Jesus Ramirez scored the only goal of the game seven minutes before halftime when he pounced inside the six-yard box to convert Ender Echenique’s low cross from the right and condemn Popovic’s side to a second consecutive defeat.
“There’s a lot we have to assess, but in the end, we’re disappointed we lost the game,” said Popovic, whose side lost 2-1 in their previous outing against the United States in October. We were probably a little bit too open. Venezuela, technically, were very good and were able to get into our box, and obviously scored a goal, but it was a little bit too easy on our part. We know we have to be better, but that’s part of what we’re doing here and part of the process,” he said.
Preparing for the Australians’ sixth consecutive appearance at the World Cup, Popovic fielded an experimental side as he continues to assess his squad ahead of the finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The head coach gave international debuts to four players, including Melbourne City goalkeeper Patrick Beach, and the 22-year-old intervened on several occasions to keep Australia in contention.
–Reuters–
