New Zealand 1-3 Australia: Toure brace secures win over rivals
Mohamed Toure was the difference maker for a young Australia side as they defeated rivals New Zealand 3-1 in Auckland.
Mohamed Toure's brace helped Australia secure a 3-1 win over rivals New Zealand at the Go Media Stadium in Auckland.
Following on from their 1-0 home win against the All Whites last week, Toure scored a goal either side of Nestory Irankunda's stunning solo effort and Chris Wood's lone goal for New Zealand.
The hosts made a fast start to the match, forcing Paul Izzo to make early saves, but Toure scored against the run of play after 35 minutes. Connor Metcalfe slid Toure through on goal and the striker skipped over a challenge from Finn Surman before slotting past Max Crocombe.
Irankunda then doubled Australia's lead in the 54th minute after he evaded challenges from both Tyler Bindon and Francis de Vries on the right wing before firing a low shot into the far corner.
Chris Wood pulled a goal back for the visitors three minutes later after turning home from De Vries' cross, but Toure got his second of the match on the hour mark when he got on the end of another pass from Metcalfe before scoring past Crocombe.
Toure thought he completed his hat-trick two minutes later after playing a give-and-go with Lewis Miller, but it was ruled out for offside after a VAR check, with Bindon also seeing a late red card overturned following a trip to monitor from the referee.
Data Debrief: New Zealand rue missed chances
Despite the scoreline favouring Australia, New Zealand will regret missing their early chances in the match. They accumulated 1.16 expected goals (xG) from eight shots to Australia's 0.84 from their 13 attempts.
Nonetheless, Anthony Popovic will be pleased to see his young Australia side pick up another big win.
The average age of Australia's starting lineup was 25 years and 331 days. The last time the Socceroos fielded a younger starting lineup was June 2017 vs Cameroon (25 years and 266 days) at the FIFA Confederations Cup.
This is also the fourth consecutive men's 'A' international outside Australia where the Socceroos have scored more than one goal; the last time they scored 2+ goals in more consecutive games on the road was a six-match span from November 1967 to October 1969.
