By Michael Church
(Reuters) – Tony Popovic, who was appointed Australia coach on Monday, has a track record of success on the continent and takes on the role at a time when the Socceroos need to make a quick turnaround to bolster their hopes of securing automatic qualification for the World Cup from the Asian qualifiers.

Fans will be hoping the former Crystal Palace defender, who made 58 appearances for Australia during an 11-year international career, can bring a breath of fresh air to a side that has taken just one point from its last two World Cup qualifiers.

This will be Popovic’s first role in international football, but the 51-year-old has experience of playing at continental level in Asia.

As a player, he spent five seasons with Japanese club Sanfrecce Hiroshima before beginning his coaching career, leading Western Sydney Wanderers to the 2014 AFC Champions League, where his team defeated Saudi side Al-Hilal in the final.

Popovic’s coaching career proved to be somewhat of a success, although it has not reached such heights since.

He led Perth Glory to the A-League Premiership, finishing top of the regular season table in 2019 after briefly leaving Wanderers in Turkey, and also led Melbourne Victory to the title decider earlier this year.

Including Wanderers, Perth and Victory, Popovic boasts the unenviable record of having led teams to the A-League Grand Final on five occasions, losing on each occasion.

He saw a marked improvement in results during his three-year spell at Victory, but his departure in June brought no tears to the club’s die-hard fans due to his side’s dismal playing style.

Popovic takes over a Socceroos side that has struggled both with creativity and in front of goal, finding it increasingly difficult to break the patterns of teams that focus on defending and look for opportunities to counter-attack.

Lack of penetration and slow movement with the ball were criticisms levelled at Popovic towards the end of his time at Victory, but the new Socceroos boss has a point to prove as he replaces Graham Arnold.

(Reporting by Michael Church, editing by Peter Rutherford)

Disclaimer: This report is generated automatically by Reuters news service. ThePrint is not responsible for its content.