Mathew Leckie and Harry Souttar have proven their fitness ahead of Tony Popovic’s World Cup squad announcement.
The first of the Socceroos’ two pre-tournament friendlies seemed to provide two services to Tony Popovic with varying levels of success.
The first, as an introduction to the idiosyncrasies of the upcoming World Cup against one of the host nations, served up about as much absurdism as is possible to fit into a football match. A widely bemusing refereeing performance, cooling-breaks in the 35th and the 79th minute, and a rowdy home crowd at the Rose Bowl of over 78,000 all combined to give the Socceroos a very strong taste of what is to come at this year’s World Cup.
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The second, however, was to give the coach a final look at his troops before he cuts his squad from 30 down to 26 tomorrow. In this area, the Socceroos’ performance can’t have been as insightful. A passive first half was followed by an improved but ultimately fruitless second and Australia lost 1-0 without having said an awful lot about it.
What Popovic did learn was that Mathew Leckie and Harry Souttar, who had both been out of the Australian team since 2024, were able to slot back into the national side and prove their fitness despite limited domestic output in the 2025/26 season.
Leckie, now 35, only managed six appearances in the regular season with Melbourne City while he battled hip and hamstring issues. At the Rose Bowl, Leckie was the sole representative of the Isuzu UTE A-League in the starting lineup and played 67 minutes before he was substituted.
The Isuzu UTE A-League was represented well from the bench as Paul Okon-Engstler, Nishan Velupillay and veteran Aziz Behich were introduced in the second half.
Alessandro Circati and Mathew Leckie of Australia
Whilst the veteran winger was largely unable to make a great impact on the match, if his fitness was the deciding factor for Popovic ahead of tomorrow’s announcement, Leckie has probably secured his spot in a fourth World Cup camp.
Souttar has endured an even tougher struggle for minutes in his domestic season with Leicester City. The 27 year-old only featured in the last two matches of the season as he returned from an achilles rupture.
Souttar played the entirety of the match in Pasadena and provided a threatening outlet for his side as they searched for a goal. Aside from the goal that Australia conceded from a set-piece, Souttar’s height and presence was valuable in both boxes and he looks like an important cog in Popovic’s machine.
“It’s always an honour to pull on this shirt and honestly I’ve missed it so, so much,” said Souttar after the match.
Harry Souttar (centre)
“Obviously the squad’s not announced yet so I don’t want to say anything – there’ll be disappointed boys who are going to miss out on it which is a tough, tough thing… but that’s football,” he said.
“It’s a lot to look forward to. Every day now it feels like it’s getting closer and closer and it’s getting more real.”
A slightly curious omission from the match was 25 year-old Tete Yengi. He wasn’t named amongst the substitutes at the Rose Bowl after seemingly edging out Mitch Duke for the 30-man squad. Whether that suggests his position was already secured prior to kick-off, will be confirmed tomorrow.
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The Socceroos will complete their World Cup preparations with a friendly against Switzerland in San Diego on June 6 before kicking off the competition proper against Türkiye in Vancouver on Sunday 14th June at 2pm (AEST).
