00:05Australia is obsessed with footy.
00:08The word is ubiquitous in Australian culture,
00:11just don't expect it to mean soccer.
00:18Around Sydney, footy means rugby league,
00:21the biggest sport in the states of New South Wales and Queensland.
00:27Around Melbourne, footy means Australian rules football,
00:31the biggest sport in the states of Victoria,
00:34South Australia and Western Australia.
00:40Footy will also occasionally be used in connection to rugby union.
00:48Footy is rarely attributed to football,
00:51so much so that the national team's nickname contains the prefix soccer.
01:00Because football is so low in the pecking order of Australian sports,
01:04it has struggled historically to attract the country's best athletes.
01:08This is a challenge similar to somewhere like the USA,
01:11but when the population is around 12 times smaller,
01:14that leaves a much reduced talent pool to compensate.
01:23While the outside perception of Australia might be its close relationship with the United Kingdom,
01:28much of the football culture has been imported from other migrant communities.
01:37For many years, the loudest voice in Australian football, Les Murray, carried a Hungarian twang.
01:47Most of the clubs that helped develop Australia's best players carried Mediterranean roots,
01:52from the Greece-affiliated South Melbourne that birthed Ange Postokoglu,
01:57to the Croatian-backed Melbourne Knights, where Mark Viduka emerged fully formed.
02:09Australia's cosmopolitan approach to the game extends to its regional affiliation.
02:14A long-time force in the Oceania Football Confederation,
02:18Australia joined the Asian Football Confederation in 2006.
02:25Victory in the 2015 Asian Cup, under Postokoglu's leadership,
02:29remains the high-water mark of the men's team.
02:35Australia didn't qualify for the World Cup until 1974,
02:39and their return was delayed repeatedly by defeats in Inter-Confederation playoffs.
02:46Now ensconced in the AFC with its eight guaranteed places at the finals,
02:51the Socceroos have been ever-present since 2006.
02:58But this consistency has also hidden something of a decline.
03:02The production line of talent has slowed to a trickle,
03:05and only a handful of players are thriving in European leagues.
03:12That makes the job of coach Tony Popovich extremely difficult.
03:16But he coped admirably with the task during qualifying,
03:19taking over from long-standing predecessor Graham Arnold
03:22and steering his side to five wins and three draws
03:26to see them finish comfortably ahead of Saudi Arabia
03:29in a group dominated by Japan.
03:35Popovich is a pragmatic coach
03:37who sets up his sides to be difficult to break down.
03:39It can lead to dour football.
03:42But as one of the World Cup's biggest underdogs,
03:45Australia will be forced to scrap for their lives.
03:53One of only three Australians to earn 100 caps,
03:57Matt Ryan has been his country's first choice gloveman for over a decade.
04:01But as his fortunes at club level have declined from his career peak with Brighton and Hove Albion,
04:07his place has come under threat from Joe Gauci and Paul Izzo.
04:19Popovich operates with a defensively minded back five,
04:23featuring three imposing central defenders and two industrious full backs.
04:30The linchpin is the giant Harry Suter.
04:34At six feet seven inches,
04:36he is one of the tallest outfielders in World Cup history
04:39and a serious handful from set pieces,
04:42offering Australia a rare attacking outlet.
04:52Popovich's midfield pivot is all about control and industry.
04:57One of the two will be Jackson Irvine,
04:59a regular with FC Sampaoli in the Bundesliga.
05:03While his partner will vary depending on the opposition.
05:07But options include Middlesbrough's energetic, Riley McGree.
05:19Pace on the left is provided by Craig Goodwin.
05:22Dynamism on the right comes courtesy of Martin Boyle.
05:26And this pair are responsible for almost all Australia's attacking thrust.
05:32There is no recognised goalscorer in the striking role,
05:35with veteran Mitch Duke a hard-working target man
05:38and Kusini Yengi a more mobile runner.
05:44It all means the Socceroos carry little goal threat from open play.
05:50But there is some hope on the horizon,
05:53with the emergence of promising youngsters Mohamed Toure and Nestori Irankunda.
05:58.
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