Australia's coach is stumbling against the Egyptians.

Australia's goalkeeper Patrick Beach did not know he would be substituted before the penalty shootout against Egypt in the Round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup, yesterday Friday, as coach Tony Popovic faced criticism for this surprising decision.

Beach (22 years old) went to the tournament as the second goalkeeper behind veteran and captain of the Socceroos, Matthew Ryan, but unexpectedly started all the matches and delivered a steady performance before being substituted in the final minutes of extra time in the Round of 32 match against Egypt in Dallas, as the game approached penalties.

Popovic brought on Ryan, but he failed to save any penalty, leading Egypt to win 4-2 and set up a meeting with Argentina in the Round of 16, after the match ended in a 1-1 draw in both regular and extra time.

Beach told Australian media about the substitution: “You should ask the coaches about that,” adding: “I found out at the same time you did. Clearly, there was a plan in place, and we weren’t supposed to know it. The coaches made a decision, and for us, Matty and I are here to do what’s best for the team and what achieves the best result for it.”

For his part, Ryan confirmed he was not informed beforehand, saying: “No, I wasn’t told before the match.”

Former Australian international goalkeeper Mark Bosnich expressed his “surprise” at the decision, while another goalkeeping legend, Mark Schwarzer, stated: “I personally believe that the goalkeeper who is playing should stay on the field.”

Former international Ruby Slater considered this a failure of the coaching staff, writing in his column for The Australian: “Beach was at the top of his game, and we will never know now if that level would have translated into a save in the penalties,” adding: “Once again, the responsibility falls on the coaching staff, and for me, this is another failure.”

Slater also criticized the decision to have defender Lucas Herington (18 years old) take one of the penalties, noting that he hit the crossbar, writing: “This burden should never have been placed on him,” and continued: “As Australia went into penalties to stay in the World Cup, someone from the coaching staff should have definitely said: ‘Do we really want to put this pressure on an 18-year-old player?’”

Popovic defended his choices, expressing pride in the team, saying: “It’s true that it didn’t work out, and we can look at many reasons for that, but with Matty’s experience, and if you look at his record in saving penalties… we felt his experience would make a difference,” and regarding relying on Herington in such a pressured situation, he stated: “I’m sure you would have said something different if the young man had successfully converted his penalty.”