Popovic would have hoped, conceding two goals and looking comfortably second best.
Velupillay was withdrawn at half time for Metcalfe, who was by far one of the Socceroos' best.
Irankunda also entered the game for Mo Toure and was threatening throughout, while Cristian Volpato replaced an injured Leckie and was far more dangerous on the ball.
Popovic explained his selections pre-game.
“Short turnaround in terms of the emotion and everything that physically went into last game,” he said.
“We wanted some freshness on the field in those wide areas. We think Nish and Matthew can build a good foundation for us from the start of the game.
“They are all fit and well.”
In a game that was truly a tale of two halves, Popovic's decisions didn't quite pay off in the way he might have hoped, with Adam Peacock describing the match as a “game of regret.”
“I was hoping 1-0 at half time – it went in at two, and that was justifiable for what we saw,” Peacock told SEN’s The Global Game.
“But in the second half, it flipped around. This is going to be the debate - why didn’t he start with what we ended with?
“It’s not quite as easy as that, but a lot has to be picked apart to figure out what went wrong, totally, and what went totally right.
“I can only think with Connor Metcalfe it was physical, and he hadn’t quite recovered.
“I remember we were on air after the Vancouver game, and Connor Metcalfe spent a minute on the ground absolutely exhausted.
“He mustn’t have shown enough in training to be ready for it. But then I see him play that that in the second half – he was our best player in that second half.
“Cristian Volpato will get the headlines, and a few others will get a lot of credit, but Connor Metcalfe set the tone for the turnaround in the second half by playing brave football.
“I don’t mean flying into challenges, he was playing passes to get us out of trouble The key link passes all the time, and it was brave, it was risky – if you’re a little bit off, you turn the ball over they are on the front foot and they’ve got a shot on goal a couple of seconds later.
“He was outstanding – that’s the only reason I can think of that. It’s proven not quite the case given how he performed.
“I just think with Nestory Irankunda, that Tony Popovic, in a game like this didn’t trust him defensively in the first half without the ball, because we weren’t going to have the majority of the ball, and that’s all I can think of.
“Once the momentum changed, I didn’t mind the fact that Cristian Volpato came on, and I was surprised about how much of an impact he had as well.
“It’s a game of regret really. It’s a game of regret.”
Australia will await the match between Turkiye and Paraguay, before facing the latter next Friday to determine their fate in Group D.
