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When Tony Popovic at last brought together his maiden Socceroos squad, the recently appointed coach outlined a range of expectations. A lot were unambiguous and direct – ideal given the upheaval surrounding his sudden arrival, in the wake of Graham Arnold’s exit, and with fewer than three weeks to get ready for vital 2026 World Cup fixtures against China and Japan.

Popovic maintained that any player who hoped to wear a Socceroos shirt would need to take on an “elite” mindset to deserve, or continue to earn that honour. But there was an additional theme. Not so much an order and an invitation to excel – and one that has been brought more distinctly into focus with any step taken on the road towards the World Cup in North America.

“My hopes were to do something special, in my first talk to the players,” Popovic says. “That remains the same.”

A little more than a year on from that meeting in an Adelaide hotel, a lot of other things have evolved, even if Popovic’s ambitions remain the same. The coach, for one, looks genuinely comfortable as Socceroos manager. The 52-year-old’s reputation for strictness stands in stark contrast with the open and at times jovial figure engaging openly for over an hour in what have become periodic sit-downs with football media. Likewise have the fortunes of his team progressed, with recollections of a setback to Bahrain and tie with Indonesia seeming quite distant after successes over Japan and Saudi Arabia in June booked the Socceroos’ berth in next year’s worldwide tournament.

Those victories came as part of an 11-game winning streak under Popovic, one that was only broken away by the United States earlier this month. It’s form that has taken the Socceroos to the unlikely precipice of entering pot two in the World Cup draw. The performances of November warm-up matches against Venezuela, currently ranked 50th in the world, and 13th-ranked Colombia – as well as Ecuador’s games against Canada and New Zealand, and the final games of European qualifying – loom large in this context.

While Popovic acknowledges that he started in the job thinking to only be able to rely on a core group of players, he now thinks the pool he can trust has expanded. This doesn't only come through the emergence of talented youth such as Nestory Irankunda, Max Balard, or Mohamed Touré as authentic international players. There are also the cases of Miloš Degenek’s comeback from the wilderness and Paul Izzo’s blossoming into a true Socceroos keeper with the capability to compete with Maty Ryan.

“The squad has completely changed in my mind – of what’s attainable with players that have entered,” Popovic says. “I first thought, ‘OK, this is my group; I don’t really have much outside of this. Just get by and make them better.’ Now, I feel like there are 15, 20 players that have entered that, and I’m sure there are more to come that I trust can help make us better as a squad at the World Cup.”

This unforeseen emergence of talent, and the transformation in outlook it has inspired in Popovic, has paved the way for players on the fringes of the squad. Even those not yet considered amongst those ranks can hold out hope that, in June next year, they could be on the plane. A player like Adrian Segečić might be about to be absent for a month of playing due to an ankle injury, but if he – or any other player – continues to perform regularly, then the coach is stating plainly they’re in with a shot of being part of his plans.

“I don’t want to put a cap or a halt on that – to declare in March that this is our squad, and there may be one or two more new faces,” Popovic says. “No, I want every player to feel that they have an chance. Why can’t there be one more player that steps up in June?”

But this broadening, in a way, returns us to Popovic’s first speech as Socceroos head coach. For just as much as he wants players to impress him, to do something remarkable and rise above the hopes others have for them, he wants his team to have the same mindset.

“Saying I want to do something unique is just ‘we don’t want to have boundaries’,” Popovic says. “We don’t want to box ourselves into ‘let’s be participants at the World Cup, and let’s go home and celebrate for being there’.

“I repeat it to the group: one day, Australia will go deep in the World Cup. And why not this group? Why do we have to wait two or three World Cups, when I’m sitting back and praising something special from the Socceroos? Why should we have limits? Why not do it now?”