SAN DIEGO, California - When Tony Popovic remarked that he was willing to consult with the likes of Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox about how to best approach World Cup fixtures effectively being divided into four quarters by drinks breaks, it wasn't treated all that seriously. There weren't doubts he'd go that far - it sounds like something the details-obsessed coach would do - but few probably anticipated that a quarter-time and half-time bounce would be such a notable part of Australia's final two friendlies before the World Cup. More fool us.
As was the case in their loss to Mexico the week prior, it took until the first-half drinks break for the Australians to start to show signs of life in their 1-1 draw with Switzerland. The improvements were marginal, at first, ending the opening stanza with just two shots - both set-piece headers - and one further touch in the Swiss penalty area, but they were at least better than the opening 24 minutes in which their European foes looked like they were in danger of scoring at any moment. Then, after further refreshment and another tweak from Popovic at halftime, they then improved once more, levelling the game through Tete Yengi. There were a few more hairy moments as both teams emptied their benches late, Cedric Itten heading wide with just about ten to go, but in the end, the Socceroos came from behind at half-time to salvage a result for the first time since 2018.
A week out from their opening World Cup fixture against Türkiye, the Socceroos will invariably take some level of confidence from this result. Injuries were avoided, and, obviously, it's far better to enter the tournament off something other than the loss. The Swiss, quarterfinalists at the last Euros, probably represented one of the best opponents they have faced in the Tony Popovic-era as well.
Harry Souttar was Australia's best performer, described as "outstanding" by his coach and looks to have put to bed any concerns over his fitness after returning from his Achilles tear. As well as forcing Gregor Kobel to tap a long-range thunderbolt onto the crossbar, Nestory Irankunda won possession seven times during his 71 minutes, more than double his career best and put forward his case to start too. Connor Metcalfe and Cameron Burgess both impressed after coming on at halftime, with the former firmly pressing his case to start up top against Türkiye, and the latter giving himself hope doing likewise down back. Jacob Italiano reiterated his importance, while Jason Geria's assured performance was also positive.
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Indeed, there were enough signs after that opening 25 minutes, against a quality European opponent, to suggest Australian fans needn't look ahead to the next few weeks despondently. Perhaps, daresay it, they could even possess a sense of cautious optimism. They're not going to blow teams out of the water, by any stretch, but if they can keep games close and take their moments, particularly in transition, they'll fancy their chances of taking something from all three of Türkiye, the United States, and Paraguay.
"We got through the game, we saw the improvement in the second half from players who don't have experience at this level," said Popovic.
"We saw more confidence in the second half from players who haven't played this level. So everything we wanted from the game, we got.
"We need to start better, of course. Next week, that will help us. But we've got to try and manage those moments well when things aren't going our way. We've got to improve in that [but] unless the players are exposed to that -- you can't just tell them about that, they need to go through it.
"The pleasing part for us is that after the breaks and after half-time, they can adjust, clear their minds, and understand what they can do better. And then you see a more cohesive unit in defence and attack."
The inevitable concern is those slow starts; against both Mexico and the Swiss, they were already 1-0 down by the time they started to show signs of life. And whereas the Socceroos had been able to almost completely deny Mexico any clear looks on goal despite their dominance of possession in Los Angeles last week, the Swiss did a far better job of finding passages through their block and creating looks on goal in San Diego.
Repeatedly, Murat Yakin's side would knock the ball around in front of the Australians' block until they found the look that they wanted, before accelerating through the gears, playing through the lines, and placing their opponent's backline under pressure. And having twice worked his way in behind already to that point, Dan Ndoye would convert on this early momentum after just 14 minutes, played beyond by a pinpoint pass from Granit Xhaka and calmly depositing the ball beyond Patrick Beach - who, beyond the goal, was impressive.
"There's going to be times, in any game, that's football, where the opposition's on top," said defender Jacob Italiano, who reiterated his importance at right wing-back after coming on at halftime.
"We need to enjoy that, those periods, to suffer, to take it as a positive that we stick together and work through it as a team.
"There's going to be times where quality players are getting on the ball and doing their thing, but we showed today that if we stick through together as a team, then we can really come out of it, and then hurt them as well."
"The belief is there that if we can stay in games, we'll give ourselves the chance to score a goal," added Burgess, who pressed his claim to start against Türkiye next week.
"We had a couple of other opportunities throughout the game as it went on to go and score. We can finish games strong, we're fit and raring to go, it's a big strength of ours."
"There were different things, based on what we need today," Italiano continued.
"I think the boss was just kind of getting everything together and telling everyone we need to just calm down a little bit. Things that we do, we need to do them with more conviction and together as a team. Whether that's sitting in, in moments where they have time on the ball. Or picking the moments to press, and when we do it, we all go together as a team.
"That clarity, to do everything together as a team. We showed that after that break, we were a bit more in control. Obviously, we need to get that better from the start, but that's a positive we can take."
With the side's clash with Türkiye at Vancouver's BC Place just a week away, this, as well as the slow start against Mexico, was hardly ideal. But having made seven changes to his XI, Popovic felt that the benefits that have been gleaned from getting minutes into players, as well as working on the connections between teammates unfamiliar with each other, would help counter this in the weeks ahead. The rotation and different approaches of the past fortnight, he said, were undertaken with their games against Türkiye, the United States, and Paraguay in mind.
"We're happy with the exercise for both games. We accept that there will be moments that it's difficult; trying to build relationships with players that you haven't played with before," Popovic said.
"But the exercise was done for the next three games ahead, to have them ready and available when required. That was important."