Updated ,first published
Athletes celebrating goals or achievements with an accompanying favourite song isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but Australia’s rising soccer superstar Nestory Irankunda took things up a notch on Tuesday night in the Socceroos’ final match on home soil ahead of their World Cup assault.
As the Socceroos sent spirits soaring with a late flurry of four goals in 17 minutes – a blitzkrieg that popped the visiting Curacao’s balloon – the 20-year-old Irankunda was in the thick of the assault with a brace, driving home Australia’s final two goals, the exclamation mark on a 5-1 victory.
Cartwheels and backflips were one thing (yes, we saw them again), but Irankunda had another celebration pre-planned.
The Tanzania-born star was tossed a white glove by a photographer friend and proceeded to pay tribute to Michael Jackson with some slick dance steps and a crotch-grabbing move.
“He’s my mate. He’s a photographer, and he messaged me on Instagram asking me if I wanted to do something to do with Michael Jackson,” Irankunda later explained when asked how he ended up with the white sequinned glove while still on the pitch.
“I said, ‘Yeah, for sure’, because he knows I’m a huge fan of Michael Jackson and his music, and it was just great to bring it out.”
Irankunda said Smooth Criminal is his favourite MJ track. His Australian teammates – including a new stock of young Socceroos representatives who seemingly feed off his enthusiasm – knew something different was probably going to happen.
“I was ready to celebrate with him, and he’s like, ‘Nah, nah. I’m going to do this’,” said Jordan Bos, who also entered the game as a second-half substitute and scored an impressive goal of his own.
“That glove came out of nowhere. I don’t know where that came from, but it was pretty cool.
“I think he likes, was it Michael Jackson?
“He’s been playing [his music] all camp leading into this.”
The video of Irakunda’s MJ celebration went viral on Wednesday and his Watford teammates weighed in via the club’s social media accounts.
Watford have a close connection with another music legend in honorary life president Sir Elton John, while Irakunda’s teammates look set to use the celebration as ammunition for plenty of banter once he returns to the UK.
“He will not dress in my same dressing room – what a clown,” Italian midfielder Edoardo Bove said. But young teammate Amin Nabizada was a fan of Irankunda’s moves, saying: “That’s my guy.”
Wild goal celebrations aside, Socceroos coach Tony Popovic was beaming with excitement when explaining how Irankunda was expanding his game, becoming an offensive threat both outside and inside the box.
“That’s why I’m really pleased for him,” said Popovic.
The Socceroos mentor knows the sky could be the limit.
“Once he adds that consistently to his game [look out]. We know he [already] has the shot from outside the box – he’ll do one of those every year regardless of where he plays.
“Both [of his] goals were good goals.
“The first one, he dribbles one on one and the second one, he makes a nice little run in the box.
“We want that to continue and that’s why I’m delighted for him.”
Irankunda confirmed he’s been developing that part of his game.
“It’s been a huge focus,” said Irankunda, a player who’s been watched by scouts for years and who broke the A-League transfer record in 2024.
“To be with the national team … that’s what he [Popovic] wants from me. He wants me to get in the box.
“I also have to take back, take that back to Watford as well, and just to do it under the boss was great.
“It was a relief, you know, because we’ve been working on it for a long time.”
Popovic turned to his main guns Bos, Riley McGree, Irankunda and Cameron Burgess as part of a mass substitution in the 66th minute and the moves paid almost immediate rewards – an avalanche of goals that turned a sometimes-dour contest into a rout.
In terms of a coach flicking the switch, it was like Popovic went for every light in the house.
Irankunda drew on the crowd’s energy as the green-and-gold brigade were sparked into action.
“The crowd were helping us throughout the game. You know [they] did go a bit quiet, but to come on and then obviously pull some havoc was, was great,” he said.
Less than three months before they take on Paraguay, the US and Turkey (who secured their spot by beating Kosovo in a play-off on Wednesday) at the World Cup, Irankunda believes Australia can rattle a few cages on the sport’s biggest stage.
“It’s not about upsetting [other teams],” he said.
“I feel like we have one goal, which is to achieve something great, achieve something that’s never been achieved before. We want to be that group that goes all the way and potentially wins the World Cup.
“We have the belief in ourselves to go do something.”
World Cup or not, Juric will keep working
Roy Ward
Socceroos striker Deni Juric knows he is on the fringe of calculations for Tony Popovic’s World Cup squad, but he refuses to let the associated nerves take hold.
Juric, 28, made his long-awaited debut against Cameron and Curacao during the FIFA series with his flick on setting up Awer Mabil for the first goal in Tuesday’s 5-1 win over Curacao at AAMI Park.
The striker for Polish outfit Wisla Plock will head back to Poland and do everything he can to win Popovic over, but he knows he faces stiff competition for the attacking roles, especially with rising Norwich City star Mohamed Toure still to return from injury.
“I won’t be breaking my mind about that,” Juric said.
“I’m going to try and do my best, do my job, score goals, and that will be up to the boss.
“I’m not going to beat myself up over it. If I get the [World Cup] call-up, that will be another dream come true. If not, I’m going to continue to work hard.
“There are games after that. There is the Asian Cup in January, there are windows after the World Cup. So if I don’t go to the World Cup, I will be shooting for the windows after that.”
Juric followed older brother Tomi in playing for the Socceroos.
Tomi, who played at the 2018 World Cup, was quick to offer some “critiques”.
“There were a few critiques – I think that’s normal because he knows what I can do,” Deni Juric said.
“I don’t think I’ve shown the best of me yet in the green and gold. He’s also gave me some positive feedback on the flick on – all in all, he’s there to push me forward, motivate me and help me in every situation possible.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
