Popovic tells youthful Australia to be ‘fearless’ at World Cup

Seventeen of the 26-strong lineup will be at the global showpiece in North America for the first time, with Popovic confident they will rise to the occasion.

“I think what we have is a lot of young exuberance, a lot of exciting talent, which I think is the start of a new cycle… these young guys, they’re fearless,” he said.

“I’d like them to be more fearless than what they are… the senior boys are there to guide them through that.”

Among the senior players are veteran goalkeeper Mat Ryan, who will captain the side after a standout season with La Liga side Levante.

He will be at his fourth World Cup, as will Melbourne City forward Mathew Leckie.

Attacking midfielder Volpato, 22, who was born and raised in Sydney and plays for Sassuolo in Serie A, is one of two uncapped players along with 25-year-old striker Tete Yengi.

A dual national, Volpato turned down the chance to play for Australia at the last World Cup, hoping that he would make the Italian team.

That didn’t happen and when Italy failed to qualify for this World Cup he switched allegiance to Australia last week — a welcome boost after injured Middlesbrough midfielder Riley McGree was ruled out of the tournament.

“He’s a very talented player,” Popovic said of Volpato. “He can be much better because he’s young, so there’s a lot of growth and potential still there, which pretty much sums up a lot of our players at the moment.”

Hibernian forward Martin Boyle, who was ever-present during the qualifying campaign, was an eye-opening omission.

“Some difficult decisions had to be made -– that’s the nature of major tournaments,” said Popovic.

“I’ve always kept the door open for everyone and when you do that, it can cost someone that’s been through the journey a spot at the World Cup. Unfortunately for Martin, he was one of those players.”

Australia, who are at their sixth successive World Cup, are in Group D alongside Turkey, co-hosts the United States and Paraguay.

They play a final warm-up game against Switzerland on June 6 in San Diego.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Patrick Beach (Melbourne City/AUS), Paul Izzo (Randers FC/DEN), Mathew Ryan (Levante/ESP).

Defenders: Aziz Behich (Melbourne City/AUS), Jordan Bos (Feyenoord/NED), Cameron Burgess (Swansea City/ENG), Alessandro Circati (Parma/ITA), Milos Degenek (Apoel Nicosia/CYP), Jason Geria (Albirex Niigata/JPN), Lucas Herrington (Colorado Rapids/USA), Jacob Italiano (Grazer AK/AUT), Harry Souttar (Leicester/ENG), Kai Trewin (New York City/USA).

Midfielders: Cameron Devlin (Hearts/SCO), Ajdin Hrustic (Heracles Almelo/NED), Jackson Irvine (St Pauli/GER), Connor Metcalfe (St Pauli/GER), Aiden O’Neill (New York City/US), Paul Okon-Engstler (Sydney FC/AUS).

Forwards: Nestory Irankunda (Watford/ENG), Mathew Leckie (Melbourne City/AUS), Awer Mabil (Castellon/ESP), Mohamed Toure (Norwich/ENG), Nishan Velupillay (Melbourne Victory/AUS), Cristian Volpato (Sassuolo/ITA), Tete Yengi (Machida Zelvia/JPN).