Popovic salutes Socceroos after win over Canada
Tony Popovic saluted Australia's "resilience" during a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Canada, and insisted his players' feet are "firmly on the ground" despite extending their unbeaten streak to 12 matches.
The Socceroos recorded their seventh straight win, achieving the feat for the first time since a run of 11 consecutive victories between 2019 and 2021, thanks to Nestory Irankunda's second-half strike at Stade Saputo.
Australia enjoyed just 40 per cent of possession, but struck the game's decisive blow in the 71st minute, with Irankunda sliding in to prod the ball past Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau after Niko Sigur failed to clear Mohamed Toure's cross.
"I'm very proud of the group; they should be very pleased with their work," Popovic said. "The resilience is there. Not just the defenders, but you look at how hard the strikers and midfielders work.
"These boys are very grounded. They're obviously proud, but their feet are firmly on the ground. Every win is great, and you should celebrate your wins. They don't come easy, especially at international level."
Australia did have Paul Izzo to thank after he made eight saves, the most by any Socceroos goalkeeper in a game on Opta record, since 2016.
His best one came in the 90th minute, when he demonstrated superb reflexes to deny Jacob Shaffelburg an equaliser from point-blank range.
"I'm really happy, especially in a game like this," Izzo said. "You just want to do your part because you know how hard the boys are working, so it's nice to contribute.
"I think we did play some good football in periods, but Canada were great at putting us under pressure. I think we showed great resilience and a lot of togetherness, so we can be really proud of that."
Meanwhile, Canada suffered its first defeat in 90 minutes in 10 matches, despite controlling large periods of what was its first game in Montreal since 2017.
"We needed to be a little bit sharper in some of the final-third moments," head coach Jesse Marsch said. "Maybe if we're a little bit luckier in a couple of little moments, we could have come away with something.
"For me, the ideas were good. The connections on the pitch, and the way that we tried to find space and test them behind their back line was good."
"I think we managed [the game] well," Mathieu Choiniere added. "Unfortunately, we made a little mistake, but we’re going to learn from this.
"I think, overall, we were the better team, and we created a lot of chances. We could have scored two or three goals."
