FIFA World Cup
Herrington hit the crossbar with Australia’s fourth spot-kick to allow Hossam Abdelmaguid to roll in the winner following a 1-1 draw after extra time, with Popovic also choosing to replace goalkeeper Patrick Beach moments before the match went to penalties.
The decisions didn't work out but the tactician said Australia had much to savour after a campaign which had numerous positives.
The decisions didn't work out but the tactician said Australia had much to savour after a campaign which had numerous positives.
“He has played the last two games as an 18-year-old,” said Popovic. “So if I trust him to play in a game that we needed to get a result against Paraguay, a game where elimination was on the line, then what’s the difference with the penalty.”
The game went to penalties after Essam Ashour’s 13th minute opener for Egypt was cancelled out 10 minutes into the second half when Mohamed Hany put the ball in his own net following Aiden O’Neill’s curling free-kick into the six-yard box.
Harry Souttar missed Australia’s first penalty when he fired high over the crossbar, handing the advantage to an Egyptian side who showed greater composure from the spot, converting all four of their attempts to progress.
Popovic had hoped to use the vast experience of Maty Ryan in the shoot-out, introducing the 34-year-old from the bench for his first appearance at the tournament in the 118th minute in a vain attempt to influence the outcome.
“Patrick is new as a goalkeeper, not just in the national team, but even in club football, and you felt that Maty's experience would be the difference,” Popovic said of the decision to replace the Melbourne City shot-stopper.
“But in the end it didn't work out that way, not because of Maty's poor judgement or lack of ability, they just took really good penalties.”
The defeat was Australia’s third in the knockout rounds of the FIFA World Cup with the country having previously lost against Italy in 2006 and Argentina in 2022.
Popovic had selected six players in his starting line-up aged 23 or under and he is confident the squad will learn from their experiences at the Finals and show improvements at future tournaments.
“I think the performance tonight was outstanding,” he said. “I thought it was wonderful against Turkey, fantastic against Paraguay. And I thought we were all very good in the second half against the U.S. Overall, I can only compliment the entire group and staff.
“We want this to inspire us to do better. Hopefully we can take a step forward in the Asian Cup, which is coming up for us in January. And then in four years' time, let's have bigger targets, bigger expectations.
“But we also know that being at the World Cup is not easy, to firstly arrive, to qualify. If you look at all the nations that don't progress, and all the big nations that haven't had success over a big period of time, we can't take this for granted what we've achieved, and we need to keep growing.”
Photos: FIFA via Getty Images
