CommBank Socceroos head coach Tony Popovic explained the inclusions of Sydney FC star Al Hassan Toure and Melbourne City goalkeeper Patrick Beach in Australia’s squad for the upcoming international friendlies against Venezuela and Colombia.
Al Hassan Toure and Beach are among five Isuzu UTE A-League-based players in the Socceroos squad set to face the South American duo, along with Adelaide United captain Craig Goodwin, Sydney FC youngster Paul Okon-Engstler and City’s Kai Trewin.
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“The attributes he has. He has a lot of power, a lot of speed,” Popovic explained.
“It’s something that we’re looking for in that area of the field in terms of whether it’s one of our two 10s, if we play with two 10s. A little bit different to what we’ve got. So it’s really the attributes he has, makes us watch him, monitor him. And we want to see now in our environment how that looks.
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“We’re also aware that he didn’t have a great pre-season in terms of his fitness, in terms of how much he trained. But he has shown glimpses in the A-League so far, which we feel has the potential to maybe be selected for the World Cup squad, or if not, something for the future. That’s why they’re here.
“So if they’re here now, we have to look at them with the view that they could be someone that takes someone else’s spot that’s maybe a little bit ahead at the moment.
“That comes down to form, comes down to profile of player, the balance of our squad, what we have. So, he’s an interesting player.
“I watched a game (against Macarthur); wasn’t his best game. But those type of players are ones that are creative can be up and down. We see that with a lot of younger players and players that don’t have a lot of minutes under their belt. He’s certainly shown the good signs, the positives that bring us to this point where we want to have a look at him.
“We’re excited to see what he can do in training with us and possibly in the games.”
Beach is another uncapped Isuzu UTE A-League star called up by Popovic.
The 22-year-old shot-stopper was invited to join March’s Socceroos camp in a development capacity but this time around, Beach joins captain Mat Ryan and Paul Izzo – both fellow A-Leagues graduates – in an official capacity.
Beach – who produced a standout performance in the AFC Champions League Elite midweek before another big display in the Melbourne Derby – certainly has not looked back since dislodging Jamie Young as City’s number one goalkeeper at the start of 2024-25.
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“We had him in a camp just to train with us for three or four days back in Sydney. We were impressed with what we saw. We’d been monitoring him. He’s playing very well. He’s gaining more experience, more maturity,” Popovic said.
“There’s a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and I think he’s handling that well and he’s dealing with the three games in a week which Melbourne City have had to have through this pre-season.
“I want to see him. I want to see him with us.
“I think at the moment he’s ahead of the other keepers and that’s what we want, we want competition.
“Players know that if you perform, you give yourself a chance and they can see with us that everyone can get a chance to come into camp. The players that miss out, we haven’t forgotten them. We will keep watching them and we’ll see when it gets to that time to select the squad who we believe is ahead of the pecking order at that time, we’ll go to the World Cup.”
