Article by Daniel Scorpie – Published Friday, November 14, 2025, 10:49 am / Updated Friday, November 14, 2025 11:12 am
Troy Parrott became an overnight hero in the Irelandafter the 23-year-old striker signed a story victory with Portugal (2-0), in the preliminaries for the 2026 World Championship. In Dublin, AZ Alkmaar's goal scorer, who was not supposed to play as a starter if Evan Ferguson had not been injured, won over the fans with the “double” that rekindles the hopes of qualifying for the final North American tournament.
If Portugal invented its own Murphy's Law on Thursday, as the daily A Bola writes, Troy Parrott borrowed his last name as a nickname for Cristiano Ronaldo's black night, eliminated for the first time in 226 selections, in the failure suffered (0-2) by the group leader.
The striker, who was given his debut by Jose Mourinho at Tottenham and who only got six minutes in the Premier League, shocked Portugal and stunned Europe. Including on the Irish fans, crazy about Parrott's “double”, logically chose the MVP of the game.
This is probably the most beautiful night of my life! We all knew how important this match was. I was speechless. I feel relieved that our hard work has paid off
Troy Parrottthe striker of the Irish national team
“Troy Parrott found the password to Treasure Island!”
The striker, transferred four months ago for 4 million euros from AZ Alkmaar, had scored only once in an official match for the national team and normally would have started the duel with Cristiano Ronaldo's team on the bench if the starter Evan Ferguson had not been injured at AS Roma.
The unexpected hero was showered with praise from fans, with their messages quickly going viral on social media. “My first child's name will be Troy Parrott!”one posted.
Troy Parrott (in a duel with Ruben Neves) brought three points to Ireland, who will play in Hungary in the final for the 2nd place in the group / Photo: Imago
“Troy Parrott is what someone says in Ireland when entering the password for Long John Silver (no – the character from the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and the name of a fast food chain),” said a second.
While the third supporter proclaimed: “If an election were held this week, Troy Parrott would surely be the favorite candidate for the presidency!”.
Troy Parrott has come of age. He is in great form at the club and has just had his best half in the green shirt. It brought us an important and much-needed victory, to think that we can play in the World Championship
An Irish fan, after Ireland – Portugal 2-0
Alkmaar took the striker for 4 million euros with six minutes in the Premier League, debuted by Mourinho at Spurs!
As his first name could characterize the fierce battle that took place in Dublin last night, Troy Parrott only confirmed the excellent form from the club in the Netherlands. The striker scored 13 goals in 14 games played this season, and the “double” in the goal of the last Nations League winner was the fifth in 2025-2026!
Troy Parrott was chosen man of the match against Portugal, after the “double” with which he decided Ireland's victory / Photo: Imago
Parrott had a brilliant debut with the youth team, goal against Armenia, then “double” against Sweden. It was more than six years ago and Troy was making the step up to Ireland's seniors with four wins in five games.
7goals scored by Troy Parrott in 32 selections for the national team of Ireland, for which he was the starter only 15 times, with an average of 43 minutes played per match
And he had a similar episode with Ronaldo: he was eliminated (two yellow cards), after getting into an altercation with Moise Kean (“red” directly), about the same minute that Cristiano also went to the locker room, in the draw with Italy in the EURO U21 preliminaries.
