Australia defeat All Whites 3-1 to retain ‘Soccer Ashes’ in Auckland Mohamed Toure hits a brace while Chris Wood scores for New Zealand The sound you can hear is the Australian football hype-machine kicking into overdrive. The “Soccer Ashes” have been retained, Tony Popovic remains unbeaten as national team boss, and Australia has been given a tantalising glimpse of the future after Mohamed Touré and Nestory Irankunda powered a 3-1 win over New Zealand in Auckland. Touré, 21, and Irankunda, all of 19 years old, were the undisputed stars of the show on Tuesday evening, producing individual moments of brilliance that broke the game open and quickly had Socceroo fans’ thoughts turning to the FIFA World Cup in just under a year. And while Popovic has become a master of ignoring external noise and meticulously following his own plans in pursuit of that global footballing showpiece – his young duo’s star turn came in the same game in which he left Portsmouth dynamo Adrian Segečić out of the squad entirely, in keeping with his habit of sitting youngsters in their first call-up – this was a performance from both to suggest there is ample substance being added to their rises. Continue reading...