Australia is in World Cup dreamland, virtually assured of playing in the knockout stages courtesy of a clinical opening game win against Turkiye on Sunday.
Quite simply, it was one of the greatest Australian sporting performance of all-time — one which vindicated some major gambles, while also silencing the Socceroos’ naysayers.
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And boy, were there plenty of those.
These are the Talking Points to come out of Australia’s otherworldly 2-0 World Cup victory of Turkiye in Vancouver.
READ MORE
SOCCEROOS STUNNER: Aussies in World Cup dreamland as all-time gamble pays off
PLAYER RATINGS: Goalie gamble gets perfect 10 as Socceroos’ next gen proves the world wrong
WE’VE SEEN THIS BEFORE! Irankunda’s nod to Socceroos legend after WC stunner
SCENARIOS: Why Socceroos already have one foot in World Cup knockout stage after epic opening game upset
INCREDIBLE SELECTION GENIUS FROM POPOVIC EXPLAINED
Most of the nation owes Tony Popovic an apology.
Many Australian stomachs collectively dropped a little over an hour before kick off when the starting XI was revealed.
Captain Mat Ryan being relegated to the bench. So, too, experienced midfielder Jackson Irvine.
They were massive calls that rocked the confidence of many before a ball was kicked in Vancouver.
Everyone should have known better.
Since taking over from Graham Arnold, Popovic has made just about every post a winner as Socceroos boss.
The former hard-nosed midfielder sealed direct qualification for this World Cup for just the third time in the nation’s history and the first time since 2014.
But undoubtedly his finest hour was in Vancouver on Sunday.
Throughout that qualifying campaign, Popovic showed the willingness to change.
He has capped 60 players since he took over less than two years ago – in September 2024.
That is why the decisions to throw inexperienced duo Patrick Beach and Paul Okon-Engstler should have come as no surprise.
Popovic is not wedded to any player and will make whatever call he believes is right for the team. That is why, astonishingly, Ryan was not a certain starter in his fourth World Cup.
And against Turkiye, Popovic’s approach proved right.
Beach was immense in goal, making multiple crucial saves and linking up nicely with Australia’s composed back five.
The Melbourne City 22-year-old started the Socceroos’ previous outing against Switzerland, but it was widely viewed as rotation before the tournament. Fellow goalkeeper Paul Izzo was the only squad member not to feature in the final two friendlies in California.
But it was actually an audition for Beach.
Popovic raised eyebrows pre-match by saying “I just wanted to play Patrick”.
Post-game, he shed more light on the inspired selection that before kick-off drew comparisons to Guus Hiddink’s call to play Zeljko Kalac against Croatia in 2006 instead of Mark Schwarzer.
“It’s something that, you know we’ve always seen (his quality) and I’ve got a lot of belief in the young man,” Popovic said.
“He stood up today so very happy for him.”
Beach even turned defence into attack in the blink of an eye when he quickly played the ball out after a tidy save, and Okon-Engstler played a long ball out the back that assisted Irankunda’s goal.
Metcalfe worldie seals victory for Aus! | 00:29
Newcastle Jets manager Mark Milligan told SBS that it was simply in the Australian DNA to have young guns prove the world wrong.
“We speak about it so much in Australian football… these young kids, they have the ability, they’ve been given the opportunity, and if you back them, they won’t let you down,” Milligan said.
Milligan’s former Socceroos teammate Tommy Oar replied: “100 per cent, I think that’s been proven time and time again and you’ve got to take your hat off to Popovic for backing them in such an important game. They’ve repaid the faith so far.”
Okon-Engslter is another who has been highly regarded by those in the know.
When speaking to foxsports.com.au before the tournament, former Socceroo Archie Thompson named the 21-year-old Sydney FC midfielder as the next most exciting prospect in the squad to Irankunda.
Most importantly, Okon-Engstler, who is the son of Popovic’s assistant Paul Okon, was seen as having the attributes that could help Australia snap out of their first half funk.
A concerning trend coming into the World Cup was the Socceroos’ tendency to start slowly.
In interviews after a 1-0 loss to Mexico and a 1-1 draw with Switzerland in friendlies in recent weeks, Popovic lamented his side for being too passive with the ball.
That is where Okon-Engstler’s attacking instincts came in and it proved the manager right when his willingness to pull the trigger almost instantly led to Irankunda’s opener.
Popovic was understandably thrilled after the final whistle.
