Latest news with #MatRyan
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lens' Hervé Koffi set for Angers move
RC Lens goalkeeper Hervé Koffi (28) is set for a move to SCO Angers, according to a report from Mohamed Toubache-Ter. Koffi failed to seize his chance to become Lens' No.1 following Brice Samba's departure for the club. The France international joined Stade Rennais in January, however, Koffi struggled to replace him in the weeks that followed, which saw Les Sang et Or dip into the market to sign Australian goalkeeper Mat Ryan (33). Advertisement There could be yet further change between the sticks for Lens this summer, but either way, it looks as though Koffi will not be at the club. As per Toubahce-Ter, the Burkina Faso international will join Angers on a season-long loan deal. Le Sco, who last season avoided the drop, will pay a part, but not all, of the player's wages. There is no buy option included in the deal. The move will naturally raise questions about the future of Yahia Fofana (24), who is likely to be coveted following a strong campaign last time around. GFFN | Luke Entwistle
The Australian
11-06-2025
- Sport
- The Australian
Football: Tony Popovic demands best from Socceroos
Socceroos captain Mat Ryan says the 'passion' of Australia's coach Tony Popovic will continue to inspire the national team ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup. The Socceroos only need to avoid a five-goal defeat in Wednesday morning's clash against Saudi Arabia in Jeddah to guarantee themselves qualification for a sixth successive World Cup. Popovic's appointment last September came at a difficult time for the Socceroos, who had made a poor start to the third round of AFC World Cup qualifiers with a 1-0 loss to Bahrain and a 0-0 draw with Indonesia. It led to the departure of long-time coach Graham Arnold, with Popovic given the task of getting the Socceroos' qualifying campaign back on track. The new coach, who played for the Socceroos at the 2006 World Cup, made an immediate impression on experienced goalkeeper Ryan, who was set to make his 100th appearance for the national team on Wednesday. Tony Popovic's 'passion' for the Socceroos has been recognised by his players. Picture:'I remember when they appointed him and watching his first press conference and interviews,' Ryan said. 'There was a few questions thrown at him about it being not the greatest time to be taking over as Socceroos head coach because of the circumstances we were in. 'We didn't start off the group in the best possible way and were perhaps behind the eight-ball. 'From memory of him answering the question, he said … 'Every moment to take over the national team, especially the Australian national team, is a great moment. I'm not buying into any of that. It's an honour. It's a privilege to be here, and I can't wait to get to work'. 'From that moment, I (thought) 'he's someone that's super passionate about not only football but Australian football', and it's just been on repeat since he's been in here. 'He demands the absolute maximum from each and every one of us, and that's exactly how it should be.' Ryan said Arnold and Ange Postecoglou had shown similar passion when they coached the Socceroos, as opposed to the tenures of the other two full-time coaches who had guided him at national team level – German mentor Holger Osieck and Dutchman Bert van Marwijk. 'With every manager we've had here in the national team, it's fair to say the Australian managers more than the foreign managers (have) got that extra special relationship with the jersey,' he said. 'Ange (and) 'Arnie' were also obviously very passionate about the national team, and that was portrayed through their actions and their words and speeches.' Read related topics: FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 Marco Monteverde Sports reporter Marco Monteverde is a Brisbane-based sports reporter for NCA Newswire. He worked in a similar role for The Courier-Mail from 2007 to 2020. During a journalism career of more than 25 years, he has also worked for The Queensland Times, The Sunshine Coast Daily, The Fraser Coast Chronicle and The North West Star. He has covered three FIFA World Cups and the 2000 Sydney Olympics, as well as a host of other major sporting events in Australia and around the world. @marcothejourno Marco Monteverde
ABC News
11-06-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Mat Ryan wanted to freeze time on 100th appearance for Socceroos after penalty save
