Portsmouth striker Thomas Waddingham forced to wait on Socceroos bow despite wholesale changes

Thomas Waddingham will have to wait to make his Australia debut.

The Pompey striker, who received his maiden Socceroos call-up last week, remained on the bench as Tony Popovic’s side defeated Qatar 3-0 in a friendly in Doha on Friday.

Waddingham, 21, linked up with his new international team-mates for the first time after bagging two goals in four games following his recent return from an ankle injury.

He was one of three new names in the squad that also included Kusini Yengi for the first time since November 2024.

But while Diesel Herrington and Sam Klein were both called upon in the second half against Qatar as Popovic rang the changes following a 3-0 interval lead, Waddingham remained a spectator on the bench.

Former blue Yengi, who is currently on loan at Sanfrecce Hiroshima from Aberdeen, was also utilised as he earned his 12th international cap as a half-time substitute for brother Tete.

In the lead up to the fixture, Popovic admitted he was aware that neither Waddingham or Yengi had played much this season.

However, he remained keen to work with both during the current international break and hoped they would take inspiration from their call-ups.

He said: ‘Both of those (Yengi and Waddingham) don’t have a lot of minutes, so they’re just getting some game time just very recently off the bench.

‘So we understand that they’re not at their best right now, but we’d like to see them.

‘As I said earlier, we hope that this can really inspire them for more, to know that they are being watched and monitored even in a period where they’re not getting a lot of game time.

‘But we’ve seen what they’ve produced on the field has been good, some good quality, obviously without the minutes.

‘We’d like to see them get some more and hopefully over the next 12 months they play more regularly, they get stronger physically.

‘And, you know, they enjoy this experience and we’ll see how they are in camp.

‘I don’t know what level they’ll be in terms of where we want them now, but we’re excited to have both of them in and hopefully they’ll both get some minutes and enjoy the experience.’

Waddingham has one more chance to make his debut before heading back to Pompey. Australia take on Jordan in their second friendly of the international break on Tuesday, with the game also being played in Doha.

The Blues are next in action on Saturday, November 21, when John Mousinho’s side travel to Bolton Wanderers in the Championship.

Pompey will be without striker Marko Milovanovic and Colby Bishop for the game against the Trotters.

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