Australia vs Cameroon: Socceroos claim 1-0 win after lacklustre performance

Resisting the temptation to pick and stick with his most experienced players and give them more time together to gel, Popovic instead plans to keep experimenting with new combinations in Australia’s remaining warm-up windows.

That has ensured Australia’s friendlies – including Tuesday’s World Cup send off against Curacao in Melbourne – will continue to look a little disjointed, but with 11 weeks before the tournament starts, Popovic believes it’ll pay off down the track.

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“It’s all just part of the process. You can look at this window in many different ways. You could just say, ‘OK, let’s just play established players and try to get that real balance and continuity’ but as we’ve done throughout the campaign, we’ve exposed players that have surprised us, that they are ahead of schedule, and I’ll continue doing that,” he said.

“This will hold us in good stead for the World Cup because we are getting injuries, and I know everyone has that, but we have been unfortunate with some longer term injuries and I feel the way we are using these windows by giving players an opportunity in the end should help us at the World Cup.”

So far, Popovic’s methods seem to be working. The Socceroos ended a three-game losing streak with a scrappy 1-0 win over Cameroon in Sydney on Friday, which also unveiled some rising stars that offer new options to the coach.

Rather than be dismayed by his team’s patchy displays, Popovic is liking what he’s seeing while also knowing he’s not giving away too many clues to his World Cup opponents.

“It’s already coming together, and that’s good. Winning is always important,” he said.

“You always want to win and there’s no greater feeling than that. But when you can do both, when you can debut players and try players in different positions and still get the win, you’re getting the best of both worlds.”

There were a few shining lights in the win over Cameroon, most notably from some of the youngest members of the squad.

A rare talent, Nestory Irankunda’s attacking skills are already well known to Socceroos fans but the 20-year-old made a cameo appearance off the bench as the lone striker against Cameroon.

He normally plays wing but proved to be just as potent up front, using his blistering turn of foot to get in and behind the defence.

“I’ve played up front with Watford for a bit the last few months ... it was a bit different being the lone striker but wherever the boss wants me to play, I’m going to play there,” he said.

“I’m not a huge fan of running in behind ... obviously I’ve got the speed to run in behind. So I have to use my pace a lot more.

“I feel like I haven’t really done that in the last few seasons I’ve played as a professional. And to go out there today and be able to do it was really exciting for me.”

Irankunda is a believer in what the team is doing and expects the Socceroos to lift their game when they get to the United States in June.

“I’m super, super pumped. I feel like everybody’s super pumped as well,” Irankunda said.

“I feel like this group here, we can go do something huge. We feel like we can compete and do very well at the World Cup.”

Jacob Italiano also made a big impression at right wing-back while on the other flank, another young player who impressed was Lucas Herrington, the 18-year-old defender, who made his Socceroos debut against Cameroon.

A former room mate of Irankunda when they were coming up through the junior ranks, Herrington is currently based in the US.

He got a surprise call up by Popovic, who wanted to have a look at the teenager when he was inside the team environment. But the coach was so impressed by the way he handled everything that he picked him to start and he repaid by having a great match.

“It was the best feeling in the world to represent my country,” Herrington said.

“I’m just grateful to everyone that gave me the opportunity to do so, who have been supporting me since I started playing football. So it’s for them, and I loved every minute of it.

“I was a fan of the team just a couple months ago when they were qualifying for the World Cup, so to be in and amongst the boys has been awesome. They’ve all been top, bringing me into the group, and I’ve loved every second of it.”

BOS SAVES SLOPPY SOCCEROOS AS WORLD CUP WANNABES FAIL TO IMPRESS

Tony Popovic has been around far too long to hit the panic button over a sequence of poor displays but the Socceroos’ coach should be worried about where his team is at right now.

With just 11 weeks to go before the Socceroos play their opening match at the FIFA World Cup, the Australians are looking anything but world beaters.

They did manage to beat Cameroon 1-0 at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Friday thanks to a late strike from the left-footed Jordan Bos but the final result only masked an otherwise patchy performance against an African team that failed to qualify for the World Cup.

SCROLL DOWN TO RECAP THE MATCH IN OUR LIVE BLOG

It’s not that anyone seriously believes the Socceroos can win the sport’s biggest and grandest tournament later this year, but after making the round of 16 at the last World Cup in 2022, there’s an expectation they will make it out of the group stage.

At least there were high hopes when the Socceroos qualified for the expanded 48 team tournament with more than a year to spare - and with a ranking high enough to be listed as a tier two team — supposedly earning themselves an easy draw.

So much for that theory. The Socceroos had no luck at all when the official draw was held and they were placed in the same group as the United States, Paraguay and either Turkey or Kosovo.

But it is not Australia’s World Cup opponents that Popovic should be losing sleep over at the moment because he has bigger problems to fix within his own team.

After hitting a purple patch in the first half of 2005, when they won their first seven matches in a row, the Socceroos have struggled, losing three games in a row before snapping their 168-day drought against Cameroon.

The most obvious worry for Popovic is his team’s troubles finding the back of the net.

The Socceroos hadn’t scored a single goal in either of their two previous games while their last goal was against the US in mid October.

That was also by Bos, Australia’s most consistent high performer, but the gap between goals remains alarming. The team went 336 minutes, more than five and a half hours, between goals, which won’t cut it at the World Cup.

There have been some mitigating circumstances.

Popovic has been missing a number of key forwards to injuries, including Mohamed Toure and Nicholas D’Agostino, and he has been chopping and changing his lineups to try and figure out his best combinations.

While the goals have dried up, that has unearthed some new gems.

While he didn’t score after coming on as substitute at halftime, Nestory Irankunda came close several times and looked a real threat every time he touched the ball and teenage defender Lucas Herrington had a blinder on debut, and looks like a being a genuine World Cup bolter.

The Socceroos defence looks solid but their attack clearly needs a polish in time for the big dance.