Mike Grella labelled the Socceroos the \u201cweakest team in the group\u201d<\/a> before mocking Australian football and Irankunda.<\/p>\n\u201cI look up what Australians are good at. I see cricket, I see rugby, maybe outback. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ve got some wild safaris out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think their best player is Irankunda… Irankunda?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all due respect, because I don\u2019t like to talk badly about players, I\u2019m actually a fan of Irankunda. We cover the Championship here at CBS.\u201d<\/p>\n
Irankunda saw the comments. He didn\u2019t forget them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did see it,\u201d Irankunda said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the end of the day, you\u2019ve got to let these people talk \u2013 and it was the same with these lot (Turkiye) here. They came, they did their talking, but they couldn\u2019t back it on the field, and we got the win.<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>VANCOUVER, CANADA – JUNE 13: Nestory Irankunda of Australia celebrates 1-0 during the World Cup match between Australia v Turkey at the Vancouver Stadium on June 13, 2026 in Vancouver Canada (Photo by Dale MacMillan\/Soccrates\/Getty Images)<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cPeople can talk all they want \u2013 but if they\u2019re not going to put a performance out there on the pitch, then there\u2019s no point in talking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grella wasn\u2019t finished there.<\/p>\n
After the United States defeated Australia 2-0 in the group stage, he again took aim at both the Socceroos and Irankunda.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the United States of America over here,\u201d Grella said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a special place with big characters, with big personality. This is a place that demands respect.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I think you see, everybody wants to compete.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, the football spoke 2-0, thank you very much.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Irankunda, what\u2019s the celebration? Irankunda like this?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he goes like this, right? And that\u2019s what they got, two of them. Bomb. Bomb. Two zero. Goodbye. See you 9,000 miles, 9,400 miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can think about the game today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, the Socceroos star appears set to have the ultimate response.<\/p>\n
While Grella questioned Australia\u2019s football credentials from the studio, Irankunda is on the verge of joining one of Europe\u2019s most historic clubs and earning the opportunity to play UEFA Champions League football, a stage Grella never reached during his own professional career.<\/p>\n
TOP 10 AUSTRALIAN TRANSFERS<\/b><\/p>\n
1. Harry Souttar to Leicester City \u2013 \u20ac17m<\/p>\n
2. Harry Kewell to Liverpool \u2013 \u20ac10m<\/p>\n
3. Mark Viduka to Leeds United \u2013 \u20ac9.15m<\/p>\n
4. Aaron Mooy to Huddersfield Town \u2013 \u20ac9.10m<\/p>\n
5. Cristian Volpato to Sassuolo \u2013 \u20ac7.5m<\/p>\n
6. Jordan Bos to Feyenoord \u2013 \u20ac7m<\/p>\n
7. Mathew Ryan to Valencia \u2013 \u20ac7m<\/p>\n
8. Mark Bresciano to Parma \u2013 \u20ac7m<\/p>\n
9. Mark Viduka to Middlesbrough \u2013 \u20ac6.75m<\/p>\n
10. Mathew Ryan to Brighton \u2013 \u20ac6m<\/p>\n
<\/amp-ima-video><\/p>\nParty time in Spain as players return! | 03:01<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSource link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sporting CP have reportedly launched a \u20ac20 million (A$32.5m) move for Australian star Nestory Irankunda, with the Portuguese giants determined to beat a host of European clubs to the Socceroos forward\u2019s signature. Tszyu v Spence Jr. | Sunday July 26 from 11am AEST | Tim Tszyu takes on the biggest name in his career so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":254074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-254073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}