MONTREAL, Canada -- With the 2026 FIFA World Cup firmly in his sights, Socceroos striker Mohamed Touré has told ESPN that he doesn't want to put a ceiling on what he can achieve, with a growing maturity off the field propelling his rising fortunes on it.
Despite requiring pre-game painkillers for a shoulder injury he picked up pre-window with his club side Randers, Touré made his second straight start for Australia in their 1-0 win over Canada on Friday evening, chasing down a Connor Metcalfe pass before whipping in a cross for Nestory Irankunda to turn home.
This followed a standout Soccer Ashes by the 21-year-old in September, where he registered his first international assist in setting up Max Balard's late goal to beat New Zealand in Canberra before then logging his first international start and goals when he netted a brace in the return leg in Auckland.
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"I'm learning to be more effective for my team," Touré told ESPN. "Maybe not scoring all the time, setting up the ball, maybe the pass before the setup. How to hurt the opponent as much as possible.
"I'm feeling good. I'm feeling confident. That's the right word to use. Hopefully, I can take it into the next game and then into my club."
Inevitably, these performances from Touré, who has now been selected in three straight squads and is now averaging an international goal involvement every 64 minutes, have served to not only propel him into the frame for Tony Popovic's World Cup squad but also a starting role in it.
But they've also been accompanied by a public challenge from the coach to demonstrate he can maintain this level without breaking down with injury during the rapid turnarounds between high-intensity World Cup fixtures.
The coach's famous expectations for his players to be elite professionals on and off the field, however, have already played a role in Touré's progress here. The youngster has logged the second-most senior minutes of his career just 10 weeks into the new Danish Superliga season, along with two goals and four assists.
"I feel like I'm just growing, you know? I'm still young," Touré said. "I think sometimes people forget that I'm young and I'm growing.
"What you do off the pitch has a big influence on the pitch. And I feel like I'm learning and I'm ticking those boxes as I go.
"I'm not perfect yet and have a lot to do, but I feel like the reason I've been inconsistent with game time is because maybe I haven't been the best professional off the pitch. Not willingly, it's just things that I didn't know and [things] nobody really taught me.
"But now I'm getting more and more of that, especially here with the national team. They're very good at that, the physical coach, the nutritionist, they're on me, they try to help me as much as I can, and I can see the results."
And while it's couched in warnings that he can't take it for granted, the young striker is refusing to allow himself to be hemmed in by expectations.
"[The World Cup] is my goal," he said. "I don't think any Australian footballer will tell you that they don't want to be there. We all think the same thing.
"If I can put my talent onto the pitch and show everybody what I can do, and like the boss said, if I can stay on the pitch consistently, I think I'll give myself the best chance of being in the squad.
"I feel like the sky's the limit. That's what I get told a lot. I like to listen to people who've done it before me and who have been at these top levels before me, and when players like this tell you that they think I've got what it takes to go to this level, it's exciting for me.
"But I try not to get ahead of myself, I just try to keep my head down, keep working as hard as I can, and just see what I can do in the future."