Tony Popovic raised eyebrows with his Socceroos selection for their crucial World Cup qualifier against Indonesia – but his charges repaid him with a crushing 5-1 win in Sydney, with Jackson Irvine grabbing a double.
The win was Australia’s best of the campaign so far, and Popovic’s tenure after he replaced Graham Arnold mid-qualifying.
It also gave Australia some much-needed breathing space in the Group C standings. They entered the game well adrift of Japan in second place on seven points, just one ahead of Indonesia and Bahrain, and moved four clear of the near neighbours, boosting their goal difference in the process.
The teams ground out a 0-0 draw in Jakarta under Arnold in September, a match where their failure to convert 19 shots was a dagger to Arnie’s hopes of staying in the job. He quit soon after.
Popovic started with an encouraging 3-1 win over China but his three subsequent matches – against Japan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were draws. No wonder he lustily celebrated all five Socceroos goals, especially one from youngster Nishan Velupillay, who was given his debut by the former Victory coach in his first match in charge, and made a starting debut on Thursday.
Nishan Velupillay celebrates a goal during the round three FIFA 2026 World Cup AFC Asian Qualifier match between Australia Socceroos and Indonesia at Allianz Stadium on March 20, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Desperate for a win to break that run, Australia were off to a wobbly start in front a vocal crowd dominated by Indonesian voices.
Mat Ryan had to leap acrobatically to turn over a header from Jay Idzes off a Calvin Verdonk cross that was destined for the top corner in the fifth minute and soon after the visitors won a penalty.
The foul called against Australia defender Kye Rowles on Rafael Struick was soft but the hosts survived when Kevin Diks smacked it off the post with Ryan going the wrong way.
Having survived that, Australia got a gift of their own as VAR intervened to convince the Jordanian referee to the monitor to watch multiple replays of Indonesia’s Nathan Tjoe A On wrapping his arms around Socceroo Lewis Millar. The Aussie was not a hope of getting on the end of an underhit corner and fell easily. A penalty seemed harsh but Martin Boyle had no sympathy, tucking it home for 1-0.
Indonesia’ defence was rattled and were powerless to stop Australia going 2-0 up two minutes later.
Melbourne Victory’s Velupillay timed a run from inside his half and kept his cool to volley over advancing keeper Maarten Paes.
The third came after 34 minutes – Irvine stabbing into the roof of the net after his first attempt was parried by Paes – and a remodelled Indonesia team, with a new coach at the wheel in legendary Dutch player Patrick Kluivert was in complete disarray.
They limped to the break without further concession and started the second half brightly, as they had the first, before slipping 4-0 down on the hour, when Miller got free in the box from a corner and headed home from close range.
While the Socceroos scored five it was far from perfection; the pitch was dreadful, Indonesia dominated possession and Ryan was busy. But he was unable to keep out a debut goal Ole Romenij but the Aussies would not be denied the last word.
A beautiful corner from Craig Goodwin was met with the header it deserved, Irvine driving the ball past the hapless keeper.
Irvine was chuffed to be named man of the match, but wasn’t going overboard about the overall performance.
“We want to be a team that controls possession far better than we did today. We probably weren’t good enough in possession for 90 minutes, to be honest,” Irvine said.
“They came with more intensity than I’ve probably faced in a home game in a while. Man against man, it just felt like full pressing for 90 minutes all over. It’s hard to play possession style football when you’re just constantly under pressure. What we had to do was, when we broke the pressure, then be clinical.
“And you saw, as we did, the times that we did break through, we looked like we were going to score. There’s aspects of the game that are pleasing. A lot we could have done better. Obviously, you wanted to keep a clean sheet as well, but overall, in a situation like we were in, to win 5-1 at home, you can’t complain.”
Former Socceroo Bruce Djite, speaking on the 10 coverage, added: “We talked pre-game about the Socceroos finishing their chances, being clinical, not taking games by the scruff of the neck.
“That’s what’s found them in this precarious situation, if you like. But they did everything they needed to do tonight, in the sense of being clinical and taking all three points.
“Was the general play the best? No. Indonesia will be looking at that scoreboard, thinking, how the hell did we lose that game 5-1? But for the Socceroos they should go home very, very happy.”
