Nestory Irankunda’s magical free kick against Brazil a sign of a special Socceroos star

With some players, there’s always a moment in their career that, years into the future, you can look back on as a beacon of when they truly announced themselves.

Perhaps we will be able to point to a stunning free kick for the ages as that moment in the young career of Nestory Irankunda.

Neither, you suspect, will Chelsea wonder kid Estêvão.

The 19-year-old probably had the best view of anyone, lying at the base of the four-man wall looking back towards Hugo Souza.

He could see, with devastating precision, the ball fly over him and into the top corner, Souza skittishly crabbing across his line before admitting defeat.

It might be fun to wonder what was going through Estêvão’s mind as he rolled onto his back to stare into the sky above the Townsville stadium.

Whatever he was thinking, Irankunda was already flipping towards the corner flag.

“I mean, good goal, good goal,” he told Channel 10, the confidence of youth oozing from his voice as he was asked about his free kick.

“I’ve done it before and to do it again today against a top team in Brazil, it’s amazing.

“Sometimes [when I try it], the ball goes outside the training ground. Sometimes I miss completely.

“For it to go in today, it felt good. You see there, beautiful.”

Estêvão already had first-hand experience of Irankunda’s slipperiness: on the half hour mark the Sporting forward showed brilliant balance to turn the Chelsea man and then exploded with power to dance away up field.

That, almost as much as the goal, was a moment worth remembering, an Aussie displaying the audacity to spin a Brazilian in the middle of the pitch.

“There were some big stars out tonight,” Irankunda said on Channel 10, marvelling at the crowds that had come out to support both Australia and Brazil.

“But we’ve got some big stars too.”

That is true, but already Irankunda deserves to be considered one that could burn among the brightest.

Having made the move to Portuguese giants Sporting from Watford in the off-season, Irankunda has not quite had time to make his mark yet.

Only once in five games has he started in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, and he is yet to provide an assist or score a goal.

But given this moment against Brazil, a team that still carries the romance of an illustrious past despite a 24-year-and-counting absence from the World Cup final, one wonders whether the ripples through the lusophone world may just nudge those in power at the Lisbon giants to afford him greater chances to prove his worth.

It certainly caught the eye of the club’s social media team, who slapped a “GOLAÇO” label on it within three minutes of the net rippling 16,844 kilometres away.

Of course there must be caveats. 

Brazil were most certainly off-colour, “average” according to Bruno Guimarães’s damning assessment post-match.

In the first half at least, it was the Socceroos who were bossing the game, charging forward, rampaging through a fragile Brazilian midfield that still seems bruised from its last-16 defeat at the World Cup a few months ago, crafting the chances, delivering the crosses and winning the corners.

Of course Brazil started to turn it on. With the quality up front that they had, how could they not?

Endrick of Real Madrid. Raphinha of Barcelona. Estêvão of Chelsea. Vinícius Júnior of Real Madrid. Despite an atrocious pitch, which rolled up like a cheap carpet at a shabby motel, Brazil’s bevvy of stars began to knock the ball around with the playful nonchalance of men who are all too aware of their own brilliance.

But it was their lesser lights, Flamengo pair Samuel Lino and Pedro, as well as Bournemouth’s Rayan who finally made the breakthrough.

And it was Irankunda who provided the stand-out moment of the game.

It is his liveliness and confidence imbues in the Socceroos a dash of verve and belief in their own abilities.

Playing on the left, cutting back inside and posing a threat from set pieces, Irankunda has the sort of aura that few Socceroos players in recent years can command.

His ability to cut back inside and unleash with that right foot, just as he did inside the opening 10 minutes to force a fine save from Hugo Souza, is explosive.

Tony Popovic only made three changes from the side that started the game against Egypt in the World Cup but playing Irankunda left was so decisive, the pain of seeing him so wasted as a target man in Dallas surely enough to forever wipe that option from Popovic’s mind.

Yengi played his part centrally as a willing runner and constant menace to an inexperienced Brazilian back four, while the Seleção’s pitiful midfield was readily overrun by fullbacks Jacob Italiano and Aziz Behich, with Paul Okon-Engstler’s driving runs from midfield the telling factor in winning the free kick that Irankunda so magnificently placed into the net.

Brazil may prove to be better in Brisbane.

A quiet night may have those who were singing Irankunda’s praises on Friday bemoaning a lack of consistency by Tuesday.

But given he is showing himself repeatedly capable of such brilliance, it seems unlikely to be long before the next career-defining moment will come along.