‘Something’s changed’: Why Socceroos’ confidence has gone through the roof

September 27, 2026 — 4:33pm

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If you watched the Socceroos play Brazil on Friday night, you probably noticed it. Tony Popovic can see it in the way his players now carry themselves. Alessandro Circati can feel it coursing through his veins.

“For sure, something’s changed,” he said.

There is a swagger about this team that wasn’t there before, an intangible growth spurt that can only be triggered by experience: of knowing what it feels like to play at a World Cup, realising that you belong on that grand stage, climbing the ladder at club level and realising it again.

Circati is one of the 11 players who parlayed their World Cup campaign into career advancement at club level, transferring from Parma to Portuguese giants Benfica for $33 million.

He remembers being on holiday and driving back from the beach when he got the call to tell him that he might have to start thinking about moving his life to Lisbon. Now at one of the world’s biggest clubs, he broke........

© The Sydney Morning Herald