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The Group D clash between the United States and Socceroos has been hyped as next step in a heated rivalry but the nations are on similar football journeysListen to the hyperbole spewed by the loudest voices, and the World Cup clash between co-hosts the United States and Australia in Seattle is the latest contest in a heated sporting rivalry streaked with disrespect and even downright hate.Indeed, the sometimes spiteful clash between the teams in a friendly last year serves as a preview for what is now one of the marquee matches in the pool stage, and set to determine the winner of Group D.But for each country’s football – or indeed, soccer – community, to hate the other is to hate oneself. While the match will be a compelling contest, it also serves as a mirror for two unusual footballing countries, where the world’s most popular sport sits on the periphery.This match is a lesson in empathy. Socceroos midfielder Aiden O’Neill, who plays for New York City FC, understands football in both countries does not have the same status it enjoys elsewhere in the world. “[Soccer in the US] is similar to Australia, it’s starting to change here in America,” he says. “You’ve got some massive other sports, but I think it’s starting to grow in popularity.”While the AFL and NRL dominate the winter sporting discourse in Australia, with cricket the leader in summer, the dominant trio in the US are American football, basketball and baseball.Both countries share another parallel. “It’s one of the great oddities in this country,” says longtime sports writer John Shea, who now works for the San Francisco Standard. “It’s the number one participation sport among boys and girls, yet in the high school ranks, it’s not as popular as [American] football, basketball, and even baseball.”According to the National Sporting Good Association, there were more than 7 million Americans aged between 7 and 17 playing soccer in 2025. The sport is second only to basketball, which has more participants in the same bracket but skews more towards recreational play, leaving soccer as the leader among organised sport.In Australia, football had about 850,000 participants among those aged 17 and under, about 300,000 more than basketball and behind only swimming in terms of activities, according to the government’s Ausplay survey.Bernardo Ramallo, who works with non-profit Soccer Without Borders in the San Francisco Bay Area, says young US soccer players have historically faced taunts and insults from those who play other sports. “Growing up there’s been jokes saying, like, ‘soccer is weak, [American] football’s a real sport’,” he says. “I grew up in Virginia, which is in the south – which is very different to California – it was always ‘soccer is a girls’ sport’, because of the success of the 1990s and Mia Hamm.”Noelle Shaw, a soccer fan from Oakland and former junior goalkeeper, says she believes the sport does not receive the respect it deserves in the US. “Soccer is a hard sport, and I don’t think a lot of people realise that to run back and forth on that field for 90 minutes, no time-outs, no anything, that takes a different level of grit and drive.”Ramallo works on social programs for recent migrants and refugees, and sees people engaged in US soccer tend to be younger and more diverse. “Soccer has always been the first sport that many children play,” he says. “But as well, now, it’s a lot of immigrants, people that come from Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, African countries, and they come here and they bring that love, that craziness, that support, so it’s a nice mix.”Edreece Arghandiwal, co-founder of the Oakland Roots club in the second-tier USL competition, believes in the sport’s capacity for growth in the US. The club was only founded in 2018, and averages about 6,000 fans per home game. “America is a very diverse place, especially here in Oakland,” he says. “Soccer belongs here, it always has been here, it just needs the right vehicles, the right voices, the right stories to get to the minds and hearts of people and I think we’re trying to do that here at the club.”Shea worked in sports media in the aftermath of USA ‘94. He is enjoying the current World Cup, but is not sure whether it will trigger structural change. “I’ve heard about that narrative every few years for decades, and it hasn’t changed to the point where soccer has emerged as a first or second or third sport nationwide in viewing, so I’m not sure it’ll be anything like that,” he says.He compares the current World Cup buzz with the Olympics, which might draw short-term interest in gymnastics or track and field, before Americans return to the established sporting habits. “Which is blasphemy when I hear from all these other countries where soccer is absolutely number one, you get a taxi or an Uber and all they do is talk about soccer,” he says. “And I just don’t get that here. I don’t think I ever will.”The clash between the US and Australia on Friday local time is highly anticipated, given the teams’ victories in their respective World Cup openers last week. The fixture will also be a spark to reflect on the two countries’ close but complicated relationship: of the uncertainty of defence deal Aukus, the record of President Trump and the retreat by many Americans from a global to a more domestic outlook.Ramallo says the similarities will be impossible to ignore. “Beer, drinking, laughs, jokes … so I think there shouldn’t be hatred. Instead, it should be a giant party.”

