World Cup defender Tony Popovic says new Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek can criticise the A-League all he wants – as long as he gets results.Verbeek believes the defending in the A-League is substandard. A point backed up by his selection of 19 overseas based players in a 39 man squad to play Qatar in the opening World Cup qualifier in a fortnight.
“He’s the national coach. He can say what he wants,” Popovic said.
“He’s looking for players to play at a much higher level than A-League. If he sees that soft goals are being conceded, he’s within his right to voice his opinion.
“Probably in recent weeks, maybe there were some soft goals conceded.”
Popovic sees similarities between Verbeek and former Socceroos coach, fellow Dutchman Guus Hiddink.
“Friends will be made or lost by the results. If we qualify, I think he’ll be a hero, as Hiddink was. Everyone forgot what Hiddink said before we qualified, (but) when the results were there, he was a God wasn’t he?”
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