Ever since Tim Cahill’s retirement in 2018, Australia have been searching for a dependable replacement up front.
For years, the Socceroos have been searching for a striker to fill Tim Cahill’s empty boots: someone strong, tall and quick, a reliable source of goals in the air and on the ground, someone who can reach into a bag of tricks and pull out a clever one-on-one move to skip past an opponent, but also a player who can link up with his teammates and bring them into the attack.The search can be called off right now, according to the latest guy asked to fill the brief. We’ve found him. He’s here.
And now fans of Portsmouth, who are leading the race for promotion from England’s League One, know it. Yengi has brought his dance moves with him to the fallen Premier League giants, for whom he’s bagged 11 goals in 24 appearances since moving there this season. Yengi is fully aware of the size of the opportunity coach Graham Arnold has put in front of him, having only made his Socceroos debut in November before earning his first start against Uzbekistan at the Asian Cup. Allow him to go through his own boxes.
The son of a renowned refugee advocate and academic from South Sudan, Yengi was born in Adelaide, grew up a massive AFL fan and was a relative latecomer to the world game - inspired by the feats of Socceroos winger Awer Mabil, whose emergence from South Australia’s African community has similarly paved the way for the likes of Nestory Irankunda and the three Toure brothers, Al Hassan, Mohamed and Musa.