Australia's Awer Mabil (centre) shoots to score against Curacao.
Melbourne, Australia: Watford striker Nestory Irankunda bagged a brace as Australia hammered fellow World Cup qualifier Curacao 5-1 yesterday in Melbourne, ensuring they head to North America on a high.
It was the Socceroos final home game before the global showpiece in June-July, building on a 1-0 win against Cameroon last week.
Curacao have now crashed to consecutive defeats after losing 2-0 to China, with new Dutch coach Fred Rutten facing a formidable task at the Caribbean island nation’s maiden World Cup.
“A wonderful send off. We wanted to win this game and go off on a high note, and scoring five is a nice bonus,” said Australia coach Tony Popovic.
“We considered a soft goal ... things to work on, but there was a great reaction after that.” Australia are in World Cup Group D with co-hosts the United States, Paraguay and either Kosovo or Turkey. Curacao are in a challenging Group E with Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador.
