Subway Socceroos head coach Tony Popovic has laid down the challenge to Isuzu UTE A-League stars Adrian Segecic, Nicolas Milanovic and Noah Botic, urging them to go out and prove they belong in a national team jersey.
All three players have been in scintillating goalscoring form this season with Sydney FC attacker Segecic securing a share of the Golden Boot with 13 goals alongside Adelaide United’s Archie Goodwin, while Milanovic and Botic both notched 12 goals during the regular season.
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Despite many believing all three were potentially in line for a maiden Socceroos call up in March, Popovic instead opted for the experience of Perth Glory’s Adam Taggart and Portsmouth FC striker Kusini Yengi for Australia’s most recent FIFA Men’s World Cup qualifiers against Indonesia and China.
Having been overlooked, both Segecic and Botic responded with ‘phone call’ celebrations after scoring, acts many believed were a message to Popovic – and the Socceroos boss admits he’s all for it.
“These boys have just, for me, shown they’ve got some personality, which is great,” said the Socceroos head coach when asked by journalists whether or not he saw the celebrations.
“You’ve got personality, you’ve got character. You’re not afraid to show that.
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“Whatever it is, is that a message for me? I don’t know. Whatever it is, that’s fine. Then you’ve just got to back it up.
“You want to be like that, great. Fantastic. But then you’ve got to be the best player on the park every week. And that’s the challenge they’ve got.”
Off contract at the end of the season, 20-year-old Segecic and 23-year-old Botic have reportedly attracted plenty of overseas interest.
Still contracted for the 2025-26 Isuzu UTE A-League season, Milanovic has been linked with a move abroad to Scotland in recent weeks, meaning all three could be set to depart Australia when the Finals Series comes to an end.
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“The goals show that they can score and they’re becoming more, I’d say, maybe more consistent,” Popovic added.
“If you have a look at the boys you mentioned apart from Nicolas, I’d say the other two, maybe this is their first year, full year, and Segecic is only now starting to play from the start.
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“Botic has been playing all year from the start and he’s been in the system for, what, four years? It’s only his first year as a starter. So I think, yeah, I’m glad that they’re scoring, and they’re certainly on the radar.
“But you know, their challenge will be next year, can they go to 20 goals?
“Because although they’re scoring, which is great, we don’t have a 20 goal striker this year in the league.”
He continued: “If you look at last year, we had 20 goals. We were regularly getting 20-25, goals when (Jamie) Maclaren was constantly punching out 20 goals regardless of how the team’s going.
“So that there will be a progression for them but I believe that that’s expected. It’s their first year, they’re doing great. Can they back it up next year and add more goals? Then it might be the next Maclaren is here you know, in our league.”
Already assured of playing finals football, both Botic and Milanovic will be hoping to fire their sides to glory in the post-season while Segecic will now have plenty to ponder after his Sydney FC side missed out on playing finals football following successive defeats in the final two rounds of the season.
The Isuzu UTE A-League Finals Series officially gets underway on Friday, May 9 when third-placed Western United host sixth-placed Adelaide United in the first of the Elimination Finals.
Then on Saturday May 10 fourth-placed Western Sydney Wanderers welcome fifth-placed Melbourne Victory to CommBank Stadium for the right to make it through to the semi-finals.
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