5 min readJun 14, 2026 07:54 PM IST
Neither team is top-tier in this sport, and has their own versions of football. But the Seattle FIFA WC game on Saturday between Australia and hosts USA will be on a fever pitch, after a CBS TV pundit denigrated the Socceroos and launched a bizarre tirade on eventual goal scorer Nestory Irankunda.
Mike Grella had no other reason to get into an obnoxious rant on a pre-match show on CBS, except that he had never heard of any Australian players’ names.
Previewing the Turkiye game, Grella would condescend, “I think their best player is Irankunda…uhh umm Irankunda…I mean Irankunda,” he would start mispronouncing the name making a smugly face. He would continue: “With all due respect because I don’t like to talk bad about players …We actually called the Championships at CBS…But, Irankunda…” he would continue with an unsavoury, completely unprovoked tone.
And taking the piss out of Nestory Irankunda.
All this US media talk is tiresome, but next week’s Seattle showdown between the USMNT and Socceroos should be fun 😊 https://t.co/50y32vGRLn pic.twitter.com/Bw4ny2iWwd
— Sacha Pisani (@Sachk0) June 13, 2026
The youngster would proceed to take Australia by storm scoring the opening goal in the 2-0 win over match favourites, Turkiye.
Ange Postecoglou of Nottingham had on his own pundit stint at ITV spoken of the terrific speed the Tanzanian origin Irankunda possesses making him a top pick for Tony Popovic. Popoball as he’s been called also saw a bold call where he dropped both captain and vice captain, and put a 22 year old Patrick Beach in goal, a move that paid off with his miracle dave.
World Cups are where reputations get etched. But Grella would double down even as the feedback from Australian fans unhappy with his obnoxious words would flood CBS. Next to him Troy Deeney who has earlier played for Watford – same as Irankunda, his his face with embarassment while laughing at the crazy rant that didn’t stop.
Grella who has played for Long Island Rough Riders, Carry Clarets, Leeds, Carlisle, Swindon, Brentford, bury, Scunthorpe, viborg, Carolina rallilawks, nY red bulls, Columbus crew, refused to give Australia any credit.
“Look, listen, again with this Australian thing. It’s gone out of control..” he would say, as the host told him, “You are adding fuel to fire.”
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His rant went: “And I’m gonna just say something. It made me actually go back and do more research. Because I’m like WAIT! I love Australians. I had a look at their team. I don’t recognise any players in their team. I’m not kidding though when I say it. It’s like… What are they drinking over there? Because they don’t have any shot at doing anything at the World Cup. They are the weakest team in the group. And the US, although they’ve got their weaknesses and deficiencies. They’ve got 6-7-8 players playing in the Champions league. Playing in the top clubs in Europe. You go look at Australia.”
Mike Grella’s obviously good at creating headlines, but the disrespect towards the Socceroos is outrageous.
“What are they drinking over there because they have no shot of doing anything at the World Cup.” pic.twitter.com/tGE4O0a8re
— Sacha Pisani (@Sachk0) June 13, 2026
He was asked how much he would bet on an USA win when the two sides meet in Seattle on next Saturday.
“Whatever, I would bet a thousand bucks, couple of thousand bucks on US defeating Australia. It doesn’t matter to me. There’s no shot or surely that Australia can beat US. They only have defense and they can try to keep nil-nil. That’s only way. I know in football anything can happen. But there’s levels of quality. The US has players that play week in week out in Europe. That Australia does not.”
US defeated Paraguay 4-1 at LA, but they are not exactly top tier themselves. Australia meanwhile held wild celebrations at Federation Square in Melbourne, as a football wave swept over them, with public viewing in stadia and on townsquares with giant screens.
Irankunda famously grew up in a refugee settlement after coming over from Tanzania before learning football in Adelaide. Father Gideon Rurandagaye when asked by Channel 9 if he would score again, coolly said, “Another game – America. He’ll score another one.”
Whether Mike Grella likes it or not.
