Updated ,first published
Vancouver: Australia’s newest football sensation Nestory Irankunda says the Socceroos are determined to show the world they can “do something special” after they began their World Cup campaign with a famous 2-0 win over Turkey.
Goals to Irankunda and midfielder Connor Metcalfe, as well as bold selection calls from coach Tony Popovic, gave Australia victory in their opening game of the tournament for the first time in 20 years and have the Socceroos on the way to qualifying for the knockout stages.
Australia’s next match is against co-hosts the United States on Saturday (AEST) in what is set to be a hostile environment in Seattle. Irankunda, who confessed to being nervous warming up in front of a crowd of 52,000 in Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium, said he expected the team to approach the US game with the same fight they showed against Turkey.
“That’s just what our team is all about: we fight for each other, and we just want to show the world that we can do something special,” he said. “A lot of people don’t believe in us, but we have to believe in ourselves, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”
Irankunda revealed that he had pre-planned his decision to shadowbox the corner flag after scoring Australia’s first goal, the trademark celebration of Socceroos great Tim Cahill. Cahill scored twice the last time Australia won their opening World Cup match with a 3-1 victory over Japan in Kaiserslautern, Germany in 2006.
“Timmy Cahill was my biggest inspiration when it comes to football – him and Lionel Messi,” Irankunda said.
“Tim Cahill is Australia’s greatest [player] in my opinion, and I just thought if I scored, I’ll do the same as him, and I got to do it.”
The decision to start Irankunda was among several big selection shocks pulled by Popovic before kick-off. Captain Mat Ryan was dropped for unproven goalkeeper Patrick Beach, and 21-year-old midfielder Paul Okon jnr was selected ahead of vice-captain Jackson Irvine.
Popovic conceded that while his selections may have been “shocks for a lot of people”, they were not a surprise to those within the Australian team camp. His decisions were the correct ones, with Irankunda, Beach and Okon jnr among three of the Socceroos’ best and all linking up for Australia’s first goal in the 27th minute.
The coach said that regardless of the result, selecting those three against Turkey was always the right decision. But also he said that given the young nature of his team – 10 of the 11 who started this match were making their World Cup debuts – it was important to keep things in check ahead of the US clash.
“Now we have a different challenge – we play a host nation, quality manager, quality team, it will be different … another special occasion for us,” Popovic said.
“We need to recover from this as well, but also emotionally we need to recover because our young boys would never have experienced something like this.”
He said that he had a lot of belief in Beach, evident in his selection for just his third international match over the 104-cap Ryan. The Melbourne City shot-stopper repaid that faith, producing a handful of world-class saves, including a diving effort to get his fingertips to deflect Abdulkerim Bardakci’s long-range effort on the half-hour mark.
It was also Beach’s ball distribution to Okon, who in turn threaded it to Irankunda, who cut back inside before producing a near post finish, that gave Australia its first goal.
The victory was sealed in the 75th minute when Metcalfe picked up the ball just inside Turkey’s half and, with a bit of space and seemingly bereft of other options, took a settling touch before firing a low left-foot effort behind Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.
Popovic said he was particularly pleased for Metcalfe, whose international career has been beset by injury. He also praised the team’s defensive performance, saying they showed good desperation around their 18-yard box but managed to keep focus and discipline for the full 90 minutes while scoring “two nice goals”.
Australia’s win achieved what Popovic said the Socceroos would do: “spoil the party” for Turkey, who were making their first appearance at the tournament since 2002. Turkish captain Hakan Calhanoglu had declared before the game that his side was “more talented” than the Socceroos and would dominate the game.
Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella, however, said he respected Australia and “expected that they would play in this way”.
“This is football. As for the critics, nobody has underestimated Australia, actually,” Montella said.
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Nick Ralston is the deputy editor and investigations editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. He has previously spent time as news editor, justice editor and world editor.Connect via X or email.