Australia head to Russia ‘buzzing’ after Hungary win
MELBOURNE: Australia made heavy weather of their final World Cup warm-up against Hungary on Saturday but will head to Russia with confidence high after two friendly wins, defender Jackson Irvine said.
After thrashing Czech Republic 4- 0 a week ago, Australia laboured to a 2-1 win against the 51st-ranked hosts in Budapest, a performance which left coach Bert van Marwijk underwhelmed ahead of their Group C opener against France.
However, Hull City’s Irvine felt it was a match the Socceroos would have let slip in times past.
“I think it’s maybe a game we might not have always won in recent times and I think that shows how far we’ve come,” Irvine told reporters.
“We’ve always had a very good mentality of not losing games but maybe sometimes we’ve drawn games, particularly in the qualification process, that we ( maybe) haven’t played particularly well and couldn’t quite nick that win.
“It shows the experience that we’ve gathered as a team and I think as we’ve grown together, we’re f inding ways to win games when things aren’t going particularly smoothly out there, and tonight was probably the perfect example of that.”
The biggest posit ive for Australia was 19-year- old Daniel Arzani, who scored just 67 seconds after he was introduced as a substitute in the 73rd minute.
He will be the youngest player at the World Cup and although his goal was aided by a goalkeeping error, the highly regarded teenager made an impressive cameo in just his second Socceroos appearance.
“Heading into such a massive tournament it’s important to be getting wins going into it and just to get the confidence of the boys up. I think that’s what were doing now and doing really well,” the Melbourne City man said.
“It’s really, really important especially coming up against big teams.
“I’m absolutely buzzing, I can’t wait.”
Australia take on the French in Kazan next Saturday, before the Socceroos face Denmark in Samara and conclude pool play against Peru in Sochi.