Max Balard has enjoyed a perfect start to life as a Socceroo, scoring a winning goal two minutes into his Australian debut in a late 1-0 friendly win over New Zealand.
In their first outing since qualifying for next year’s World Cup tournament in North America, a largely experimental Australian side missing most of their regular starters struggled to pose too many questions for the All Whites.
But that was until the final quarter of an hour at Canberra’s GIO Stadium when Socceroos boss Tony Popovic threw caution to the wind and injected the youthful energy of Nestory Irankunda, Mohamed Toure and Balard into the action.
Their introductions sparked Australia into life and Toure was the man who set up Balard for the 87th minute winner.
Balard, a former Central Coast Mariners midfielder now on the books of Dutch side NAC Breda, had only been brought on for his first cap two minutes earlier.
The win will give Popovic plenty of food for thought ahead of next year’s World Cup, with Jordan Bos a particular standout for much of Friday’s game.
Injury and the form of Aziz Behich have largely prevented the Feyenoord defender from getting regular game time under Popovic but the Melburnian looked instantly assured as the starting left-sided wingback.
Bos’s marauding runs forward made New Zealand appear vulnerable and on one foray upfield he slalomed past three All Whites before sending a dipping shot just over the bar.
Callan Elliot shields the ball from Nestory Irankunda. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
While Bos was having joy at one end, Chris Wood was causing problems for the Australian defence as the Nottingham Forest forward bullied Milos Degenek off the ball in the early stages.
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Twice the powerful Kiwi forward lashed efforts at the Australian goal but both times debutant goalkeeper Paul Izzo stood up to the test.
Izzo was barely troubled in the second half and neither was his New Zealand counterpart Max Crocombe. That was until Irankunda and Toure were thrown on with 15 minutes to go.
Watford winger Irankunda received one of the biggest cheers of the night when he was introduced and drew a foul with his first touch. He tried to guide his free-kick over the New Zealand wall and then glanced a header over the bar.
But Toure was the man to eventually provide Australia the breakthrough when he threaded a delightful ball in to Balard. The 24-year-old Balard struck low and beyond Crocombe’s reach into the back of the net to extend Popovic’s unbeaten start as Socceroos boss to nine games.
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