View: Portsmouth can reap rewards after Kusini Yengi’s full-circle moment last night
Kusini Yengi enjoyed a delightful individual game for Australia in Bahrain on Tuesday with two goals, which could inspire better form at Portsmouth.
The brace could not have arrived much further apart, as the striker opened the scoring after just 38 seconds, then equalised in the 96th minute to make it 2-2 after Bahrain had turned the game around.
It was not a great result for the Socceroos in Riffa, but Yengi can enjoy the full-circle moment for his nation having been sent off last time the two sides met.
With some good fortune and hard work, Yengi’s memorable match can inspire an upturn in form for Portsmouth, for whom he has still not yet scored at Championship level.
Portsmouth hope Kusini Yengi can reignite form
Yengi was in tremendous form towards the latter end of the League One champions season last term, but the worry is that he merely found his level.
Having suffered with a groin injury which ruled him out of a period this campaign, he is only pretty recently back to full fitness and has so far failed to find the net.
This has not been helped by his own comments after travelling with his national team to Melbourne, stating some Championship tests have not been as hard as he would have thought.
It comes across particularly tone-deaf with Pompey remaining in the relegation zone at present, but his performance on a tough day for Australia in Bahrain is something John Mousinho will have kept a close eye on.
The return of Colby Bishop only adds to the competition, and Yengi has to be up for the fight.
In other Portsmouth news, Andy Cullen discusses the club’s failed pursuits of Alex Robertson and Abu Kamara.
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