'I couldn't stop smiling': Irankunda proud to score first Socceroos goal

Lewis Wiseman \\ Photo credit: Aleksander Jason/Socceroos 1718420666,1718461629

In the Subway Socceroos 5-0 win over Palestine, Nestory Irankunda became the second youngest goal scorer in the nation's history at 18 years and 123 days.

The teenager was given spot-kick duties late in the piece, slamming home from the penalty spot to round out the scoring at HBF Park in Perth.

Speaking after the match, he said how proud he was to score for his country and that it was even more special to score on home soil in front of his family.

“I couldn't stop smiling, it's a very proud moment for obviously the nation, my family and also my old coaches,” he said.

“Carl’s (Veart) probably smiling like crazy at home as well, and yeah even Mark (Milligan) from the bench - everybody's happy so that's good.”

Irankunda’s mum, two brothers and other members of the family were in the 18,261 strong crowd and were overjoyed when he scored.

He said: “It was really crazy to score in front of my mum and my two older brothers, it's obviously a dream for me.

I always looked up to my older brothers and just scoring in front of them I guess, was a great feeling.

"I'm sad my dad wasn't here but he was probably watching at home, hopefully he's proud of me as well. But it was amazing the score in front of family and friends.”

Of course, after the ball went in, we were all treated to his now famous backflip celebration, something that he said may have been one of his best.

“I was just in the moment, really happy to have scored and I guess I've been doing it my last three seasons playing as a professional, so I kept it going,” he said.

Apparently, I had crazy jump on it, so yeah, it's really good to keep doing the flips, hopefully I don’t get injured.

This was his first camp with the Socceroos, and to his credit coach Graham Arnold said he has shown a high level of maturity throughout.

“He has not been late to one meeting, he's done everything we've asked, the older boys have really looked after him and I think he's had a great camp,” Arnold said.

Speaking on the step up to international football, Irankunda said: “I learned a lot, international football is a lot different to club football.

“I've been homesick a little bit, I've been missing my mom, my siblings and a bunch of my friends but it's the sacrifices you have to make and I'm really happy that Arnie (Arnold) and Rene (Meulensteen) have brought me into join the boys and the players that I love watching as well.”