{"id":400684,"date":"2024-06-07T01:46:25","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T01:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=400684"},"modified":"2024-06-07T03:04:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T03:04:47","slug":"teen-phenom-struggles-in-socceroos-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=400684","title":{"rendered":"Teen phenom struggles in Socceroos debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nestory Irankunda was among a host of Australians who struggled to have a major impact in the Socceroos<\/a>' hard-fought \ufeff2-0 World Cup<\/a> qualifying victory over Bangladesh on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

The Bayern Munich<\/a>-bound sensation savoured his first taste at international football after coach Graham Arnold<\/a> named him to start against the world No.184 team, with the steamy conditions in Dhaka taking a toll on his performance.<\/p>\n

The match was effectively a dead rubber given Australia have already advanced into the next round of qualifying after claiming the top spot in Group I.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> USA scores 'greatest upset in World Cup history<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The alarming stat that haunted Blues in narrow loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Gauff in tears at 'awful' call during semi-final loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Irankunda assisted in setting up the Socceroos' opening goal after sending a short pass to Adjin Hrustic, who sent a flying ball from more than 25 metres out to put the first point on the board.<\/p>\n

The stunning strike took a deflection off Bangladesh defender Mehedi Mithu before finding its way into the back of the net. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Despite assisting the opening shot in some form, Irankunda remained relatively quiet for the remainder of the game before he was replaced in the 64th minute by Daniel Arzani, who made his first national team appearance since the 2018 World Cup.<\/p>\n

\"Nestory<\/p>\n

The teen sensation Irankunda has already shifted his focus to improving his performance in time for the Socceroos' next match, revealing he is confident at scoring his first international goal.<\/p>\n

"It was a dream come true for me but I could've done better with my performance," Irankunda said.<\/p>\n

"It was just my decision-making that kind of let me [down]… but I'm really proud to be capped for the nation.<\/p>\n

"I did do the right thing sometimes. Obviously, there's still space for improvement and hopefully I do improve soon.<\/p>\n

"I've just got to keep working and the reward will come.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Socceroos\/status\/1798727997173993556?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"Hopefully I'll get a goal and hopefully many more as well.<\/p>\n

"We did well [considering] the conditions. We got the result we came for a clean sheet as well.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

Speaking after the match, Arnold said he was pleased with Irakunda's performance considering the humid conditions and pressure of making his debut.<\/p>\n

"Nestory was very good," Arnold said.<\/p>\n

"He's obviously got a lot to learn and a long way to go but it was great to see him on the pitch," Arnold said.<\/p>\n

Australia's performance was tarnished by poor crosses and finishes despite the team remaining in complete control of the game, with Bangladesh only recording 27 per cent of possession.<\/p>\n

The Aussies struggled to convert attacks into points, recording just four shots on target from 15 attempts.<\/p>\n

\"Kusini<\/p>\n

Irankunda made the first strike in the 17th minute but sent it wide.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Mitch Duke \ufeffwas taken down close to the goal with his plea for a penalty ignored by the referee.<\/p>\n

Australia finally broke through with Hrustic before \ufeffKusini Yengi headed the ball into the bottom left corner.<\/p>\n

The Socceroos will now head straight to Perth where they will face Palestine for Tuesday night's final qualifier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nestory Irankunda was among a host of Australians who struggled to have a major impact in the Socceroos' hard-fought \ufeff2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":400686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=400684"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":400689,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400684\/revisions\/400689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/400686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=400684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=400684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=400684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}