"They may be shocks for a lot of people, but not shocks within our playing group or staff because we're all working together every day and we can see the quality of these young boys," said Popovic after the win

"It's a team selected to perform well. You never know the result, of course, we're at a World Cup, but for me it's the performance – it's not the result ... regardless of the result, it was the right decision."

The tactician, who signed an extension to his contract which will see him navigating Australia's AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™ campaign, was confident his young charges can perform even better.

"Their ceiling, they're nowhere near it because they're a young group with no experience at a World Cup, very limited experience playing for their national team," he said.

"Their ceiling should come in four or eight years really, most of these boys."

Up next for Australia are co-hosts United States but Popovic said his focus will only be on getting his squad ready.

"Maybe the perception changes slightly because we've beaten Turkiye, a big nation ... but we've still got a lot of work to do and we've got to move on to the US game."

Photos: FIFA via Getty Images