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Berkeley: The Socceroos will invoke years of lessons from facing Middle Eastern opponents – and the pioneering spirit of the legendary Johnny Warren – as coach Tony Popovic devises a plan to get past Egypt and prevail in what appears to be, on paper, Australia’s most winnable World Cup knockout game yet.
Popovic and his staff gathered on Friday night (local time) in front of two televisions at the team’s hotel in Berkeley, California, to watch Iran v Egypt and Belgium v New Zealand, the concurrent matches that would determine who they would face next week in the round of 32.
The pending outcome changed eight times in 90 minutes but ultimately, it landed in line with most pre-tournament projections.
The match at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas – the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys – will be just the third time the Socceroos will have faced the Pharaohs, who have made it out of their World Cup group for the first time.
But this being a Popovic operation, there is nothing about them – or any other team that they could meet from here onwards – that the Socceroos won’t know.
Though Egypt play in the African confederation, their aggressive, explosive style is reminiscent of the Arabic nations who the Socceroos routinely face in World Cup qualifying and at junior levels throughout Asia, which assistant coach Hayden Foxe acknowledged means the challenge they pose will not be a totally unfamiliar one to the players.
Team scouts and analysts have long been tracking all possible World Cup opponents in line with the draw mechanics, but Egypt – who sit two spots ahead of Australia at No.26 in FIFA’s latest world rankings – always shaped as one of the most likely teams they’d face in the next round.
They will now present their findings to the coaching group, who will spend the next few days searching for the weaknesses they believe Australia can exploit to carry them into uncharted territory.
“It’s going to be a tough opponent – someone that we’ve been watching quite closely, especially last night and during the group stage because we knew the crossover was with this group,” said Foxe.
“They’re a very good side – they have some real natural technical talent. They play kind of fearlessly, which is a typical African-Arab kind of way of playing football.
“If you look at their qualification through the AFCON [Africa Cup of Nations], they didn’t lose a game. Previously in their warm-up games, they played Brazil, they played Spain ... they had very good performances, so they’re a good side.
“But we have real good belief, we have good confidence within the group – whoever starts, whoever plays – and we know that everyone will be ready for this game.”
Egypt’s two biggest individual threats, captain Mohamed Salah and Manchester City star Omar Marmoush, both play in the Premier League – or at least did, in the case of Salah, whose contract with Liverpool has expired.
It remains to be seen if the 34-year-old will be fit to play after coming off injured with a reported knee injury in the 57th minute of their 1-1 draw with Iran. Salah was pictured looking despondent on the bench after being substituted, and had ice strapped to his hamstring.
If he plays, the Socceroos will do what they can to make sure Salah receives the ball in areas where he can do the least amount of damage.
“It didn’t look good for him to come off in such an important game, to come off at that moment. So you think there might be something there – but he’s a player of enormous talent and I’m sure he’ll be doing everything that he can to play in this game,” Foxe said.
The Pharaohs will also be without key midfielder Mohanad Lasheen, a regular starter who plays for Egyptian Premier League powerhouse Pyramids FC.
“A lot of their players play in their local league, but their local league is strong,” Foxe said.
“They know each other. They’ve been together for a long period of time, so they play as a team, as a unit - and as we’ve shown, when you play as a team and a unit, you’re difficult to beat.
“All these teams that we could face in this next knockout stage have all been scouted down to the smallest of details.
“It’s going to be an almighty game – an exciting challenge, I think, for us. Certainly on the back of the performance of Paraguay, Turkey and the second half against the US, we should go in with a lot of confidence.”
The Socceroos won’t relocate to Dallas until two days before the match, enabling them to remain in the comforts of their Bay Area base, where they have been for a month.
Temperatures in Texas are almost 20 degrees hotter than in Berkeley – on match day, Dallas is forecast to hit 36 degrees – but AT&T Stadium is, thankfully, indoors and air-conditioned.
Only twice before have the Socceroos made it to a knockout game at the World Cup, falling in famously heartbreaking style against Italy in 2006, and then after pushing Argentina all the way four years ago in Qatar.
Foxe said the coaching staff would not shy away from using the chance to make history as a way to motivate the players – but they already know what’s at stake.
“They know the impact [they have] had on not just football fans, but the whole 27 million Australians back in Australia. They know that,” Foxe said.
“That makes them proud to be who they are and wearing that shirt. That’s always been our message: how can we do something special?
“There was a famous quote from Johnny Warren before the great man passed, that one day, ‘Why can’t it be us that can do something special here?’
