When Irankunda ran to the corner to emulate Cahill, it was a pre-planned tribute

World Cup: Socceroo Nestory Irankunda knew how he would celebrate, before even taking the field Mon 15 Jun 2026 at 5:32am Nestory Irankunda has never doubted his ability to have an impact on the soccer field. Whether playing for Watford, or on his World Cup debut for Australia, the 20-year-old has unwavering self-belief. So much so, he had planned his historic celebration against Türkiye before the Socceroos had walked out onto BC Place in Vancouver. "It was a conversation that came about with a couple of the boys and I said whoever scores has to do it," Irankunda said. "Unfortunately, I was the one to score so I had to do it". Twenty years and one day before Irankunda boxed the corner flag in Vancouver, Cahill ran to the corner in Kaiserslautern after scoring the Socceroos' first ever World Cup goal. Irankunda was just four months old. "I want to meet him [Cahill] one day, but I've never met him in my life," he said. "He's my biggest inspiration, so to meet him one day would be a dream come true. "He played with that hunger and he gave his all for this country. "Hopefully he sends me a message because I dedicated that celebration to him." 'That's just what Nesta does' One person who knew exactly what Irankunda was going to do once the ball hit the back of the net was his close friend Mo Toure. The Socceroos striker had a front-row seat to the goal, and ran with Irankunda to the corner. "[Nestory] said he's going to do the Tim Cahill celebration before the game, so it was sick," Toure said. "It's amazing. Great goal. That's just what Nesta does." There was something extra special about the occasion for Irankunda and Toure, with their families travelling together to be in the crowd for the game. "I think that's the first game I've played out of Australia where my whole family's actually been there," Toure said. "It was a special moment for both of us. "Looking up, seeing them there, just gave me the extra kick to keep going." Toure suffered an injury scare just before the second half hydration break, going down in the centre circle. Turkish defender Merih Demiral stopped to helped the prone striker, who suffered a calf cramp. "I thought it was worse than it was because it just came out of nowhere and it could be a tear," Toure said. "I have to see what happens. I'll ice it up and we'll see. "It's a bit sore now, so we'll see in the week what happens." Australia's next World Cup game is against the USA in Seattle on Friday local time.