Jordy Bos Shines in Australia’s Draw with Paraguay

Australia’s goalless draw with Paraguay will not linger in the memory for its scoreline. It will for the sight of Jordy Bos tearing up the right flank like it belonged to him.

The Socceroos did what they needed to do — secured progression to the round of 32 — but inside the dressing room the conversation kept coming back to one player asked to step out of his comfort zone and then promptly turn that discomfort into a weapon.

Bos, the natural left-sided fullback from Feyenoord, started on the right and played as if he’d grown up there. He created more chances than anyone, took more shots than anyone, completed more dribbles than anyone in green and gold. Every time Australia looked like breaking the deadlock, he was somewhere near the ball.

“He's the best player in the world, Jordy Bos,” Nestory Irankunda declared, half laughing, half deadly serious after the 0-0 draw.

Hyperbole? Of course. But it captured the mood. His teammates could feel what everyone watching could see: Bos had bent the game to his will from an unfamiliar side of the pitch.

He drove high and wide, then cut in with the swagger of a winger, combining sharply with Cristian Volpato down that right-hand channel. One minute he was overlapping, the next he was drifting inside, carrying the ball through traffic. The comparison came quickly: a fullback-turned-attacker with a long stride and a taste for chaos. Gareth Bale’s name surfaced.

Bos’s own inspiration sits elsewhere on the continent.

He grew up watching Arjen Robben, that iconic left-footer who made a career of cutting in from the right and punishing teams that knew exactly what was coming and still couldn’t stop it.

“Unfortunately, I didn't score like him, but I tried, tried my hardest,” Bos said. “I think I could have scored a couple, but I think from now on if everyone puts their best foot forward and we get chances, we just have to finish it. The sky's the limit.”

That last line didn’t sound like a throwaway. It sounded like a marker.

While Bos rampaged on one side of the back three, another story was quietly unfolding on the opposite flank.

Lucas Herrington, 18 years old and still learning what it means to be a professional at this level, became the youngest Australian ever to start a World Cup match, nudging Irankunda’s name out of the record books almost as quickly as it had gone in.

No fuss. No fanfare. Just a teenager stepping into the biggest stage in football and making it look like an extension of his rapid rise.

Herrington’s ascent has already attracted heavy attention. Big European clubs have circled, with Barcelona among those keeping tabs. The noise around him has grown loud in a hurry.

He is determined not to listen.

“I'm here at the World Cup, so that's my main focus. I just want to help the team as much as possible, and we can deal with that after,” he said, sounding older than his years.

Irankunda, who knows the weight of expectation after his own move to Bayern Munich at 17, backed that approach.

“He's so talented and I feel like this is just a glimpse of what he can do, a small glimpse of what he can do, and I feel like he can just get better from here and I feel like we'll see a better side to him,” Irankunda said. “I've just told him to try to stay away from it [the speculation around his future].”

Herrington had to wait for this moment. Two games on the bench, two games watching, learning, itching to be involved. When his name finally appeared on the team sheet, he treated it not as an entitlement, but as a lesson rewarded.

“It's my first World Cup at 18. It's in probably everyone's best interest for a young player just to watch and observe the first couple of games,” he said after his debut. “I'm just grateful my opportunity came out and I really enjoyed it. I loved it every minute.”

That mix told its own story: Bos, already imposing himself like a seasoned international; Herrington, absorbing everything, then slipping into the side with a calm that belied his age.

Australia may not have found a goal against Paraguay, but it did find something else — confirmation that a new generation is not just arriving, it is ready to carry the weight of a World Cup campaign.

The round of 32 awaits. The stakes rise. So does the expectation that Bos will keep flying, Herrington will keep growing, and this young core will turn promise into something far more tangible.