‘No sales pitch’: Luongo returns to Socceroos in Popovic’s first squad

Tony Popovic has wasted little time in shaking up the Socceroos, naming eight fresh faces in his first squad since being appointed national team boss – including the return of midfielder Massimo Luongo from retirement.

Luongo called time on his international career before the Asian Cup earlier this year to focus on his push for promotion to the Premier League with Ipswich Town. He had played down the chances of reversing that decision in recent months.

Massimo Luongo is back in green and gold.Credit: Getty Images

However, the departure of Graham Arnold and arrival of Popovic as the new Socceroos coach appears to have prompted a change of heart by the 32-year-old, who has made himself available for the rest of Australia’s World Cup qualifying campaign, which resumes with a must-win clash with China on Thursday night.

Luongo is the only Australian outfielder to have seen minutes in the Premier League this season.

Popovic said he hadn’t spoken to Luongo, but that others in Football Australia had done on his behalf, and that no “sales pitch” was required to convince him to play for his country again.

“He’s made himself available, and he became an option for us, and I wanted to bring him into this camp,” he said.

“If we have to sell the Socceroos jersey, we have a problem. There is no sales pitch. If a player makes himself available for selection, and if he’s chosen, that should be enough.

SOCCEROOS SQUAD FOR OCTOBER WINDOW

GOALKEEPERS: Maty Ryan, Joe Gauci, Paul Izzo

DEFENDERS: Aziz Behich, Jordy Bos, Cameron Burgess, Thomas Deng, Jason Geria, Lewis Miller, Kye Rowles, Harry Souttar, Gianni Stensness

MIDFIELDERS: Keanu Baccus, Ajdin Hrustic, Jackson Irvine, Massimo Luongo, Riley McGree, Connor Metcalfe, Aiden O’Neill

FORWARDS: Daniel Arzani, Mitchell Duke, Craig Goodwin, Nestory Irankunda, Sam Silvera, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, Nishan Velupillay

“I’ll be worried if I have to sell to a player a reason to play for Socceroos. I’ll never do it. If you’re selected, you should be honoured. If that’s an issue for any player, I’d advise them not to make themselves available.”

Other surprise moves in Popovic’s extended 26-man squad include a first-time call-up for Melbourne Victory winger Nishan Velupillay, as well as his A-League teammates Daniel Arzani and Jason Geria, who all played under Popovic last season. Geria has not represented the Socceroos since 2016, but his selection could address one of Australia’s most glaring deficiencies at right-back, a position Arnold cycled through during his six-year reign as coach without much success.

While Arnold never gave Geria a chance, Popovic believes he deserved one.

Tony Popovic.Credit: Steven Siewert

“Obviously, I’ve got a history with them, I know them very well, but they’ve had a very good, long [Australia] cup run, so they’ve played regularly. They’re playing well,” Popovic said. “There are some areas on the pitch that we have some unfortunate injuries, and it creates opportunities for players.”

Eight players from Arnold’s final Socceroos squad have been cast aside: the injured Alessando Circati, who hurt his ACL at training with Serie A club Parma last week, plus Martin Boyle, Awer Mabil, Josh Nisbet, Cameron Devlin, Adam Taggart and John Iredale, who were all omitted. Portsmouth striker Kusini Yengi, who was replaced in that squad by Iredale due to suspension, is also unavailable due to injury.

The Socceroos face China at Adelaide Oval on Thursday, needing all three points to keep alive their hopes of direct qualification for the World Cup. Five days later, they take on Group C leaders Japan in Saitama; Australia has not beaten the Samurai Blue in their past nine meetings, dating back to 2009.

The matches will be Popovic’s first in charge since being appointed as the replacement for Arnold, who quit after Australia’s shocking 1-0 defeat to Bahrain on the Gold Coast last month and a 0-0 draw with Indonesia in Jakarta.

‘I’ll be worried if I have to sell to a player a reason to play for Socceroos. I’ll never do it’

Socceroos coach Tony Popovic

Popovic’s biggest immediate challenge will be re-energising the Socceroos and addressing their long-standing issues with creativity in the final third, particularly against teams who sit back in numbers and force them to be the ball-dominant team, as China is expected to do. The returns of Luongo, Riley McGree, Ajdin Hrustic and Jordy Bos, the latter three who also missed the last window due to injury, should help.

“I think there are a lot of things in play in those two performances, but I’m sure there will be a change now when they come in, and I’m sure the players themselves, the quality they have, the careers they’ve had, they’ll be hurting about those two performances and it can happen,” Popovic said of the Socceroos’ last two outings.

“We haven’t often seen Australia in recent years as a group play so poorly over two games. You can have individuals, it happens, they have an off day, but Australia has predominantly been able to cover those cracks - but these two matches, it was pretty much poor from everyone.

“I’m sure they’ll be OK, and they’ll be ready to come into camp and play better.”

Meanwhile, sources speaking on the condition of anonymity as they aren’t authorised to speak publicly have told this masthead that Japan-based goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak, who is set to move back to the A-League this January with his former club Melbourne Victory, was also approached about the possibility of playing for the Socceroos again but politely declined.

Langerak, 36, has been one of the most in-form Australian custodians over the past five years but was not considered under Arnold and eventually retired from international duty, citing the toll COVID-19 restrictions and isolation periods were having on his young family. He was called up just before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but wasn’t named in Arnold’s squad for the tournament and hasn’t been involved since.