Vancouver: Hakan Çalhanoğlu, you are dismissed. Mike Grella, you’re up next. Nestory Irankunda is ready to make you eat your words, too.
Irankunda has seen the clip of Grella – a former American player-turned-loudmouth pundit for CBS Sports, he of the infamous “lay-up” prediction – repeating his name in jest, referring to him as Australia’s best player in an almost mocking tone.
The implication being that, if he is their best player, the Socceroos are no good, and therefore will be no match for the United States.
Yeah, yeah.
“I did see it,” Irankunda said.
“But at the end of the day, you’ve got to let these people talk – and it was the same with these lot here. They came, they did their talking, but they couldn’t back it on the field, and we got the win.
“People can talk all they want – but if they’re not going to put a performance out there on the pitch, then there’s no point in talking.”
These lot here is a fairly dismissive way to talk about Turkey. But that’s just how confident Irankunda was feeling about himself and the Socceroos after his man-of-the-match performance at Vancouver’s BC Place.
He was referring specifically to Çalhanoğlu, the Inter Milan star and Turkish captain. On the eve of Australia’s 2-0 win, he declared that his team was “more talented” than Australia and would therefore “dominate” the game.
Post-match, Çalhanoğlu bristled at a question from this masthead which referenced those comments and asked if he’d been surprised by Australia’s talent and performance.
“We didn’t dominate?” he asked. “We dominated today, Australia was just behind, defending good. Two long goals, they scored. It was our mistakes.”
Irankunda said the original clip of Çalhanoğlu talking up the Turks had put “fire in our belly”. He’d not seen it, but had been told about it.
“It did piss off a few boys, but at the end of the day, these guys can talk all the shit … we don’t really care,” he said.
“We fight for each other, we play for each other, and if these people want to keep talking, we’re just going to play our best, we’re going to stay focused and just try to win the game.”
After both nations won their opening World Cup fixtures, the build-up to Saturday’s (5am AEST) long-awaited showdown between the Socceroos and the United States will surely get even more ridiculous, very soon. There’s a lot more talking to come. And it will continue to come from one side, and not the other.
Asked how the Socceroos would prepare for the USA game, Irankunda said: “The same way we prepared for this game.”
He knows the circus is coming, and he wants no part of it.
Irankunda’s main focus after the game was setting up a meeting with his idol, Tim Cahill – or at the very least, copping a text message from him. There will probably be one on his phone, the next time he’s brave enough to turn it on.
The 20-year-old marked his brilliant first-half goal with an homage to Cahill’s trademark goal celebration, in which he shadowboxes the corner flag.
“It was just the way he played,” Irankunda said.
“He played with that hunger, and he gave his all for this country. Hopefully, he sends me a message because I dedicated that celebration to him, and I’m super proud of him.
“Timmy Cahill is my biggest inspiration in Australian football. I look up to him and I want to be like him … to meet him one day would be a dream come true.”
Mohamed Toure’s verdict of Irankunda’s celebration was succinct: “It was sick.”
That Irankunda is now in the history books as one of only 11 players to score a World Cup goal for the Socceroos is something he is still processing. He can barely remember what, if anything, was going through his mind when it happened.
“When I first got the ball, I was like, wow, it just fell in front of me,” he said.
“And then my body just started doing what it does. I didn’t control anything … it just happened and after I scored, it was crazy. I just seen Mo [Toure] to my right and I was telling him to relax, so I could do my celebration, but he was super excited as well.
“I didn’t think I would score on my debut, but I knew one day, hopefully one day, that I was going to score at a World Cup. It came so quick … I’m super happy.”
