Hibs star's World Cup dream ended in shock fashion as two uncapped players selected amid Hearts ace inclusion

Australia boss Tony Popovic has told Hibs hero Martin Boyle why he’s a shock omission from World Cup involvement - as Hearts’ Cammy Devlin gets the nod.

The Easter Road attacker has been surprisingly cut from the Socceroos squad for the tournament in America, Canada and Mexico this summer at the last moment. Uncapped forwards Tete Yengi, on loan at Machida Zelvia in Japan from Livingston, and Cristian Volpato from Serie A club Sassuolo have been pushed into contention. That comes at a cost for Boyle who missed action at the 2022 edition through injury, having amassed 41 caps for Australia, with 10 goals.

Hearts’ Devlin meanwhile is selected as one of the midfield options as Popovic makes big calls that already includes cutting Hibs’ Ante Suto earlier on in his US training camp. Both Boyle and Devlin were unused subs in a 1-0 friendly loss to Mexico at the weekend as the Australia boss admitted new stars emerging on the scene has proven damaging for the Hibs forward.

Why has Martin Boyle missed out on the World Cup?

“I’m not going to go into how he took the news, that’s a private conversation that we had,” Popovic said about Boyle. “But he knows he’s played an important role in getting here. As I said earlier, we’ve given so many players an opportunity at different times and we just spoke about Tete Yengi, Cristian Volpato coming in late. You can remember a couple more in March that made their debuts.

“Lucas Herrington coming in, Awer Mbail, so that’s four players that had nothing to do with our campaign and are now going to the World Cup. I’ve always kept the door open for everyone, and when you do that, it can cost someone that’s been through the journey a spot at the World Cup. Unfortunately for Martin he was one of those players.”

It’s also a financial blow for the Premiership side from Leith, as in the 2022 tournament, clubs earned between £8k and £9k every day for each player involved in the tournament. It started from the day the player was ‘released’ for their national team through to their final game at the tournament bringing earning to a close. Clubs are expected to earn more per day for their players this time around but now Boyle has been omitted and Rocky Bushiri has also missed out on representing DR Congo through injury.

That leaves Grant Hanley as the only Hibs player at the tournament as he flies out with Steve Clarke’s Scotland team. Hearts have Devlin and Scotland’s Craig Gordon at the tournament while Jambos youngster Liam McFarlane is also with Clarke’s team as a training keeper. They will also have some of Lawrence Shankland’s involvement financially benefit them before his move to Rangers is made official on June 15th.

Tony Popovic on Australia World Cup squad

”They go home,” added Popovic after trimming his Australia team down to 26 players. “Yeah, those discussions are never easy and there’s no perfect way to give someone that type of news. Once they hear the news, how much they hear after that, I’m not sure really, in terms of whatever I say after that, it can be a blur to most of them.

“They hear the news they don’t want to hear and that’s the news that I have to give them. Wonderful young men, professionals who have played a part in our journey and helping us qualify for the World Cup, so it’s it’s tough. It’s tough for them and they they need to process that. I think they’re all difficult in the end in different ways. You’re trying to reach that number of twenty six players that you feel fit the right profile and for all scenarios that can happen throughout this World Cup that we can be covered and be comfortable with that.

“Unfortunately some players through that process have to miss out and with having a pre camp and having a larger number of players, you know, at the start of that it’s always easier but then at the end you have to disappoint some players. That’s never easy and it wasn’t easy for those boys this morning. Now we’ve got clarity, and you know, clear air in terms of the twenty six players. We’ve arrived here in our base camp, a wonderful place and yeah, we know now that this is a squad going to the World Cup. We had a group meeting with with the all the players that were selected and and all the staff that is here to make everyone realise how special this is and we all put our suits on and it was a it was a very smart looking room with everyone in their suits and it just felt special.

“Delivering that news… I think you see both sides of the spectrum. You see the joy on Mathew Leckie’s face, from Aziz Behich, like, wow, I’ve done this again and then you see the numerous kids that we have glowing from ear to ear, like just trying to process what’s going on here. And it will hit them. I’m sure it hasn’t hit them yet. I think the senior ones know what’s coming. The youngsters are just thinking about it, dreaming about it until they probably get to the stadium and then they realise what it’s all about. So having been fortunate to be there myself, it was a real honour to tell them.”