The sound you can hear is the Australian football hype-machine kicking into overdrive. The “Soccer Ashes” have been retained, Tony Popovic remains unbeaten as national team boss, and Australia has been given a tantalising glimpse of the future after Mohamed Touré and Nestory Irankunda powered a 3-1 win over New Zealand in Auckland.
Touré, 21, and Irankunda, all of 19 years old, were the undisputed stars of the show on Tuesday evening, producing individual moments of brilliance that broke the game open and quickly had Socceroos fans’ thoughts turning to the World Cup in just under a year.
