Australia upset Turkey in a 2-0 victory to win their first world cup opening match since 2006.
Tony Popovich’s decision to replace veteran goalkeeper Mat Ryan with 22-year-old Patrick Beach was one that filled headlines ahead of kick-off.
Beach has been considered one of the heroes of yesterday’s group stage match – eight saves barring Turkey from slotting the ball into the back of the net and giving Australia a clean sheet to walk away with.
Former Socceroo player and Perth Glory Captain Jacob Burns joined Sports Breakfast this morning.
“I’m sure that him [Tony Popovich] and the staff study Turkey very, very closely and the team and personnel may change again because you’re in tournament football,” he said.
“I think he creates a belief in those plays… making that winning tackle or blocking a shot that’s going in on goal or making a save is worth as much as putting the ball in the back of the net.”
A defensive masterclass spearheaded the victory with Turkey controlling possession – 63% of the time the ball at their feet compared to 37% for Australia, also getting off 30 shots to Australia’s nine.
Harry Souttar standing at 198cm and Alessandro Circati at 190cm towered above their opponent’s attack with 23-year-old Jordan Bos providing valuable counter attack.
“He [Souttar] was immense as the whole back five were. We’ve got some really good balance of synergies back there.”
“Jordy Bos is world class, he’s obviously been doing incredible things at Feyenoord, but you could see him yesterday in the tight situations where he just wriggled out, put his foot down and not many of the Turkish players could stay with him.”
It was Nestory Irankunda who broke the game open with a fantastic goal at the 27 minute mark.
He dribbled through two Turkish defenders in stunning fashion and slotted it past the goalkeeper to get Australia on the board early, earning himself man of the match at the final whistle.
Connor Metcalfe scored a sealer in the 75th minute to send Australian’s around the world into pandemonium – the nation now left with an unwavering sense of hope that hasn’t been seen in a long time.
“We’re going to only have a few chances, but we have got electric guys in that counter attack and that’s how we’re set up.”
“As a nation, we love to be the underdogs. We love it when teams like Turkey and players and teams like the US come out and say that we’re no chance… We tend to lift when the occasion is there and we tend to let our footballing do the talking.
“Connor Metcalf – who I’ve tracked over a long period of time at St. Pauli in Germany that scored the second goal for us -these are the kind of guys that have become of age now, and they’re a really exciting young crop.”
Next for the Socceroos is a clash with the host nation, the USA, scheduled for Saturday morning AWST.
“Host nations have always done very, very well in these tournaments. But I think the pressure is on them.”
“They have got a very good team, let’s not underestimate that they’ve got a lot of players playing in the biggest clubs in the world, so it won’t be easy. But I fancy us getting a result against them.”
The next match for the Socceroos in the group stage kicks off at 3am on Saturday morning.