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Now that he’s older, the striker say he better understands what his family went through on their refugee journey from war-torn Liberia to AustraliaThe stories of these Socceroos can be traced back through grassy fields around Australia in the 1990s and 2000s, when 20 or so wide-eyed young footballers were just coming to terms with the ball. There were games, goalposts, quartered oranges. Old teammates, new boots. Season-to-season, year-on-year.Their progression to the international arena is a secret recipe countries have spent millions of dollars trying to perfect, with flashy academies and talent identification programs. Consultants within elite football call this the talent pathway.But go back further, to where one Socceroo’s story begins, and there is no path.Amara and Mawa Touré – parents of striker Mo Touré – were children when war broke out in Liberia in 1989. “Everything went helter-skelter, and every Liberian started running for their life,” Amara says.Amara, his little brother and adult sister walked for 18 days to make it to the border with Guinea. They survived on ripening wild fruit and vegetables, with a warning to avoid anyone they came across. “It was a scary time,” he says.“But now when I reflect on it, it would have been even scarier if I knew the ramifications of what we were going through. Because it was life or death.”Amara spent almost 14 years in Guinea. Initially he was supported by UNHCR and given essentials like food, a tent and a mosquito net. He moved from the refugee camp to marginally improved conditions in the broader community, but his life remained constrained.“Football was everything for me,” he says. “When I walked on to the park, I felt that is where I got to demand my respect, and that’s where I felt good. So my sanctuary was only football.”Amara and Mawa met at age 20. Their first son Al Hassan was born, followed by Mohamed – now better known as “Mo” – before they travelled to Australia on humanitarian visas. Both brothers have become Socceroos.“Every parent wants one’s child to go into something that they like and they excel at,” Amara says. “So when I would see them playing football and they’re entertaining people, I can’t afford not to be happy.”Mo is wearing No 9 at this World Cup. “Wearing the Socceroo jersey represents freedom,” he says. “It was the land that gave us opportunity, that lent us a helping hand, so every time I just play, I play with freedom and I always remember how things could have been if we weren’t in Australia.”The four refugees within the Socceroos squad – Touré, Nestory Irankunda, Awer Mabil and Milos Degenek – have found themselves in the spotlight during the internationally celebrated refugee week, culminating in the United Nations’ world refugee day on Sunday.They have contributed to the Socceroos’ video promoting cultural diversity and Touré’s family are working with local charity Australia for UNHCR to support displaced people. That involves the retelling of the family’s trauma.The Socceroos striker says it’s something they do willingly. “It’s just something that happens and for us. It’s, I wouldn’t say normal, but it’s common. We see a lot of our family members or a lot of the African community have similar stories and everybody came and migrated to Australia in a different way. So we’re just happy to share our story and then people find out how we did it.”Mo was seven months old when he first arrived in Australia, in 2004. The family settled in Adelaide’s inner-west suburb of Croydon. “My early life in Australia, I thought it was good because I didn’t know better,” he says. “I can now see that there were times in my childhood where my parents struggled, but I was too young to really understand.”Sometimes others in the neighbourhood would be given possessions or treats while the Touré boys were left wanting. “I just thought it was them [his parents] punishing me or them not wanting to do it,” Mo says. “But now that I’m older, I understand the struggles, and the real reason why we didn’t have all these things was because simply it was hard. Life was hard at that time.”Ferrying around three young footballers – Al Hassan now plays for Sydney FC and younger brother Musa is at Mo’s former club Randers in Denmark – was not easy, either. Some years at least one of the boys would play every day of the week.“It would be raining, and my parents would be there, freezing, waiting for us to finish training,” Mo says. “When we were very young, they would take our boots off before we got in the car as they didn’t want mud in there. Oh man, the next day they [would have to] clean the car [anyway].”Australia is now grateful for their sacrifice. Al Hassan debuted for the Socceroos last year, when he took the field alongside his brother in a friendly against Venezuela. Though only Mo won selection for this World Cup, the family were in Vancouver to see him play a key role against Turkey. “This is our country now,” Amara says. “Wearing that green and gold and going there and fighting for that country, to me, is the greatest thing I can ever see them do.”

