Before the starting line-ups dropped an hour out from kick-off, nobody knew if Nestory Irankunda would start in the Socceroos’ opening World Cup game against Turkey, or whether coach Tony Popovic would prefer to make use of his livewire attacker off the bench.
Certainly, nobody expected the head coach to start Paul Okon jnr in midfield ahead of experienced vice-captain Jackson Irvine, nor Patrick Beach in goal over captain Mat Ryan. Connor Metcalfe’s role, too, was unclear, given he had started Australia’s first warm-up friendly against Mexico but not their second against Switzerland.
Yet, these bold selection choices, moulded to fit a specific system, turned out to be key ingredients in the two goals that headlined Sunday’s famous win in Vancouver.
A counter-attacking masterclass
This was a game replete with transition moments and, in Popovic’s defensive set-up, Australia’s best route to goal. Irankunda’s opener was an exhibition in just how lethal a lightning-fast counter-attack can be when executed with perfect timing and flair.
It looks like this.
As Patrick Beach makes the save to deny Arda Guler, his teammates are already turning to run back up the pitch towards Turkey’s goal. Beach assesses his options and rolls the ball out to the left for Cam Burgess, whose first-time pass finds Okon on the inside left channel. Okon takes one settling touch and looks up to see Irankunda way upfield. His ensuing pass is long enough to take many scrambling Turkey players out of the picture and, because it lands in front of Irankunda’s run, the latter loses Ismail Yuksek before he’s even on the ball.
This is where Irankunda’s individual trickery comes into play. A delicate dab around the outside gets the Watford winger past Merih Demiral, and he darts inside to pick up where he left off. Then, with Demiral and Yuksek closing in on the left and behind of him, Abdulkerim Bardakci rounds from the right just as Irankunda reaches the top of the box. The visual is one of Irankunda trapped inside a triangle. By then, however, he has already picked his spot and wound up for his shot, utilising the gap before it’s too late.
The killer element of the whole move is its speed: the period of time between the moment Beach releases the ball to Burgess and the moment Irankunda’s finish leaves his boot is just 11 seconds. Many Turkey players are still stranded in the other half of the field when Australia’s opening goal scorer wheels away to punch the corner flag Tim Cahill-style.
Solo sorcery in motion
The second goal starts with Alessandro Circati drawing defenders a smidge inside Australia’s half, freeing up Metcalfe. Metcalfe positions himself in wide open space, initially with his back to goal and then, as the pass comes from Circati, he turns. As he does, he spots Zeki Celik outside to his right, and thus opts to run inside into more space.
At this moment, Metcalfe has a choice. He can thread the ball for Nishan Velupillay, who has run in behind towards Turkey’s goal. Or, he can have a crack himself. Popovic revealed after the game that he and his coaching staff had been encouraging Metcalfe to shoot more often – and to do better with his left foot. So what does he do? He shoots with his left foot. And it’s a banger of a finish that slips between Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakır and his near post.
“He’s probably the fittest that he’s been with us,” Popovic said at full-time. “He got a couple of games in with St Pauli before he arrived into camp. You can see the benefit of that.”
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