OAKLAND, California -- It's Nov. 12, 2005, and kickoff at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo is rapidly approaching. The Socceroos have flown halfway around the world to be here for the first leg of their interconfederational World Cup playoff with Uruguay, arriving at the same venue where, four years prior, they'd been beaten 3-0 by the South Americans and had their World Cup drought extended to at least 32 years. Nerves, thus, are fraught, as a Golden Generation confronted the possibility of missing out on another tournament and their football mortality. But calm amidst the storm of unease sat Guus Hiddink.
Brought in by Football Federation Australia to replace Frank Farina following a poor Confederations Cup, the Dutchman is an unflappable figure in the Socceroos dressing room. He isn't pacing, yelling, or frantically scribbling at a whiteboard but, instead, watching highlights on his portable DVD player. At one point, particularly taken with one of the goals, he pulls defender Tony Popovic over for a look. Surrounded by others full of anxiety, Hiddink projects a sense of serenity, one that proves contagious amongst his playing group, replacing their apprehension with confidence, and imparting a lesson on Popovic that lingers two decades on.
Now in 2026, Popovic is the man in the dugout, set to become the first Australian to play for and then coach the Socceroos at a World Cup when they face Türkiye in Vancouver on June 13. Parachuted into the role after Graham Arnold stood down following a winless start to the third round of Asian qualifying, Popovic subsequently went undefeated as he guided Australia to automatic qualification for the first time since 2010. And the influence of Hiddink, who started Popovic in both legs of that playoff, as well as against Brazil in the 2006 World Cup, and his sanguine presence, remains.
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"That's something I've tried to bring in since I've started with the Socceroos," Popovic tells ESPN. "We've been under pressure from day one; when we came in, the results weren't great in the first two. It's a new staff, you've got two or three days to prepare and bring everyone together. We really wanted the players to feel a sense of belonging, to buy into what we were doing, and to feel a coaching staff and a head coach who is calm, measured, and confident in what we were doing, and confident in each one of them.
"We had to come back from 1-0 down [in his first game] after the first two games of not winning, and you could just see the players were very patient and calm in their reactions to going a goal down, which gave us confidence immediately. Of course, goals change games, and scoring just before half-time probably lifted everyone. And then the halftime team talk, you could just see there's this real belief.
"It's something that I've always tried to be [like Hiddink], I think. Monday to Friday, I try to get the very best out of everyone, and on a Saturday, when the game's on, that's the day for the players. I want them to feel the trust and belief from me that they can go out and execute, enjoy themselves, and play the best game possible."
Popovic's career would begin to wind down after the 2006 World Cup, playing his final game for the Socceroos in a friendly against Paraguay -- who have also been drawn in Group D at the 2026 tournament -- in October of 2006. At that point, Popovic's mind was already turning to coaching, with boxes full of notes taken during his career already having informed his philosophy and how he'd look to guide teams.
But there was more knowledge to be gleaned, which led him to reach out to good friend and then back-up AC Milan keeper Zeljko Kalac -- who will serve as Iraq's goalkeeping coach at the 2026 World Cup -- to organise a visit to Milanello to observe another master in action: Carlo Ancelotti.
"I was just sinking my teeth into the coaching and understanding it, and I just saw that there was an elite standard and the players were elite, a manager that was very clear on what he wanted to do, and was very measured, very calm," Popovic recalls. "But you felt the authority, and you felt the presence and aura of a Carlo Ancelotti. That was a coach that I really looked at and thought, that's the type of manager I'd love to be.
"I saw him work Monday to Friday, and he was really on in the training sessions. Then you see him in the game, and he seems relaxed, but you've got that internal fire in the belly, and you can see that passion that he has.
"I'm just trying to do it my way; there are always lessons and people you follow, but I have passion, I have emotion, and I'm just trying to be me and learn from people along the way, and always constantly trying to learn and evolve."
Hiddink, of course, has long since retired. Ancelotti, though, remains very active; the first foreigner to be named coach of Brazil and set to lead the Seleção at this year's World Cup. And while the chances of Australia and Brazil locking horns in the month ahead are slim, Popovic has already got the chance to reunite with one of his influences.
"When we had the draw, we had a coach's debrief, and when I walked into the room, my name was right next to Carlo's, so we sat at the same table of four," he recalled. "And all of a sudden, I'm sitting next to him. He remembered me, but for me, it was like: 'Here's this wonderful manager, someone I've looked up to, and here I am on the same stage.'
"There's a lot of pride about that, and when you sit and speak to him casually, you just realise why he's had all the success he has, just a fantastic person, and his record speaks for itself in how good he is as a manager."
Indeed, Popovic has had many mentors and inspirations over the years, some of whom he has worked under, some of whom he has watched from afar, and others whom he has sought out.
He's clear, however, that his biggest influences have been with him throughout his whole life: his father, Bratislav, and mother, Rada.
Bratislav, who worked in construction to support his family after he and Rada emigrated to Sydney's west from Croatia in the early 1970s, helped his son fall in love with football through weekend kickabouts in the park. And while the future Socceroo also dabbled with tennis, it was the collective spirit of playing with his mates that ensured his heart would belong to the world game. His parents were hard task masters, instilling within him a doing whatever task was at hand -- be it football, his studies, or even cleaning a local bakery's windows -- to the best of his ability, before then coming back next time and doing it even better.
"There's no doubt it's family," Popovic said on his biggest influence. "I can name a lot of coaches and people I've looked up to ... but the values are set, and the confidence, and the belief mechanism is set from family. And I owe all that to my mother and father.
"Dad was always a hard worker, and really process driven, and Mum's the quiet one, and gives me the balance of maybe what I'm looking for, why I am the manager that I am. Monday to Friday, I'm more like my dad, and I feel as though more of my mother comes out in me when it's game day, whether that's at the hotel or whether that's leading into the match, and there's probably a bit of a mix of both the passion and calmness during a game.
"Without a doubt, the greatest influence on me is my parents. There's no doubt about that."