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Forward is one of four players who came to Australia as refugeesMabil has tried to be a ‘big brother’ to Mo Touré and Nestory IrankundaSocceroos forward Awer Mabil offered his trademark focus on Wednesday afternoon in Oakland speaking to the Australian media about this week’s clash against the United States. There was one distraction, however, he could not overcome.The winger lost his concentration when long-time SBS commentator David Basheer – in the US as part of the network’s coverage – asked a question during the press conference. “Sorry, David from SBS, right?” Mabil interjected. “I grew up watching you.”Mabil, the 30-year-old who is at his second World Cup, is one of the faces of this group of Socceroos. A refugee born in a Kenyan camp to South Sudanese parents, he told the story of his background as part of a video message about the team’s diversity that was released before the tournament.Mabil’s experience is similar to many migrant stories in Australia. “I forgot about your question, I just started reflecting,” he continued to Basheer, as the room burst out in laughter.“I grew up watching SBS as a kid, because it was free TV. So you doing the World Game, that’s where I used to see all of my highlights from all over the world of football,” he said. “So, first, thank you, you gave me good memories as a kid.”Basheer repeated his question, about the Socceroos’ younger players. Mabil said he has tried to be a “big brother” to the likes of Mo Touré and Nestory Irankunda – fellow refugees from Africa who grew up in Adelaide – as well as the other young players.“It’s something that’s special for me to see their growth over the last couple of years and their maturity has been amazing,” he said. “I can just only be there, allow them to be themselves, and protect them when they need protection.”The goal by Irankunda against Turkey became a lightning rod across Australia for positivity towards multiculturalism. It also triggered a new wave of those seeing, and then sharing, the video message released by the players the week before the tournament.The two-minute video began with the words of Mabil, and has now been shared widely on social media. “It was a moment to describe what Australia is, and Australia is a very multicultural country, and that’s what makes it the best country in the world, in my opinion,” Mabil said. “You have the whole world in one place and the Socceroos now are a representation of that. You have many different backgrounds representing one jersey.”The video was a simple collation of messages about where the Socceroos grew up and why they have pride in the jersey. “The reason why it went viral is because it was raw. It was not edited. It was just purely what the players wanted to say and all put together,” Mabil said. “It had an effect because individually Australians can feel and relate with it.”Coincidentally this week is celebrated globally as refugee week. Mabil said he wanted to thank Australia and do his best for a country that has taken in so many refugees over the years.“It’s a week that I would like to say to anybody that is misplaced all over the world that we are with you,” he said. “And we are on the world stage right now, a big tournament, and just to tell you everything is possible, so keep going.”