Moments after leading the Socceroos to the FIFA World Cup with a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia, Mat Ryan said he wanted to "freeze time". Little over eight months earlier, he must have wished for the ability to rewind it. Languishing on the bench for AS Roma, behind Mile Svilar, and dropped from the Socceroos squad in favour of Joe Gauci, Ryan's time in the Eternal City must have felt endlessly frustrating. Now he's looking at the eternal glory of being part of another Socceroos World Cup campaign. Ryan excelled for the Socceroos in Jeddah, capping his 100th appearance for the national team with a superb penalty save from Salem Al-Dawsari's late spot kick. Had it gone, Saudi Arabia still would not have had enough time to find the four more goals they needed to overhaul the Aussies into the second direct qualification spot from this phase of Asian World Cup qualifying. But the miraculous save spoke far more about the desire and heart of this Socceroos team, combined with the camaraderie that saw the squad race to embrace their skipper. "It would be nice if I could work out how to freeze time," Ryan said post-match on Paramount+, before elaborating on his penalty save for ABC Sport Daily. "It was almost as if fairytales came true," Ryan told ABC Sport. "Don't get me wrong, I treat every cap as a monumental cap, whether it's my 100th, my 40th, my 43rd, or whatever number it is — I think it's nothing less than what our jersey deserves and our great nation deserves. "In saying that, to knock up the century and in that fashion is something that I'm going to cherish for a very long time. "I do absolutely everything I can to produce for the team, thankfully my preparation and opportunity resulted in a nice positive moment there with the penalty save to contribute to the win. "The cornerstone of this team since I've been involved as a young kid with my first cap all the way through until now is the camaraderie and togetherness, that's the backbone, that's our biggest strength, and I think you've seen that during the celebrations. "They were aware of the occasion for me and what it meant, for them to get around me like that and celebrate just makes it a more special memory. "I couldn't ask for a better bunch of boys and people to go into battle with on the pitch come match day and to work side-by-side with. "I was just happy we could all embrace and share that moment together." Sharing such a pivotal and defining moment looked like a long shot for Ryan six months ago. His move to Roma failed to result in any meaningful game time. He did not play a single minute in Serie A, making just one appearance for the Giallorossi in a 4-1 Coppa Italia victory over Sampdoria. "For sure there were a few doubts there that I had played my last game for the national team," Ryan said. "No one is ever entitled to play and you have to earn every opportunity. "One of the non-negotiables in life for anyone who's wanting to achieve something and be successful is you've got to stay strong and resilient when you're facing some adversity. "Throughout the whole process of it all, the whole journey of this qualification period, I continued to believe in myself, thinking that I am the best man for the job. "As an individual if you're not thinking that, you're failing at the first hurdle. "Obviously football and life, it's full of opinions, but I was confident that I could still offer this team something and it was just a matter of sticking to my guns and continuing to work and letting my football do the talking." A mid-season transfer to RC Lens in France's Ligue 1 sparked a revival in Ryan's fortunes which coupled with being selected to start in the 2-2 away draw with Bahrain late in the year, saw the 33-year-old earn back his spot. "At the end of the day I just tried to produce as often as I could," Ryan said. "I'm pretty proud of the way I worked my way back into the position I'm in because I think a lot of people in my scenario could have spat the dummy and it could have been the end of my international career. "But I'm still hungry, I'm still motivated. Qualification hadn't been a certainty for the Socceroos early in the campaign. The Socceroos struggled in their opening two games in the third round of qualifying under Graham Arnold, losing at home to Bahrain and limping to a draw in tough conditions against Indonesia. Ryan said the group always believed, but new coach Tony Popovic had instilled even more belief in the squad since he came in. "One thing is that we unite … we are all Australian, and the difficulties that we face being an Australian footballer, trying to travel the world and play overseas in Europe, that's something that no other team has," Ryan said. "Covering the amount of distance and hardship with all the travel, that kinda hardens us even more and brings us together even more than other nations. "And part of what makes us Australian is we roll up our sleeves and get on with it and then give it our best crack when it comes to game day and that seems to work best for us." Conceding two goals on his return against Bahrain on limited game time was not ideal, but since then the Socceroos, with Ryan between the sticks, have conceded just twice in six hours of football. Indeed, in the last five matches Ryan has only had to face 15 shots on goal, a testament to his defensive organisation as much as anything. All this culminated with his spectacular penalty save to preserve the Socceroos' 2-1 victory in Jeddah and fly through into the World Cup finals. "It's an exciting time to be a part of this team," Ryan said. "I hadn't beaten Japan before in my career. Direct qualification, I haven't done personally before. "We're already doing something that teams I've been a part of haven't done. "It's nice to have ticked those boxes now and I'm looking forward to continuing ticking many more boxes as we move forward."