“Proud,” he said. “Proud to be here as head coach, to experience this.
“Put a smile on these people’s faces that have travelled so far to support us. And just so happy for a wonderful young group of men.”
‘EFFING UNREAL’: AUSSIE STAR BOY… AND WHY YANKS CAN SHUT UP
Australia’s star boy has always been made for the big stage and Nestory Irankunda showed exactly why with his sensational first World Cup goal.
“Effing unreal. It’s a dream come true,” he said post-match.
“It feels amazing. You’ve got to thank the staff, you’ve got to thank the nation. They all had the belief in me to do so well.”
The Adelaide United product is only 20 years old but has long been touted as a star of the future on these shores.
Irankunda was born a Burundian refugee in Tanzania before his family – which includes two older brothers and five younger sisters – made Australia home.
The talented youngster quickly rose through the juniors ranks, playing in the hardened football heartland of Adelaide’s north, before he debuted in the A-League in 2022.
It soon became apparent that his blistering speed, mighty strength and impressive desire to take on defenders one-on-one had caught the eye of recruiters in Europe.
In 2024, he was signed by Bayern Munich.
“From the very beginning (we knew he was special). And we were fortunate enough to see him on a daily basis here. You knew the ability that he had and the talent he possessed. That was something that you don’t see very often,” Milligan said.
‘It’s a Nestory moment in Vancouver!’ | 00:30
“It’s so nice to see him develop that other side of his game. We knew he had that flair and that explosiveness… now we’re really starting to see him mature as a player.”
The German giants knew they had a serious talent on their hands too despite Irankunda not cracking the first team in his time with the Bundesliga behemoth as a teenager.
As he made appearances for the second team and the youth team, Irankunda set his sights on this World Cup and decided to move away to chase first team minutes.
He landed at Watford in the English Championship last year and almost instantly showed why he is so highly regarded.
Irankunda does not score simple goals. His first two goals for Watford were from long-range free kicks. If he finds the back of the net, it’s a banger and the celebrations are to match with Michael Jackson dance moves and backflips.
But those who have not kept a keen eye on the Socceroos’ youngest ever World Cup goal scorer took shots in the lead-up to this tournament.
They will be quiet now.
Former MLS player and CBS analyst Mike Grella is one who has egg all over his face.
Grella went viral for saying Australia will be a “lay up” for the US and then looking terrified when joined by Schwarzer on a panel they discussed his comments.
Grella doubled down on his Socceroos bashing in recent days.
US pundit goes in hard on Socceroos | 01:22
When it was put to him that Irankunda is Australia’s best player, he responded smugly.
“Irankunda, with all due respect because I don’t like to talk about players – I’m actually a fan of Irankunda, we cover the Championship here at CBS – Irankunda…” Grella said while sighing and hanging his head down.
It is unlikely that the 20-year-old winger will be shown such disrespect going forward.
He was not the only one to doubt the impact of Irankunda and Australia.
Before the match, Turkiye captain Hakan Calhanoglu made it clear he was expecting to win and win well, declaring his team is “more talented”.
“I think that we dominate tomorrow, the game, because we have more qualities and a more talented team, so we will see tomorrow what happens,” Calhanoglu he said.
Little wonder Irankunda said he has “extra motivation” heading into the game.
He added: “We don’t like to hear people talk bad about us because we’re a great team. People underestimate us a lot and we showed them today that we can play .. we showed them that we can play football.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to let these people talk. They can talk all they want but at the end of the day you’ve got to put the performance on the field and we’ve done that today.”
After already attracting interest from English Premier League clubs Everton and Crystal Palace off the back of his impressive first campaign for Watford, Irankunda’s agent’s phone will surely be blowing up.
Such noise is unlikely to be an issue, however.
Schwarzer brushed off Grella’s dig by stressing that Australia let their performances on the pitch do the talking.
Ahead of a blockbuster meeting with co-hosts the USA, that is exactly what Irankunda and his teammates did against Turkiye.
“One thing in football is when people talk, the best way to silence them is on the pitch, and I think tonight Australia silenced a lot of people,” Kewell said on SBS’s post-game coverage.
“Now, with all the supposedly negative talk about the Australian team and how they play, I think now people will step back and go, ‘wow, this team is resilient, they’re strong, they’re disciplined, and we’re going to have to bring something…
“It will be interesting because USA have a certain style of play that Turkiye had, but we kind of cancelled that out.
