Socceroo teen star Nestory Irankunda, who's become an instant favourite for English Championship side Watford, has scored his first goal for the club -- and what a goal!
The 19-year-old Tanzanian-born winger, who starred at Adelaide United but didn't make the grade at German champions Bayern Munich, curled a glorious 25-yard free-kick home to give the second-tier Hornets the lead at Swansea in the 35th minute of their 1-1 draw on Saturday.
But he had to persuade Moussa Sissoko to let him to take the kick, suggesting that his experienced French international captain really ought to take a look at his highlights reel, which feature similar strikes when he was at the Reds.
The belting strike capped another striking performance from Irankunda, who proved a real handful for the Swansea defence, including fellow Socceroo Cameron Burgess, all afternoon with his speed and trickery until he was brought off just before the hour as a precaution when he appeared to suffer a hamstring knock.
Snapped up from the Bundesliga giants on a five-year deal, Irankunda had already made a big impression, and was quick to tell reporters how his ambition was to "make the crowd go wild" at Vicarage Road.
He did just that when winning the free-kick just after the half-hour, before picking himself up to whip the ball up and over the Welsh side's wall and into the left-hand corner.
"Oh, my. I've scored some good goals but I reckon that could be in my top five," said Irankunda.
With usual free-kick taker Imran Louza out injured, he took his chance.
"Obviously, you have to ask for permission, and I said to Moussa 'I feel confident in taking a free kick," explained the youngster.
"He asked me a couple times, 'are you sure you can take free kicks?', I said, 'yeah, go look at my highlight reels!' Then after that, I just put it into the corner..."
When Irankunda went off, soon after being fouled by Swansea's new signing Marko Stamenic, Watford's impetus seemed to be lost and Zan Vipotnik came off the bench for the Swans to rescue a point with an 82nd minute goal.
Irankunda has been enjoying being back in the thick of the action after his confidence took a bit of a hit in Germany.
"It's been good," he says. "I feel like myself again, a whole lot more confident. It's fun to come to training every day. I love playing here."
He's not the only Australian making an early-season mark in English soccer's second-tier.
Portsmouth midfielder Adrian Segecic again impressed in their 1-1 draw at West Brom, while Sammy Silvera continues to shine for Middlesbrough as their 2-1 win at Norwich took them joint-top on a maximum nine points from three games, alongside Stoke, who won 2-1 at Southampton.