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Former USMNT players have disparaged AustraliaAustralia and US face each other on FridayFormer US players, perhaps caught up in the swell of confidence brought about by the team’s 4-1 romp over Paraguay in their World Cup opener, have fired barbs at Australia, their next opponents. The Socceroos have fired back. And current US players are having none of it.“All this talk is just nonsense to me,” US winger Tim Weah told the media on Tuesday, seconds after rolling his eyes and giving an incredulous look when told about comments from US pundits describing Friday’s match as a “layup,” or that the Australian team itself is “average.”“When you look at the Australian team, they’re a young team that has a lot of fight, a lot of grit, and a lot of hunger, just like us,” Weah said. “We respect them in the same way that we respect any other opponent. I think it’s going to be a lovely game. I don’t know what the media is trying to do, but we’re not really focused on that.”The comments have come most directly from three former USMNT players. After the draw placed the US in Group D with Australia, Turkey and Paraguay, former US striker Landon Donovan called Australia coach Tony Popovic “smug,” adding “you can get back on the Qantas airplane and head back home, pal.”Fox Sports commentator and US World Cup veteran Alexi Lalas said Australia are “an average team by any measure, and certainly not a great team.” CBS Sports pundit Mike Grella, in comments that most inflamed the Socceroos, called Friday’s match a “layup” for the US.Australia’s players have taken note. “I mean, I’ve seen all the US stuff, and I’m just sick of it, to be honest I just am,” Metcalfe said this month. “Like all this talk – it’s just – let’s just wait for the game, whatever happens, happens.”Tyler Adams attempted to act as a peacemaker on Tuesday.“I don’t think any commentary helps anybody,” the US midfielder said. “It’s not going to be a layup. If anything, it’s going to be one of the most difficult games we play.”The US got a measure of what a match against Australia will be like in 2025, in a fiery 2-1 win in Colorado. That match, ostensibly a friendly, was notable for scuffles between the two sides – an experience that US players say has given them a preview of what’s to come.“That game in Colorado was fun,” said Weah, who started and went 64 minutes in that game. “It was aggressive, and I think from that game in Colorado we’ve changed a lot, and we’ve got a bit more aggressive as well … I’m someone who respects Australia a lot.”

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Paul Okon-Engstler’s emotions before making his World Cup debut for Australia belied the performance that followed against Turkey in VancouverLost in the celebrations of Australia’s victory over Turkey was its poignant opening and the image of young Paul Okon-Engstler, wiping away tears brought on by his World Cup debut.The 21-year-old was one of the surprises to be named in Tony Popovic’s starting XI, as the coach chose to leave veteran Jackson Irvine on the bench. To those watching on the broadcast, Okon-Engstler made an impact even before the first whistle, when his surging emotions underscored the enormity of the occasion.“I don’t know if you can call those tears,” he said after the match, offering a chuckle. “But yeah, obviously very, very emotional just for me and my family.”In the cavernous BC Place in Vancouver, as the broadcast cameras panned across the Socceroos during the anthem, Okon-Engstler was the most affected of all of the Australians. His eyes welled up and at the end, the midfielder wiped away the tears – or whatever they were – from his face.It was not the rousing bars of Advance Australia Fair that triggered him, however. “In the tunnel, honestly, just walking out and seeing all our fans and the noise and the crowd and just seeing all the Fifa signage… it really hit me that I’m at a World Cup and I’m at the highest stage that any footballer dreams of. Just so happy, I was stoked.”Okon-Engstler would go on to play a crucial role in the victory. His assist for Nestory Irankunda has been widely praised, but he proved a crucial cog in a Socceroos machine that prevented the highly-fancied Turkish players from getting a breakthrough. “The way we defended and we fought as a team was just so special and I think that this group has so much more left to show,” he said.His effectiveness was an endorsement for the A-League Men, where he has been a key contributor for runners-up Sydney FC over the past season. Even close observers of the domestic competition, however, may have been surprised by how comfortable he looked on football’s biggest stage.The performance also dismissed once and for all any allegations of nepotism, given his father – Paul Okon – is an assistant coach for the Socceroos. The 54-year-old was a star in Belgium for Club Brugge and played for Leeds and Middlesbrough in the Premier League during the 1990s.Okon Snr had an experience not dissimilar to his son’s in Vancouver. Following the second goal he shared an embrace with head coach Tony Popovic, his long-time Socceroos team-mate. It was an acknowledgment of his own arrival at the World Cup.“We go a long way back and he’s passionate, he’s emotional,” Popovic said. “For me, playing his son is special. I play him because he deserves to play. I love the kid. I’ve loved him since, well, 12 months ago when I first brought him in. I knew there was a special talent there and he proved it today. And it was just a special moment with two close friends embracing.”Popovic – two years younger than his long-time friend – held on as a player just long enough to be involved in the Socceroos’ 2006 Germany campaign, their first since 1974. Okon Snr was one of the fine Australian players of the 1990s who never got to play at a World Cup. The closest he came was the playoff loss against Uruguay in 2001.He told SBS he and his son shared their own moment before the game, but it was one of coach and player rather than father and son. “My chat with him would have been like the chat with any other player in the team, and that was: ‘You’ve got a job to do, make sure you do it, and we have full confidence in your ability, and now’s the moment you’ve been waiting for it for a long time. It’s what you’ve dreamed of’, Okon Snr said. “Of course, yeah. I just happened to be his father.”

