Attacking young guns Mohamed Toure and Nestory Irankunda made the most of their elevation into the Socceroos’ starting team, both scoring in Australia’s 3-1 win over New Zealand in Auckland on Tuesday night.
Toure netted a brace that included his first international goal in his fourth Socceroos appearance, while teenage sensation Irankunda also found the back of the net as Australia sealed the “Soccer Ashes” with a second victory over the All Whites in less than a week.
The pair had started on the bench in the Socceroos’ 1-0 win Canberra last Friday night, and both made an impact coming on.
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Their reward was a start in game two of the series as part of six changes coach Tony Popovic made to his starting team.
Also brought in to play from the opening whistle were fullbacks Lewis Miller and Kye Rowles, and midfielders Aiden O’Neill and Max Balard, who scored last Friday on debut off the bench.
In somewhat of a surprise, uncapped attacker Adrian Segecic, who was an unused substitute last Friday, failed to even make the bench for Tuesday’s match.
Striker Noah Botic was brought into the match-day squad, but also remains without a cap after not being used by Popovic.
The Socceroos started the match with more attacking intent compared to last Friday, with Toure opening the scoring in the 35th minute after being fed by Connor Metcalfe.
Irankunda doubled Australia’s lead in the 54th minute, getting the better of Francis de Vries and Tyler Bindon before planting the ball into the corner of the net.
Chris Wood pulled one back for the Kiwis three minutes later, but Toure restored Australia’s two-goal advantage on the hour mark.
He was denied a hat-trick soon after by an off-side ruling, while Irankunda almost grabbed a double of his own with a stunning free-kick that smashed into the crossbar.
Captain Circati
Emerging star Alessandro Circati, aged 21 years and 335 days, became the Socceroos’ youngest starting captain in an A international since September 1981 when Peter Raskopoulos wore the armband.
In the absence of regular skipper Mat Ryan and his usual deputy Jackson Irvine, Circati’s fellow defender Milos Degenek captained the team in the first game of the two-match series in Canberra last week,
However, for game two, coach Tony Popovic chose Circati, who plays his club football for Italian Serie A club Parma, to lead the team.
“It’s a fantastic honour,” said Popovic, who was Perth’s A-League coach when Circati was in the Glory’s youth team.
“He’s a player I admire in terms of what he’s doing so far. I knew him as a young kid in Perth, training with a first-team as a 15-16-year-old, just watching him grow and mature.
“He’s a player for the future, and I think he has those leadership skills, and tonight is a great moment for him and his family.
“I just want Ale to be himself.
Circati said it was a “great honour” to captain the Socceroos.
“It’s a great privilege to be able to do that at a young age,” he said.
“I’m ever so grateful to the boys and to the coach. I’m very excited.”
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