{"id":31001,"date":"2026-06-14T09:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T09:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/31001\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T09:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T09:26:09","slug":"socceroos-kick-off-world-cup-with-crucial-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/31001\/","title":{"rendered":"Socceroos kick-off World Cup with crucial victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia opened their 2026 FIFA Men\u2019s World Cup campaign against\u00a0T\u00fcrkiye\u00a0on Sunday afternoon, with Melbourne Victory\u2019s fingerprints\u00a0evident\u00a0in the\u00a0Socceroos\u2019 2-0 triumph.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The national team, led by former Victory boss Tony Popovic, got their tournament off to the dream start in Vancouver, Canada.<\/p>\n

Threatening to score on the counter-attack, the Socceroos would take the lead through the energetic Nestory Irankunda in the 27th minute with a composed finish to send the nation into raptures. <\/p>\n

While T\u00fcrkiye would control the majority of possession, Popovic\u2019s side remained resolute and kept their opponents at bay.<\/p>\n

In the 61st minute, Victory star Nishan Velupillay would be introduced as Australia\u2019s first substitution of the game, making his World Cup debut.<\/p>\n

\"\"A moment to remember for Nishan Velupillay, fulfilling a lifelong dream.<\/p>\n

Former Victory defender Jason Geria would be the next to enter the field in the 74th minute, spurring on the Socceroos to score their second just a moment later. <\/p>\n

Bursting through on goal down the right flank, Connor Metcalfe picked out the bottom corner from distance to seal the three points for the Socceroos.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tony Popovic celebrating the Socceroos\u2019 win after his first World Cup game as Head Coach.<\/p>\n

Placed second in the group following the first round of Group Stage matches, it was an all but perfect way for the Socceroos to announce themselves in North America. <\/p>\n

Australia are next in action versus co-hosts the U.S. at Seattle Stadium on Saturday, June 20, kick-off 5am AEST.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia opened their 2026 FIFA Men\u2019s World Cup campaign against\u00a0T\u00fcrkiye\u00a0on Sunday afternoon, with Melbourne Victory\u2019s fingerprints\u00a0evident\u00a0in the\u00a0Socceroos\u2019 2-0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26692,260,332,152,20999,26693,4721,9948,7060],"class_list":["post-31001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-jason-geria","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-victory","tag-news","tag-nishan-velupillay","tag-paul-izzo","tag-socceroos","tag-tony-popovic","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}