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Goalscorer Connor Metcalfe ‘pretty knackered’ after late-night flightSocceroos back in Oakland to continue preparations for US gameSocceroos goalscorer Connor Metcalfe admitted he hadn’t had the greatest sleep since Australia’s opening World Cup victory over Turkey.“It’s crazy to score, to get the win. I mean, you couldn’t ask for a better start, could you?” he said, speaking back at the team’s training base in Oakland barely 22 hours after the historic scenes in Vancouver.“The amount of messages I’ve received, the fact that my family, my loved ones, could be there was super special, so [it is] a memory I’ll never forget.”The day after their victory, Socceroos players were still recovering, physically and emotionally, from an arduous evening and a full night of travel.The Socceroos bussed out of BC Place after midnight, straight to Vancouver airport for their flight back to Oakland after 2am. They did not get back to their rooms to sleep until 5am.“The game was pretty late in general and usually after games I struggle to sleep,” said Metcalfe. “It’s pretty unusual to fly straight back, especially being so late, but it’s probably better to get back as soon as possible.”The Socceroos already have one eye on the mouthwatering clash against tournament co-hosts the United States on Friday in Seattle (Saturday AEST). But for now, the focus is on recovery.“[I had] about four or five hours of sleep, I’m just pretty knackered to be honest, I need a good day off tomorrow and then get back into it,” Metcalfe said.His 75th-minute strike secured arguably the Socceroos’ greatest World Cup victory, against an opponent many had described as dark horses before the tournament.They did so with a starting line-up with an average age of 24. Defender Cam Burgess, at 30, was the oldest, after he was preferred to Lucas Herrington on the left side of the central defenders.Behind him was 22-year-old Patrick Beach in goal. Jordy Bos, 23, was to his left, Paul Okon-Engstler, 21, played ahead of him in midfield and 20-year-old Nestory Irankunda, who scored the opener, was on the left wing.“There’s nothing they really need to lean on me for,” Burgess said. “Obviously I might have to do that and I believe that’s a big part of my role in the team, to be the experienced one and to calm things down at times and just be a voice as well.“But those guys are on a good trajectory in their careers, and I think they showed last night what they can do.”At training on Sunday afternoon in Oakland (Monday morning AEST), Aiden O’Neill walked around the ground, as the starters ran light laps. He was described as “a little bit sore” by Metcalfe. The remainder of the squad played small sides games.O’Neill and Metcalfe were the only players – apart from the central defenders and Beach – who were not substituted.“Probably the last 15 minutes, I was looking over at the bench waiting for a sub, but I stuck out there and just had to dig deep,” he said.Recovery for the Socceroos this week will also be mental, but Burgess believes the group is sufficiently grounded to not get ahead of themselves.“It’s, I guess, the Aussie way, and it’s just instilled in us to take it one game at a time and enjoy the moment with your friends and family and teammates and just focus on the next [game] and work hard and go again.”Burgess was born in Scotland but spent his teens in Perth. He represented the country of his birth at junior levels, before committing to Australia in 2014.Alongside Harry Souttar – another Aberdeen-born Socceroo – Burgess watched Scotland’s first-up victory over Haiti, their first win at a World Cup in 36 years. Souttar’s brother John was on the bench for Scotland.Despite the emotion around Scotland’s World Cup return, Burgess said he had no regrets about committing to Australia.“I’m more than happy where I’m at right now,” he said. “What’s just gone on in the last 24 hours has been some of the best moments of my career so far and I just can’t wait to hopefully go out there and do it again.”

