Australia's Popovic on defensive as gamble fails in World Cup exit / Photo: Alex Slitz - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Australia's Popovic on defensive as gamble fails in World Cup exit
Australia coach Tony Popovic defended his decision to switch goalkeepers for the penalty shootout that they ultimately lost to Egypt to bow out in the World Cup last 32 on Friday in Texas.
Popovic also said he had no regrets over having the 18-year-old defender Lucas Herrington, who hit the bar, take a penalty.
Fellow defender Harry Souttar also missed as the Socceroos went down 4-2 on spot-kicks, having held Mohamed Salah's Egypt to a 1-1 draw.
Deep in extra time, with penalties looming, Popovic substituted off goalkeeper Patrick Beach, 22, for the experienced Mathew Ryan.
Ryan, 34, who came into the tournament as Australia's number one, did not save a penalty as Egypt set up a last-16 meeting with Argentina or Cape Verde.
An "extremely proud" Popovic, whose country has still never won a World Cup knockout match, said the Socceroos had "shown character, resilience and quality" before forcing penalties.
"You always have options to come on in the match and with a couple of minutes to go, we didn't lose any players in extra time through injuries, so we still had one sub and we put Maty on," said Popovic.
"Okay, it didn't work, so we can look at many things in the reasons behind it, but with Maty's experience, and I think if you look at his record in saving penalties...
"Patrick is new as a goalkeeper, not just in the national team but even in club football.
"We just felt that Maty's experience will be the difference."
On selecting the teenager Herrington to step up for a penalty under massive pressure, Popovic said: "I'm sure you'd be saying something else if the young kid scored."
He told reporters: "You'd probably be sitting there saying how wonderful it is that an 18 year old took a penalty and scored."
Y.Destro--PV
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