San Diego: The Socceroos go into next week’s World Cup opener on the back of mixed form after a 1-1 draw with Switzerland showed flashes of both serious promise and concern for coach Tony Popovic.The world 19th-ranked Swiss dominated possession and territory on Sunday morning (AEST) but were eventually wound back in by the Socceroos, with debutant striker Tete Yengi’s 56-minute equaliser a fitting reward for their hard-fought improvement that cancelled out Dan Ndoye’s early opener.Popovic named an experimental starting XI, making seven changes to the team that faced Mexico last weekend, including starts for back-up goalkeeper Patrick Beach, livewire forward Nestory Irankunda, debutants Cristian Volpato and Yengi, and utility Kai Trewin – meaning any broader assessment based on this performance must be accompanied by a few asterisks.Tete Yengi celebrates after scoring on debut against Switzerland in San Diego.Getty ImagesAustralia were at least five players short of what Popovic would likely consider his strongest line-up. He had said pre-match this would be an exercise in getting more minutes into players who needed them, rather than a full-blown dress rehearsal for their opening World Cup clash with Turkey next Sunday (AEST).Also like last weekend, the Socceroos endured a dodgy start, but improved once they had settled. This time at least, nerves could not have been the issue, given barely 6000 turned out at Snapdragon Stadium compared to the intimidating presence of nearly 80,000 mostly Mexico supporters at the Rose Bowl.For much of the first half, it felt as if the Swiss were capable of scoring every time they went forward, with clever one-twos, wall passes and triangles leaving Popovic’s men chasing shadows.With the great Granit Xhaka pulling the strings and Ndoye running amok down the left, only a bit of luck stopped them from scoring in the eighth minute when Beach saved a shot from Ndoye and the ball ricocheted off Alessandro Circati and out for a corner.A glorious Xhaka ball over the top of Australia’s defence nearly produced a goal moments later. The next one, in the 14th minute, actually did, splitting open the right-hand side for Ndoye to finish and give Switzerland a deserved lead.The mid-half drinks break gave the Socceroos a chance to reset. Like last weekend, they were better for it, with their adjustments bringing the lively Irankunda more into the game. He was a constant threat with both his workrate in pressing and his combination play with teammates.But the stats told their own story: at the break, Australia had generated zero shots from open play, and only one touch inside Switzerland’s attacking box, aside from two headers from set-piece opportunities.Fortunately, they improved further in the second half, after four substitutions by Popovic at the break helped address deficiencies and introduced some fresh legs.Irankunda forced Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel into a fingertip save that pushed a rasping shot onto the crossbar and out, before two of those subs – Cameron Burgess and Connor Metcalfe – combined for the equaliser.A brilliant long pass from Burgess unlocked a counter-attacking opportunity for the Socceroos, with Metcalfe’s cutback then teeing up Yengi to sidefoot the ball into an open net.But the second drinks break, coupled with another batch of substitutions, disrupted the momentum they had built, forcing Australia’s defence into a series of late scrambles to salvage a draw – an effort led by the irrepressible Harry Souttar, who wore the captain’s armband for the first time and turned the Swiss away time and again.