Tony Popovic
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| Tony Popovic | ||
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Anthony Popovic | |
| Date of birth | 4 July 1973 | |
| Place of birth | Sydney, Australia | |
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | |
| Playing position | Centre Back, Left Back | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Sydney FC (Asst.) | |
| Youth career | ||
| Sydney United | ||
| Senior career1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1989–1997 1994 1997–2001 2001–2006 2006–2007 2007–2008 |
Sydney United → Canberra Deakin (loan) Sanfrecce Hiroshima Crystal Palace Al-Arabi Sydney FC |
162 (14) 5 (1) 94 (13) 123 (6) 17 (2) 19 (1) |
| National team2 | ||
| 1989 1991 1992 1995–2006 |
Australia U-17 Australia U-20 Australia U-23 Australia |
58 (8) |
| Teams managed | ||
| 2008–present | Sydney FC (Asst.) | |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Anthony Popovic (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈpɔːpɔʋitɕ]; born 4 July 1973 in Sydney, Australia) is a former Croatian Australian football (soccer) player. He last played for Sydney FC. He now is the Assistant Manager to Sydney FC, until the end of this season when he has an option to be re-signed as the Assistant Coach to John Kosmina.
Popovic grew up in Fairfield, Sydney. He attended Fairvale High School and left in 1989 to pursue his football career.
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[edit] Club career
Popovic began his career with Sydney United before a move to play in the J-League, where he stayed for five years scoring 13 goals in 94 appearances.
Tony Popovic signed for Crystal Palace on a free transfer in August 2001 from Sanfrecce Hiroshima. He became an integral part of the Palace defence, eventually becoming club captain. He also scored one of the most bizarre own goals in history, with his heel in a game against Portsmouth.
Popovic's contract with Palace expired at the end of June 2006, and he decided against accepting the club's offer of a new contract. He instead moved to Qatar club, Al-Arabi.
In 2007, with the growth of the A-League and slight homesickness, Popovic, moved to his home town club Sydney FC, signing a two year deal, with coach Branko Čulina also announcing him the club's captain. Popovic scored his first goal on the 28th October 2007 from a corner to beat the Mariners 3-2 in front of his home crowd of 17,850.
Popovic announced his retirement on November 11 2008 due to his body not being able to cope with the A-League conditions. His retirement is effective immediately. He has taken on the role of Assistant Coach of the first team of Sydney FC.
[edit] International career
Popovic competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona for the Australian U-23 team.
He began his full international career in 1995 with the Australian national team. Over the next eleven years Popovic made 58 appearances for the Socceroos, scoring 8 goals. Tony Popovic announced his retirement from International football in October 2006[1]
Popovic's most famous goal was a header, the opening goal in a 3-1 win for Australia against England at Upton Park in 2003.
The highlight of Popovic's career came in 2006 when the Australian national team qualified for the FIFA World Cup under the management of Guus Hiddink. He took part in both legs in the qualifying match against Uruguay. Being replaced in the first half of the second leg due to injury by Harry Kewell. The tall defender was named in the competing squad and made his World Cup debut against Brazil on 18 June. He suffered a calf injury 40 minutes into the game and was replaced by Marco Bresciano for the second half. His injury ruled him out of Australia's last match in the group stage, against Croatia, and their second round loss against eventual winners, Italy.
On 4 October 2006 Tony Popovic announced his retirement from the Socceroos. His final game was a friendly against Paraguay that month. He scored his eighth international goal, from a Mark Bresciano free kick, in his final minute on field to put Australia ahead, 1-0.
Popovic is expected to retire from professional football altogether, announcing his retirement from Sydney FC on 11 November 2008.[2]
[edit] International Goals
| Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Result | Competition | Scored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19/6/2000 | Papeete, Tahiti |  Cook Islands |
17-0 | Won | Oceania Nations Cup | 1 (1) |
| 9/4/2001 | BCU International Stadium |  Tonga |
22-0 | Won | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC) | 1 (2) |
| 11/4/2001 | BCU International Stadium |  American Samoa |
31-0 | Won | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC) | 2 (4) |
| 16/4/2001 | BCU International Stadium |  Samoa |
11-0 | Won | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC) | 2 (6) |
| 12/2/2003 | Boleyn Ground, London |  England |
3-1 | Won | Friendly | 1 (7) |
| 7/9/2006 | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane |  Paraguay |
1-1 | Draw | Friendly | 1 (8) |
[edit] Managerial career
After John Kosmina was sacked from Sydney, after a disastorious year, Popovic took over the manager role for the club, but only temporary. Vitezslav Lavicka would be signed almost a week later, however Popovic was manager for the friendly against Chinese sister club Shanghai Shenhua.
[edit] Honours
With Australia:
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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