SARSOTA, Florida -- "Why can't this group do something special?" That was the question posed by Socceroos boss Tony Popovic in his final media appearance before departing for the United States and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
"We'll go into the tournament with that mindset," he said. "Can it be us that does something special and goes further than Australia ever has before? Because I'm sure that it will happen, if not now, it will in the future."
Special. Four years ago, nobody gave Australia's men much chance of being that at the World Cup in Qatar. Graham Arnold's side in Doha, in fact, were widely (and disingenuously) labelled as the worst Socceroos side to qualify to a World Cup in the modern era, only to then reach the knockout stages and push eventual champions Argentina all the way. One only needs to ask someone who was watching as Mathew Leckie scored against Denmark -- bonus points if they were doing so at Federation Square -- to know if it was special or not.
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We'll have to wait a few more weeks to know if comparable results are coming in 2026. However, we can be fairly confident that a similar sentiment to 2022 regarding the pedigree of Popovic's squad, due to be named on June 1, won't return. And this is mostly because, afforded the luxury of 12 months to blood and integrate younger players into the national team setup following automatic qualification, as well as structural factors such as A-League clubs' academies and the implementation of a national curriculum coming of age, the Socceroos ranks are being swelled by a swathe of young talents that have Australian football fans excited about its future.
Indeed, it feels apt that, in Popovic, this is the first time that the Socceroos will be led by one of their former World Cup players at the tournament. "Popa" was part of the squad that ended 32 years of heartache by qualifying for Germany in 2006. That team, of course, has collectively gone down in Australian football folklore as the "Golden Generation," with their achievements again officially acknowledged last November when Football Australia marked the 20th anniversary of the Socceroos' penalty shootout victory over Uruguay at Stadium Australia.
Given their history-making exploits, the Golden Generation has always cast a long shadow over Australian football. And that was even before their age profiles put them in a position to start to shape beyond the pitch, with recent reports from AAP linking both Mark Schwarzer and Tim Cahill with postings at Football Australia. And imprecise as it is -- the world of scouting, recruitment, and career progression are vastly different today compared to 2006, to say nothing of the late 1980s and 1990s when they were making their way to Europe -- the Golden Generation are the bar against which every other Socceroos side is measured. Given their place in history, they will likely continue to be for a while yet, too.
They're significant shoes to fill. Think of how many players have been given what at this point feels like the poisoned chalice of being christened "the next Mark Viduka." In 2026, however, perhaps there's a positive to the comparison, also. For heading into the World Cup with the likes of Nestory Irankunda, Mohamed Toure, Jordan Bos, Alessandro Circati and more amongst their ranks -- combined with Australian football really needing something to lift the mood right now -- it would be quite easy to label this side as a Socceroos Golden Generation, if not for that label already held quite tightly by another cohort.
This means that the weight of expectations that comes with that title, as well as the cloud that would invariably follow their careers if they were deemed to live up to them, won't be present anywhere close to the same degree at this World Cup. They'll still be there, to be certain, because this is a highly talented group of players that should be generating hype and expectation about what Australia can achieve on the international stage in the years ahead. But they won't be worn around their necks, nor be used as a cudgel by a simplistic mainstream, as they did for the Matildas in recent years, or the likes of Belgium or England at previous men's World Cups.
Instead, it will give this group the scope to go out and achieve something "special," to achieve their own success, with one fewer distraction.
But just what constitutes success in 2026?
It's a difficult one, given that it probably has a lot more to do with just wins and losses. Just how the side plays, for example, places its own tint on things; the Socceroos outfit of 2014 under Ange Postecoglou lost all three of their games in Brazil but, at the same time, generated better vibes than Pim Verbeek's side from 2010 that only missed the knockouts on goal difference. The age profile of the squad, likewise, will play a role, given that, while no World Cup should be seen as transitional or a building block, defeats are a lot more palatable if the squad composition that delivers them will be able to use them as bigger and better things in the years ahead.
The expansion of the tournament to 48 teams adds its own wrinkle, too. Given that eight of the 12 third-placed finishers at the tournament will progress to the knockouts, does reaching this stage carry the same weight that it did in previous appearances? Does the lack of a top-tier nation like France or Argentina in the group raise expectations? Or does the broader pool of quality in its place temper them?
Heck, what's your definition of "special" while we're at it? Is it beating the host nation United States in Seattle? Is it reaching the quarterfinal stages for the first time? Making the knockouts, even if it comes from grinding out three 0-0 draws and going through as a third-placed side? Or something else?
Everyone's definition of success, really, is going to be individual. But a consensus, likewise, will quickly emerge, one that will likely be built on many factors, whereby pragmatic and smash-and-grab wins, daring and disastrous defeats, and plodding and perilous stalemates will all be judged on their own unique curve. What can probably be said with some level of confidence, though, is that, even before a ball is kicked, Popovic is correct in judging that the ingredients exist for something special to happen. We'll just have to wait and see what that is, or if it will indeed arrive.
