MELBOURNE, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Although thousands of miles away from the tournament, Australia is sharing the same FIFA World Cup heartbeat.

Tens of thousands of people across Australia took to the streets dressed in green and gold on Sunday to watch the Socceroos' 2-0 opening win against Türkiye at the World Cup.

The result was met with jubilation across the country and has been hailed in Australia as one of the men's national team's greatest performances in a World Cup match.

While the Socceroos' matches at previous World Cups kicked off late at night or in the early hours of the morning at home, the clash against Türkiye began at 2 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, giving the country a rare opportunity to come together in support of the national team.

Australia's host broadcaster for the tournament, SBS, said its coverage of the match reached 4.78 million viewers, representing around 17 percent of the Australian population.

A popular live site in central Melbourne reached its capacity of around 7,000 fans one hour before kickoff, and another 9,100 fans watched the game at Melbourne's AAMI Park. Around 6,000 people watched from a live site in Adelaide, the home city of goalscorer Nestory Irankunda.

Speaking to the media on Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the team had been "underestimated" by Türkiye.

"The goals by Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe were both extraordinary goals, on the break, after what were extensive and effective defensive strategies put in place by the team," he said.

By scoring the opening goal in Vancouver, 20-year-old Irankunda became the youngest Socceroo to score at a World Cup.

The winger was the youngest player in Australia's starting lineup, which was the youngest team the Socceroos have ever fielded at a World Cup, with an average age of 24.6 years.

Ten of the starters made their World Cup debuts against Türkiye, including 22-year-old goalkeeper Patrick Beach, whose performance has earned widespread praise in Australia after he was a surprise selection ahead of veteran captain Mathew Ryan.

"I take my hat off to him because the guy was outstanding," goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who made 109 appearances for the Socceroos over a 20-year span, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation of Beach's performance.

"He was put in an incredibly pressurized position. The manager obviously believed in him 100 percent because otherwise he would never have put him in that position."

With the Socceroos playing at a sixth consecutive World Cup, the win against Türkiye has Australians dreaming of a first-ever victory in the knockout stage, following round-of-16 eliminations against eventual champions Italy and Argentina in 2006 and 2022, respectively.

Defender Alessandro Circati, 22, said inexperience would not be a disadvantage for the team.

"It was a very, very young team out there. But experience only does so much," he said.

"The energy that the team has, the eagerness to win duels, to win races - that gets you over the line in the end, and we did just that."