“If we play this style, the opportunities we’re going to get will be very limited, and when you do that you’ve got to finish. And today we did.”
PROOF THIS COULD BE JUST THE BEGINNING…
Australia’s starting XI against Türkiye was the second youngest Socceroos team to start a World Cup match.
Only Ange Postecoglou rolled out a younger team at the 2014 World Cup in a dead rubber against Spain with Tim Cahill suspended after scoring goals but receiving yellow cards against the Netherlands and Chile.
That team produced Australia’s worst ever result at a World Cup – losing all three games and conceding nine goals, while scoring three. But they did go on and win the Asian Cup on home soil the following year.
Now, they sky is the limit for this team, who played a crucial World Cup opener with seven of the starting XI aged 24 or younger rather than taking on the reigning champions when their bags were already packed.
Popovic’s ‘Baby Roos’ played with dare with the ball, and without they were incredibly disciplined.
The likes of defender Jacob Italiano, Jordan Bos and Alessandro Circati along with Patrick Beach in goal showed composure beyond the years.
“What a save!” Beach goes full stretch | 00:22
And it has left several past Socceroos exciting about what they can achieve in the remainder of this tournament and beyond.
“Turkey were frustrated and we probably didn’t get the best account of them, but that was down to the way we went about it. A young group to stay that disciplined, frustrate a team like Turkey – very, very good,” Milligan said.
“The (World Cup) format that we have now, to have (the knockout stages) already locked away, you know you have a fantastic three points, that focus now moving forward – if there was any nerves or pressure, that’s gone now.”
Tommy Oar, who came off the bench against Spain in 2014, replied: “I think that’s exactly right. The young boys, this is their first game on this big stage.
“They’ll go into the next game licking their lips. They will want to play tomorrow, the US. They won’t want to wait a whole week.
“It’s a dream start to the tournament in terms of calming the nerves, Popa being justified in his selections and now having breathing space in that regard too with the full trust of the nation. So it’s just exciting times.”
Adding to the excitement about this youthful squad is that two of the most hyped talents sat on the bench against Türkiye.
Cristian Volpato was thrust into the national squad at the death knock after rejecting Graham Arnold four years ago because he dreamt of playing for Italy.
The 22-year-old Sassuolo winger was deemed to be a talent too good to ignore.
He certainly has plenty of upside, but it says a lot that his substitute bib never came off in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Australian fans were in disbelief on Saturday as reports emerged of Barcelona showing interest in 18-year-old centre back Lucas Herrington.
Despite staring every Socceroos game since debuting in March, it was not surprising that Cameron Burgess was chosen in favour of the teenager after impressing against Switzerland and producing a mighty campaign for Swansea City – having played every minute of the Championship season.
But the fact he was not handed a World Cup debut perhaps only builds the excitement for the future more.
Popovic’s words in his press conference when announcing the squad earlier this month are now prophetic after the tournament opening victory.
“Will they be better in four and eight years? Without a doubt. But that’s not to say they’re not good enough now,” he said.
“If they weren’t I wouldn’t play them and I wouldn’t have him in the squad. So, I don’t need anyone to dampen the expectations. They should believe, they should love to see these boys play and have the mix of the experience and the youngsters.”
The performances of Australia’s youngsters is also a feather in the cap for the local competition with Beach and Okon-Engstler still playing in the A-League, while others emerged from their local clubs.
“Well, I think it says we should all be very excited about it,” Milligan said.
“I think a lot of us have been saying it for a long time that it should be A League where young players get these opportunities and not for no reason at all, but for the reason that this is the way we need to go for our national team, and for the league here.
“Because if we continue to develop these players it’s only going to be beneficial for us as a nation and that benefits the national team.”
Oar then cited Volpato in response.
“And you look at someone who didn’t play a part today, like Cristian Volpato – I mean this is a very compelling squad we have now,” he said.
“I have no doubt he’ll get minutes in this tournament (but) you’ve all of a sudden got some real options because the players who stood up today were probably players you didn’t think were going to get many minutes in the whole tournament.
“So, all of a sudden you’re looking at Popa’s squad going into the US game and he has some serious options.”
DEFENSIVE NOUS OVERCOMES €530M (A$870m) DIVIDE
On the transfer market, Turkiye’s squad, which includes Real Madrid’s Arda Güler and Inter Milan’s Hakan Çalhanoğlu, is worth roughly €600 million compared to roughly €70 million for the Australians.