Reuters
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Part one complete as Popovic's Australia lock up World Cup berth
June 11 (Reuters) - Tony Popovic was already thinking about the improvements Australia needed to make for next year's World Cup finals soon after they sealed automatic qualification with a gritty 2-1 win in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Popovic took over as coach last September after the Socceroos made a poor start to the third round of Asian qualifying and has overseen five wins and three draws to book a ticket to North America. "Very, very satisfying right now, I'm sure it'll sink in as the days go by," he said shortly after the final whistle at Jeddah's King Abdullah Sports City. "It's been a very intense period since I've joined and I've loved it so far. We've done the first part, qualifying automatically, and now the next part is to be bigger and better for the World Cup." After beating Group C winners Japan 1-0 with a late goal in Perth last week, the Socceroos only needed to avoid a 5-0 loss to the Saudis to take their place in the finals for a sixth straight edition. They got the job done despite going a goal down in front of a hostile crowd, watching a Saudi player have a red card rescinded by VAR, and conceding a late penalty. Goalkeeper Mat Ryan, who was winning his 100th cap, saved the penalty to ensure that goals from Connor Metcalfe and Mitch Duke either side of halftime would give Australia all three points. "To do it here in this atmosphere, you've got to deal with the weather as well, and it's not easy to show that character resilience and then quality, to come back and actually take the lead and win the game," said Popovic. "For Matty Ryan, his career speaks for itself and there's a lot more for him to achieve ... but it's a day he'll never forget." Former centre half Popovic was a member of the Australia squad that reached the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time in 2006, a feat matched by Graham Arnold's team in Qatar three years ago. The 2006 squad had flair as well as the famed Australian resilience, and the task for Popovic over the next year is to build a team that can play a bit as well as fight. "We've built a good foundation now, and we want to really get better, get better kick on and try and do something special the World Cup," he said. "We need to play games to keep improving, giving other players that deserve it an opportunity and then we want to be a squad that's much better than what we are now. I think that's the expectation we should have."
CNA
11-06-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Part one complete as Popovic's Australia lock up World Cup berth
Tony Popovic was already thinking about the improvements Australia needed to make for next year's World Cup finals soon after they sealed automatic qualification with a gritty 2-1 win in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Popovic took over as coach last September after the Socceroos made a poor start to the third round of Asian qualifying and has overseen five wins and three draws to book a ticket to North America. "Very, very satisfying right now, I'm sure it'll sink in as the days go by," he said shortly after the final whistle at Jeddah's King Abdullah Sports City. "It's been a very intense period since I've joined and I've loved it so far. We've done the first part, qualifying automatically, and now the next part is to be bigger and better for the World Cup." After beating Group C winners Japan 1-0 with a late goal in Perth last week, the Socceroos only needed to avoid a 5-0 loss to the Saudis to take their place in the finals for a sixth straight edition. They got the job done despite going a goal down in front of a hostile crowd, watching a Saudi player have a red card rescinded by VAR, and conceding a late penalty. Goalkeeper Mat Ryan, who was winning his 100th cap, saved the penalty to ensure that goals from Connor Metcalfe and Mitch Duke either side of halftime would give Australia all three points. "To do it here in this atmosphere, you've got to deal with the weather as well, and it's not easy to show that character resilience and then quality, to come back and actually take the lead and win the game," said Popovic. "For Matty Ryan, his career speaks for itself and there's a lot more for him to achieve ... but it's a day he'll never forget." Former centre half Popovic was a member of the Australia squad that reached the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time in 2006, a feat matched by Graham Arnold's team in Qatar three years ago. The 2006 squad had flair as well as the famed Australian resilience, and the task for Popovic over the next year is to build a team that can play a bit as well as fight. "We've built a good foundation now, and we want to really get better, get better kick on and try and do something special the World Cup," he said. "We need to play games to keep improving, giving other players that deserve it an opportunity and then we want to be a squad that's much better than what we are now. I think that's the expectation we should have."