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The Socceroos’ future has arrived early, after Australia’s next generation delivered one of their best World Cup victories, upsetting highly-fancied Turkey 2-0 in Vancouver to start their 2026 campaign in style.They can thank a trio of young stars, all of whom were in doubt to start the match. Nestory Irankunda finished a brilliant end-to-end attack with a goal in the 27th minute, assisted by midfielder Paul Okon-Engstler. Young goalkeeper Patrick Beach – thrust into the starting side in a pre-match selection shock – pulled off a series of dazzling parries, including one in the first half that will be a contender for save of the tournament.The Socceroos sat back in the second half as Turkey pushed for an equaliser. Dangerous winger Kenan Yildiz came on at half-time on the left flank and gave his side a new level of invention. The talented Turkish players poked and prodded with short passes around the Australian penalty area but the Socceroos held firm, reaching the final drinks break with their lead intact despite a series of near misses and heroic blocks.Not long after the margin was doubled, when Connor Metcalfe smashed a left footer from the edge of the area as the counter-attacking Socceroos streamed forward. It triggered wild scenes, as the players gathered at the end of the ground marked by a huge wedge of yellow fans.Irankunda’s opening goal was a Socceroo sugar rush, cooked up by Paul Okon-Engstler. The midfielder’s lofted ball over the top was pounced upon by the scintillating forward, who took a touch inside one defender and finished coolly with a sidefooted effort, as three shirts in red and the Turkish goalkeeper converged.They only arrived in time to watch the new face of Australian football celebrate by reviving Tim Cahill’s goal celebration, going toe-to-toe with the corner flag. He was soon consumed by a crowd of Socceroos – including what seemed to be the entire bench – as the travelling fans celebrated like it was Kaiserslautern 2006.There was a shock an hour before kick-off when the Socceroos’ team was announced. Irankunda’s inclusion, and defender Cam Burgess keeping Lucas Herrington on the bench, were notable. Okon-Engstler starting in midfield rather than veteran Jackson Irvine raised eyebrows. But the jaws of the 10,000 or so Australians in Vancouver were already on the floor.Tony Popovic had selected Patrick Beach to start at goalkeeper. The 22-year-old Melbourne City player performed well against Switzerland the week before, but no Socceroo has played more World Cup matches than Ryan with 10, and the 34-year-old had been in good form for Levante in Spain’s La Liga. It meant the team, captained by 27-year-old Harry Souttar, oozed with youth. The average age was 24, and Burgess was the oldest at 30.So their tentative start might have been expected. The first 10 minutes saw Turkey enjoy 73% of possession, as Australia largely parked themselves in their own half. Their most positive moments early came through direct balls into channels, trying to find space for Touré who was being marked tightly by Abdulkerim Bardakci.Moments of indecision and miscommunication left hollow the players’ words earlier this week that they would start better than they have in recent matches. Despite the nervy performance, the Socceroos reached the first drinks break square. Popovic walked straight to Irankunda and Touré and with his arms addressed the pair like they were an orchestra, and he a conductor. Three minutes later, Irankunda delivered his stunning solo.If Popovic’s selection of the young winger was vindicated in that moment, it was the turn of Beach to repay the coach’s faith barely a minute later. The young keeper stretched and with his fingertips pushed a powerful long shot from Bardackci onto the post. The evidence wasn’t initially clear whether the keeper had made the save, but when Beach punched the air in celebration, the case was closed.Beach repeated the feat early in the second half, diving low to his right this time to save a free-kick from Arda Guler. And he delivered two more stunning second-half saves to keep Turkey at bay in a sparkling performance that signals the arrival of a new national hero.

