The Socceroos will play Indonesia on Thursday, March 20 in a game which is shaping as critical to their chances of qualifying for next year's tournament in North America.
But the turf at Allianz Stadium could throw a spanner in the works as Australia look to cling on to an automatic qualification berth.
The Moore Park venue is shared by Super Rugby's NSW Waratahs, A-League Men outfit Sydney FC and the NRL's Sydney Roosters.
Torrential rain in Sydney and heavy traffic has led to the pitch significantly chopping up.
Photos taken by AAP show groundstaff have had to lay squares of grass over barren patches at the venue.
In Thursday's Asian Champions League Two clash, the ball frequently bobbled and several Sydney and Jeonbuk Motors players lost their footing.
The manager of South Korean side Jeonbuk, Gus Poyet, whose side lost 3-2 (5-2 on aggregate), was aghast Sydney had to share the venue with other codes.
"There are two different rugby competitions going on here … I wouldn't like it if I was a coach of Sydney," the Uruguayan quipped.
Sydney will also host Wellington Phoenix at the venue in the ALM on Sunday, the game pushed back 24 hours due to their continental commitments.
While Popovic said the surface looked poor on the eye, he is backing groundstaff to get the venue in top shape for Thursday's international.
"That's something unfortunately we can't really control, we have multi-use stadiums here in Australia," Popovic said.
"If you take out the Thursday game, Sydney would have still played on Saturday night, so that wouldn't have changed.
"We don't get a clear run, let's say of two weeks, to look after a pitch.
"For the Socceroos that would be ideal, but that's not a situation we're in.
"On the eye, it doesn't look the best. I wasn't out there, but the (Socceroos assistant) coaches went out to watch the game last night.
"We just have to adapt and deal with that.
"I'm sure the people at the stadium will do their very best to make sure that it's at a level that is good enough for international football."