That figure will certainly increase post-tournament after several eye-catching performances from Australia’s exciting youngsters.
Feyenoord star Jordan Bos will surely attract interest elsewhere in Europe, while Patrick Beach and Paul Okon-Engstler will certainly now be turning an eye towards overseas moves.
One of those unheralded displays was from Alessandro Circati.
The 22-year-old was the only member of Australia’s starting XI that plays in one of Europe’s big five leagues.
But the centre back for Serie A club Parma flies under the radar.
Circati has already captained the Socceroos and in Italy received plaudits for a career-best club campaign.
He is vice-captain of Parma, whose supporters call him ‘Il Muro’ meaning ‘The Wall’.
Circati started 31 Serie A matches in the season just gone and helped keep 11 clean sheets.
That form came to the fore when he made a vital block on the stroke of half time to keep Australia’s 1-0 advantage intact.
The Italian born defender is another Socceroo who made a significant allegiance call.
He could have represented the country of birth, having made appearances for Italy in the Under 20s, but after his family moved to Perth when he was just one year old, the green and gold was always going to be his choice.
Standing at 190cm, Circati controlled the air alongside the towering Harry Souttar and Cameron Burgess against Turkiye.
He was already attracting interest from Europe’s big clubs, but that is sure to grow.
In the lead-up to this World Cup, reports in the Italian media stated that Atletico Madrid were keeping a close eye on Circati with Parma putting a $40 million price tag on his head.
Serie A heavyweights Juventus, Napoli and AC Milan have also been linked with Circati.
It is little wonder why Popovic has made him an integral part of Australia’s structure.
With Popovic’s preference to remain solid defensively and break on the counter, Circati will continue to be a key pillar throughout the remainder of the tournament and beyond.
“It’s quite intriguing to see where we’ll be in four years’ time and eight years’ time,” Circati told Code Sports earlier this week.
“It can only be exciting, it can only be something positive.
“I’m sure new players will come in, players will go out, just like in every sports team, people go through highs, people go through lows.
“But I think as a base with boys that we’ve got now, the young boys especially, if you think four, five, six, seven, eight years down the line, it’s only exciting to see where we could possibly be.”
SOCCEROOS GREATEST EVER PERFORMANCE?
As the dust settles on Australia’s win, and we try to make sense of this incredible moment, it’s hard to not seriously consider this question:
Was this our greatest ever showing on the world stage for the national mens team?
There may ultimately be more memorable matches. Beating Japan in Kaiserslautern, for example, still feels like a fever dream today. God bless you, Timmy.
As does the draw with Croatia to play the Round of 16 in 2006. Same for you, Harry.
Australia rallying in 2010 to beat a strong Serbian side 2-1, courtesy of a Brett Holman stunner, surely warrants an honourable mention, too.
The following World Cup in Brazil brought three-straight losses, while 2018 was also a sorry, winless campaign.
Good memories were finally made again in Qatar, where Australia clinched back-to-back 1-0 wins to reach the Round of 16. Mathew Leckie scoring in the 60th minute against Denmark capped off a brilliant heist for the Australians, and sealed a Round of 16 date against Argentina.
Against the eventual world champions, the Socceroos were gallant and gave Lionel Messi’s side a run for their money, but fell short of pulling off a similar ambush. It was a solid, but far from spectacular, display.
Which brings us to Sunday.
Never has Australia seized an early advantage in a World Cup game, before controlling it with such proficiency, with the possible exception of playing a weaker Tunisia side in Qatar.
Much less so against a far more fancied opponent with Turkiye, led by Real Madrid gun Arda Guler, expected to do some serious damage against a team that started with just one player with World Cup experience.
Australia approached the match, with a younger and far less experienced side, with a clear blueprint on how to stun the one-time World Cup semi-finalists.
And it was executed close to perfection with the fact Beach was called on for a couple of big saves the only true knock on the display.
Otherwise, Guler rarely received the ball in dangerous areas while the majority of Turkiye’s shots came from semi-ambitious areas.
The Socceroos remained composed, while they finished with a ruthless attitude the two best chances that they created.
This was a display of football smarts, of tenacity and, overwhelmingly, composure.
More performances like this, and a deep run into this World Cup suddenly shouldn’t feel totally far fetched.
—Additional reporting: Jacob Polychronis