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An Australian takeover is unfolding in British Columbia as fans pour in for the World Cup, joining the thousands of snow-obsessed expats who live thereThe Socceroos are not alone in Vancouver ahead of their World Cup opener against Turkey. In a city that is climactically and culturally a Melbourne with mountains, Australian accents were already hard to ignore, even before thousands more streamed through the airport gates in recent days.The city has made a strong first impression on Colby List, a Socceroos fan who is travelling North America with five friends for the tournament. “It reminds us a little bit of Australia,” he said. “We were in New York for a week before this, as part of the buildup, and Vancouver feels much more like home.”The Brisbane resident wore a Nestory Irankunda shirt to Vancouver’s World Cup fan festival, the views from which are dominated by the city’s North Shore Mountains. “It’s like a hilly Melbourne,” List said.Roughly 25,000 people in Canada claimed Australia as their birthplace in the 2021 census. Almost half live in British Columbia. Many of them are only here because of the mountains that crisscross Canada’s westernmost province.The ski town of Whistler 120 km away is colloquially known as “Whistralia”. Snow-obsessed Australians make up a significant part of the region’s alpine culture thanks to an uncapped visa scheme that allows working holiday stays for two years, longer than most countries. Many never leave.There are Australian-owned hospitality businesses, like the bakery Peaked Pies and the downtown pub Moose’s Down Under, which has a kangaroo burger on the menu. Nearby wildlife retreat Great Bear Lodge is managed by an Australian, Marg Leehane, a software developer from Melbourne who pursued a life in the wilderness.Some are happier in the city. Melbourne-born Alojz Cuk has been in Vancouver for 12 years, having met his Canadian wife as a young snowboarder. Their second child is due around the time of the World Cup final.“Almost every Canadian, when I mention that I’m Australian, they say they have some kind of connection to Australia, whether it’s the cousin that is married to an Australian or they’ve spent some time there,” he said. “Like my chiropractor I saw today, he did his uni just outside of Ballarat.”About 10,000 Australians are expected to attend the opening match according to Football Australia, based on country of origin data supplied when tickets were bought.Many of those will be like List, temporary visitors and keen football fans. Another Australian in an Irankunda jersey was spotted talking to a friend wearing the brown and white of St Pauli.Others are likely to be expats. Cuk said he has supported Croatia at previous World Cups through his Balkan heritage, but he wore a Wallabies jersey on Friday.One Australian family at the fan festival had the father in a yellow cricket shirt, wearing an Australian Open hat. His two boys wore blue caps adorned with the logo of the Calgary Kangaroos, an Australian rules club based in neighbouring province Alberta.These were just some of the hundreds of yellow shirts glimmering in Friday’s bright sun, crammed in among the Canadians watching the home side’s opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina – an entertaining contest marked by the hosts’ late and deserved equaliser.List said he has noticed the numbers of Australians swell just over the past 24 hours. “We saw quite a few yesterday as we were out and about for the first two matches, but today there’s a lot more,” he said. The Australian takeover is only beginning.The Cat Empire, jazz-funk stalwarts from Melbourne, are playing two gigs and TikTok influencers Those Carter Boys have been flown in by the local tourism agency to pitch Vancouver to Australians on social media. A march by the Green and Gold Army is scheduled for match day down Robson Street, one of the city’s shopping and dining hubs.List, who attended World Cups in Brazil and Russia but missed Qatar, said he and his friends have quickly adopted the customary greeting – and camaraderie – among travelling Australians.“There’s always a nod of recognition and a wave,” he said. “We watched the Korea game [South Korea v Czechia] at a Korean restaurant.“It was good except that the TVs weren’t working, so all the customers came together. Some bloke had his laptop there, and we were Chrome-casting on to the TVs from the laptop, and one of our group was up trying to fix one of the TVs. We got it going in the end.”

