{"id":213720,"date":"2026-06-14T04:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T04:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/australia-vs-turkey-live-updates-irankunda-scores-opening-goal-in-world-cup-2026-game-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T04:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T04:54:08","slug":"australia-vs-turkey-live-updates-irankunda-scores-opening-goal-in-world-cup-2026-game-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/australia-vs-turkey-live-updates-irankunda-scores-opening-goal-in-world-cup-2026-game-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia vs Turkey live updates: Irankunda scores opening goal in World Cup 2026 game – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Cup
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I complained plenty to my friends and family about games starting at midnight ET this tournament, but now I find myself at a bar in downtown Toronto watching the Socceroos go ahead and I\u2019m quite happy for the random kick-off time.
Fine, I\u2019ll concede my anger.
42\u2019 Australia 1-0 Turkey <\/strong>
Arda Guler<\/strong> yet to find his range. He cuts inside and fires well wide from a central position, again outside the Australia penalty box.
Turkey up to nine efforts on goal now \u2014 two on target and four of them from inside the 18-yard box.<\/p>\n

39\u2019 Australia 1-0 Turkey <\/strong>
This really is the ideal scenario for Australia right now \u2014 and the longer they can keep this lead, the more things plan into their hands in terms of sitting tight, sucking up space and then springing on the counter.
But when you\u2019re starting with 10 World Cup debutants, you are also asking a lot. And this Turkey pressure is still looking awkward for them.
To be clear, Patrick Beach<\/strong> did well there. He did not disappear like a sandcastle at high tide.
My apologies in advance.
I\u2019ve seen Bardakci play four times this season and he is best described as \u201cmeaty\u201d centre-back.
He is also left-footed so think of him as a Turkish Neil Ruddock.
You can decide whether that is a compliment. He thumped the post with that shot.
33\u2019 Australia 1-0 Turkey <\/strong>
There was a great chance for Arda Guler<\/strong> just before Australia\u2019s goal \u2014 and then moments after, Abdulkerim Bardakci<\/strong> launched a shot from range and forced Patrick Beach into his first proper save.
Turkey\u2019s response is in full flow. <\/p>\n

It seems that whatever confederation you hail from, there are no easy games at this World Cup.
The hunters became the hunted.
Nestory Irankunda<\/strong> a man who does think about his goal celebrations.
In a warm-up win back in March, he scored a goal against Curacao and was thrown a glove so he could perform a Michael Jackson dance.
Who knows what else we could get if he keeps scoring.
Nestory Irankunda<\/strong> with a wonderful retro goal celebration, the classic \u201cTim Cahill shadow boxing the corner flag\u201d.
The sea of yellow in the Vancouver stadium erupts.
27\u2019 Australia 1-0 Turkey <\/strong>
Great bit of vision from Okon-Engstler<\/strong> to chip the ball in behind Turkey\u2019s backline.
From there, Irankunda <\/strong>takes over \u2014 running full pelt, taking a big touch inside and then producing an excellent finish to drill inside the near post.
It\u2019s pretty awful defending to get caught like that, but genuine quality to take the chance from the Watford forward.
27\u2019 Australia 1-0 Turkey <\/strong>
WOAH! What a goal! Lightning burst and finish from Nestory Irankunda<\/strong>!
Australia lead!<\/p>\n

I was worried the 9pm local kick-off time \u2014 surely one of the latest of the tournament \u2014 would impact the intensity of the crowd.
It has not. Not at all! Loud back and forth.
There were plenty of Australian and Turkish fans on my flight from Toronto this morning and they\u2019re likely bringing it too.
A hydration break is exactly what this game needed, just as it threatened to break into an amble.
Team Stats
AUS
TUR
Game Details<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World CupAdvertisementliveUpdated 17s agoAustralia lead Turkey 1-0 in their opening 2026 World Cup match. After the USMNT thrashed Paraguay 4-1 last night in Los Angeles, these teams are trying to keep pace in Group D. Nestory Irankunda fired the Australians into the lead midway through the first half with a clinical finish on the counter-attack. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-213720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}