Jackson Irvine (29) was clearly disappointed after the final whistle. With difficulty he fought back the tears in his eyes. The World Cup in the desert in Qatar is over for the FC St. Pauli midfielder.
Australia lost 2-1 to Argentina, missing out on the quarter-finals. This would still have happened without Irvine had we made progress. The Kiez-Kicker captain soon saw his second yellow card of the tournament and was reportedly suspended.
“Losing is always hard,” admitted Irvine on the microphone of the ARD. “We really fought, believed in ourselves and stuck together. We had a lot of good chances. You saw it at last. We can truly praise and be proud of each other.
His conclusion at the World Cup: “I hope we have given people some joy and have made football progress a bit for the new generation.”
Irvine also more than worthily represented the Pauli colors. Sporting director Andreas Bornemann (51): “Jackson also showed his qualities at the World Cup against the best international teams and against world-class players like Lionel Messi.”
Pauli will receive around 200,000 euros as compensation for the World Cup. Irvine is now on vacation. After Christmas, he joins coach Timo Schultz (45) for training on December 27th.
Then it’s back to everyday life: battle for relegation to the second division instead of holidays for the World Cup…