"The late Johnny Warren always said we should aim to win World Cups and win major tournaments — not just aim to participate." That quote isn't motivation-poster fluff. For Tony Popovic, it's a genuine operating principle, and it's shaping how Australia will approach the 2026 tournament.
Popovic grew up in Western Sydney in the 1980s watching Warren and Les Murray champion the round ball game on SBS's On the Ball. Warren captained Australia 24 times and played at the 1974 World Cup. His belief that the Socceroos should compete rather than simply attend never left Popovic. Decades later, it's the philosophy he's installing in a squad where 17 players have never been to a World Cup, and some — Mo Toure, Cristian Volpato, Tete Yengi — have never even played a competitive match for the national team.
That's a lot of unknowns heading into a tournament opener against Turkiye at BC Place in Vancouver.
A Socceroo at both ends of his career
Popovic debuted for Australia in 1995 and went on to earn 58 caps, including the 2006 World Cup — the drought-breaking campaign that saw John Aloisi convert the penalty against Uruguay and send a country into delirium. He was part of the "Golden Generation" alongside Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Mark Schwarzer, and Lucas Neill. That squad reached the Round of 16, Australia's best-ever finish, before losing to eventual champions Italy.
Twenty years on, he's the coach. The first person to both play and coach Australia at a World Cup. Even he's starting to feel the weight of it.
"I'm realising more and more the significance of it," he said. "Maybe when I move on and someone else is the Socceroos coach, maybe it will kick in more then."
That's a very Popovic answer. Process-driven, detail-focused, not interested in getting ahead of himself. His 17-year coaching career has had peaks — back-to-back A-League Premiers Plates with Western Sydney Wanderers and Perth Glory, plus the AFC Champions League title with the Wanderers in 2014 — and genuine lows, including a 10-week disaster in Turkey and a short-lived stint in Greece's second division.
What the betting picture looks like
Australia's squad is young and, in places, untested at this level. Asking markets to price the Socceroos as deep-run contenders requires a leap of faith that even Popovic isn't quite asking for publicly. What he is asking for is belief that this group can "do something extraordinary" — and history suggests Australia tends to punch beyond their weight when the World Cup arrives and the country locks in behind them.
Federation Square fills up. Live sites emerge around the country. Every four years, Australian football becomes national sport for a month. Popovic knows that. "Every Australian wants to see Australia do well. We know that we have the nation right behind us," he said.
Whether this young squad can channel that energy into results is the real question. The 2006 side had experience and a spine of proven European footballers. This group has potential and a coach who's been building toward exactly this moment for his entire career.
"I believe it will happen," Popovic said, when asked whether this generation can go further than any Australian side before it. Johnny Warren would have approved of that answer.
