Young guns star as Socceroos ease to 5-0 victory in Perth with Yengi double and Irankunda cameo
Kusini Yengi of Australia celebrates after scoring one of his goals in the World Cup Qualifier against Palestine in Perth.Kusini Yengi of Australia celebrates after scoring one of his goals in the World Cup Qualifier against Palestine in Perth.Excitement began to grow in the crowd at HBF Park as soon as they began to realise what was happening. Palestinian players were circling the referee, furiously remonstrating as Nestory Irankunda grabbed the ball and moved towards the penalty spot.
Winners of Group I in the second phase of Asian World Cup qualifying – the point at which Australia enter the field – capped off an excellent evening for the Socceroos, at the end of what has been a positive campaign. Graham Arnold’s side has now played six games on the road to the 2026 World Cup in North America,. It hasn’t always been pretty but in the end, they’ll end this phase with 22 goals scored while not conceding a goal themselves.
Perhaps one can take quibbles with the quality of opposition faced during this period. Nine of the 22 goals came against Bangladesh, seven of them in one game in Melbourne. But progressing through this phase of qualification in dominant fashion is what Asia’s best sides – which Australia has designs on being – are supposed to do. The Socceroos have filled the mission brief for this leg of the journey and now their thoughts can turn to the next, more challenging phase that awaits.
If they do, however, they might just be doing so with a new talisman in Kusini Yengi. Just five minutes in on Tuesday, the 25-year-old fired a penalty beyond Rami Hamadeh and into the bottom corner of the net. The nature of its awarding was rather fortuitous, on another evening Hamed possibly escaped sanction for his contact with Aziz Behich andcoach Makram Daboub acknowledged post-game it was an early gut punch that extracted a heavy toll.
Pressing and playing a role in the build-up, the Portsmouth striker played an integral role in Australia’s second and fourth goals, too, scored by hometown boy Adam Taggart and Boyle – with that pair also serving as provider for another. Yengi, though, was the story, even with Irankunda’s star late cameo. Arnold has been giving the attacker every chance to seize the starting nine role for this cycle and, against Palestine, he just might have done so.
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