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Goalkeeper repays faith shown in him with resolute displayBefore he became an instant national hero, Socceroos goalkeeper Patrick Beach had a perfect view of Nestory Irankunda’s opening goal during the 2-0 win against Turkey in Vancouver.“We know one of our threats is our pace up front,” he said. “I just saw an opportunity to get it out wide, and then within two or three passes, Nes was in the 18-yard box and having a crack on goal. And then it was absolute limbs, wasn’t it?”The goal triggered a spectacular outpouring of emotion among the Socceroos players, who crowded Irankunda and hindered his goal celebration. The 10,000-strong contingent of Australian fans in Vancouver didn’t appear to mind.“Seeing the whole crowd jump up in yellow and green, everyone just went crazy,” Beach said. “I went crazy with the crowd behind, so it was an unbelievable moment, and something that we’ll remember for sure.”Irankunda said Beach kept Australia in the game. “He’s been training extra hard and I know a lot of people weren’t expecting him to start,” the forward said. “He came out today, and he’s shown the world what he can do. He made a lot of important saves, and if it wasn’t for him, the score could have been different. But he saved us.”Irankunda’s own contribution was almost as important. His goal changed the complexion of the match, after the Socceroos struggled to get into the contest before the first drinks break.The goal was a breathtaking display of counterattacking football, after he was played in behind by Paul Okon-Engstler. “My body just started doing what it does. I didn’t control anything, it just happened,” Irankunda said.“After I scored, it was crazy. I just saw Mo [Touré] to my right, I was telling him to relax so I could do my celebration, but he was super excited as well. And at the end of the day, it was a good goal, in my opinion, and I had to dedicate the celebrations to Tim Cahill.”Irankunda boxed the corner flag, borrowing the trademark of Australia’s greatest men’s goalscorer. Twenty years ago this week, Cahill scored two of his most famous goals against Japan at the World Cup in Germany.“Timmy Cahill is my biggest inspiration in Australian football, and I look up to him and I want to be like him one day,” Irankunda said. “And you know, I’m really, really, really proud of myself to get the goal.”Beach said he found out he would start in goal instead of captain Maty Ryan only two days ago. “The boss and our keeper coach pulled me aside and told me that I’d be playing, that I have been performing well, and they have confidence in me, and they gave me all the confidence I needed to get out there and do my job.”He produced a string of saves, including one in the first half from a Abdulkerim Bardakci long shot that he tipped on to the post. “I remember the ball was coming in quickly,” he said. “One of their players hit a snap shot in between two of the boys, and I remember just getting down low to my right.”The save was the best of a half dozen stops that prevented Turkey from first equalising, and then in the dying stages from mounting a comeback. “It was amazing. This is a dream come true,” Beach said.“This is all you think about as a kid. This is the pinnacle, to play for your country on the world stage. And to get a result in the first game and against a really good opposition, it’s just one of the best nights.”Coach Tony Popovic said the victory made him proud. “As head coach, to experience this, put a smile on these people’s faces that have travelled so far to support us, and I’m just happy for a wonderful young group of men.”

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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.”