Irvine challenged to lose his trademark look if he scores at the World Cup

Hull City fans could have to think up a new chant for Jackson Irvine if the midfielder scores at the World Cup.

‘Long hair never looked so good’, so the song goes for the fans’ favourite who has donned a pony tail for the last four years, but should he agree to a bet it could be a thing of the past.

The midfielder is currently preparing to represent Australia in his first ever World Cup finals this summer, with the Socceroos’ campaign getting underway on Saturday morning when they take on France in Kazan.

But, if centre-back Trent Sainsbury gets his way there could be a lot less of Jackson Irvine returning to East Yorkshire for the new Championship season next month, should he have a successful tournament.

“It came out last night actually, Trent tried to convince me that if I score, he gets to shave my head after the game,” Irvine said.

“I haven’t quite agreed to that bet yet, it’s become part of my trademark and I’ve become quite emotionally attached to it, so I can’t see it going anywhere any time soon.”

The Socceroos are outsiders to progress from a tough group which also features Peru and Denmark, with France the understandable favourites to win Group C.

However, while Australia might be the underdogs, Irvine is confident they can upset the odds in Russia and make dismissive pundits eat their words.

“We saw it last year at the Confederations Cup after the Brazil game, we showed no fear against these top nations and we came out fighting against the best teams,” he added. “We’re going to have to show that again on Saturday.

“We’re focused on ourselves and as I said, we’re planning to play in a way where it’s not going to matter the way the opposition play and the way they approach it because we’re going to have our structures and it’s more important about what we do here.”

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