Tony Popovic would not deny that his Australia team is sometimes difficult to watch, but the former center has done half for which he was brought in and brought them to the edge of qualifying for the World Cup 2026.
The Socceroos were clearly on Thursday on the second best Japan in Perth, but the deceased winner of Aziz Behich means that they only have to avoid a 5-0 loss for Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Tuesday to hit their ticket.
“It was a special, special evening,” Popovic told reporters. “The outpouring of emotions when we scored, and after the game they are clear, yes, they are moments that I will always remember.
“We have all played a role to bring ourselves so far, and we now want to go to Saudi Arabia and really finish the track.”
Saudi Arabia was the location of Popovic's largest triumph as a club coach in 2014, when his Western Sydney Wanderers team pulled 0-0 with powerhouse Hilal in Riyad to become Asian champions in just the second year of the club's existence.
It was partly that continental experience that encouraged football Australia to introduce Popovic as a coach in September when Graham Arnold stopped the world cup qualification.
The football has not always been nice, but the socceroos have been unbeaten since he took over with four wins and three draws, after he had only admitted five goals and scored 14 in the seven games.
Popovic acknowledged that there was enough room for improvement, but said that the seconds before the goal of Behich proved that there was already a strong platform of resilience to build.
“Although it is football, we have to get better, and we will get better, but at that time, the 90th minute, we had six players in the box, six players trying to score a goal,” he said.
“We were tough, we held a clean slate and we did something that many Australian parties have found difficult to do.”
Australia had not defeated the Asian powerhouse Japan in 10 games that went back to 2009 before Thursday evening and Popovic said that performance should not be underestimated.
“I understand why, now that I am in this role, why it is difficult to beat Japan,” he said.
“They are the best, and we want to challenge them to be the best, so we should not shun that, and hopefully we take a big step for today, knowing that we can beat Japan.”
Despite the emotion of the last victory, Popovic said there was no danger to any complacency prior to Tuesday's collision in King Abdullah Sports City.
“It has been a real intense period since I came in, but everyone has embraced what we want to do. And we are now very close to achieving our goal,” he said.
“We have to do a job in Saudi. We are in a great position, but we have to finish it.”