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In a super-sized edition that makes Australia a middle power their young squad can budget for four matches at the tournament with the hope of moreThe selections, the sessions, the sweat left steaming on the Oakland grass. These are all now behind the Socceroos, as they fly to Vancouver to begin an adventure that comes around just once every four years.Australia’s best men’s footballers are back again at the World Cup, this time in a super-sized edition that makes a nation that was once a football underdog a middle power.The Socceroos are one of 48 teams at the tournament spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, in an expansion that has drawn criticism for experimenting with the tried and true 32-nation format established at France 1998.It is now more than 20 years since the Socceroos missed qualification for a World Cup. Australia joined the Asian confederation two decades ago to mitigate their exposure to do-or-die play-offs that had handed only heartbreak against Argentina, Iran and Uruguay. It has also changed expectations, amending the country’s football culture.If hope is the currency of football, the old days delivered Australian fans endless riches. To lose a painful qualifier, and then watch a World Cup six months later and wonder how far one’s nation might have gone – all the time, hope growing for the next – was an experience shared by football’s outsiders across the world.Today, however, followers of the Socceroos have little in common with wide-eyed supporters from Curaçao or Cape Verde – nations who will compete at the World Cup in 2026 for the first time alongside Jordan and Uzbekistan.Australia’s aspiration will be met at this tournament by opportunity. The Socceroos were handed a favourable draw by avoiding any giants in their group. They were also given a marquee match against co-hosts the US, the soccer-off between two proud, sporting countries who prefer football’s alternative name to denote its secondary status.The larger format has changed the dynamic for teams, like Australia, once on the World Cup periphery. Now they are entitled to budget for four matches at the tournament instead of three. The introduction of a round of 32 essentially creates a knockout elimination in 2026 with the same number of participants as the group stage in previous tournaments.The qualification of eight of the 12 groups’ third-placed teams in 2026 means the Socceroos should expect to progress out of Group D, despite the challenge posed by Turkey, the US and Paraguay.Indeed, elimination at the first stage would be a backward step for this Socceroos team given the round of 16 exit in Qatar, where they pushed eventual champions Argentina in a narrow knockout loss.The team flies from Oakland to Vancouver on Friday local time ahead of the match against Turkey the following day, an opponent widely seen as the toughest in the group. It is the last step in a World Cup journey that began all the way back in November 2023, when the Socceroos walloped Bangladesh 7-0.That night at AAMI Park goal scorers included Jamie Maclaren, Mitch Duke and Brandon Borrello, all forwards ultimately overlooked when Popovic finalised his squad two weeks ago.The Socceroos at this tournament are instead brimming with young talent, including 17 debutants in the 26-player squad. Led by defenders Alessandro Circati, Jordy Bos and Lucas Herrington, and forwards Mo Toure and Nestory Irankuna, the next generation gives hope that Australia might emerge as a genuine threat at the World Cup in coming years.Rather than look ahead to 2030 or 2034, however, this tournament is ripe for the taking. Injury clouds hang over key players on each group rival: influential Turkey winger Kenan Yildiz, standout US defender Chris Richards and Paraguay playmaker Julio Enciso.Coach Tony Popovic enjoys support in the Socceroos dressing room, having won 10 of 18 matches since taking over from Graham Arnold in 2024. That record secured him a contract extension on the eve of the World Cup, which keeps him in the role until at least the Asian Cup in January next year.Back home there will be a healthy television audience, given kick-off times in Canada and the US make for convenient weekend watch parties. Expect Federation Square in Melbourne, and other live sites around the country, to be heaving.Yes, there will be consternation about the right of the US to host a global event given Donald Trump’s decision to send military into Venezuela and missiles into Iran, let alone his record domestically. Teeth will grate at the so-called hydration breaks, which may or may not coincide with advertising. Fans will gripe about dynamic ticket pricing, like many of Fifa’s decisions. Eyes will roll at on-field play acting.Eventually, though, the charm of the World Cup will soak through. Socceroos veteran Aziz Behich said it best, just as his third and almost certainly final World Cup got under way. “I still get butterflies, like I did the first time around in Russia [in 2018],” the 35-year-old said. “That’s why I’m still here.”