Subway Socceroos head coach Tony Popovic says he expects to see the impressive crop of young players currently making an impact in the Isuzu UTE A-League strengthen the international talent pool in years to come.
The Socceroos boss touched down in Perth on Monday to continue a whirlwind tour of the Isuzu UTE A-league through January, in which he will attend 11 league fixtures. He began the 11-game frenzy with a trip to HBF Park to see Western Sydney Wanderers defeat Perth Glory 2-1 on Tuesday night.
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Having already been spotted at several Isuzu UTE A-League fixtures of late, Popovic says he’s noticed a trend in the domestic league during his recent observations: young players, and plenty of them, making a genuine impact in the nation’s top flight.
“In the A-League, basically every week there’s a debut,” Popovic said.
“If you think about it, there’s always a young player making a debut. It’s a great time to be a young player in our professional league at the moment.
“The fruits of that labour will come, maybe in three or four years’ time, where you see the players are getting 50 or 60 games under their belt.
“But it’s exciting to see young players coming through, and they’re performing, obviously it’s not easy for them to be so consistent when they start off their careers, but you can see there is certainly some talent out there.”
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With more than two months until the next international window and a pair of 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Indonesia and China in March, Popovic has ample time to assess international candidates both playing at home and abroad before naming his next Socceroos squad.
Speaking ahead of attending Tuesday night’s Isuzu UTE A-League clash between Perth and the Wanderers, Popovic said he’s open to the prospect of players using the next two months of club football to bolt into selection contention.
“We may blood someone else – but they’ll have to earn it, and deserve to be with the Socceroos,” Popovic said.
“So far we have blooded some players – especially in the backline, Jason Geria, came in after making his debut eight years earlier, Hayden Matthews, the young 20-year-lld played against Bahrain.
“We’re open, certainly, to the idea of bringing in players but they have to fit in the style of play we’d like to play.
“We’re looking. We’re actively searching and at any moment someone can come through and have a great period of games and surprise everyone, and get into the Socceroos.”
