Australia needed to avoid heavy defeat to reach North America
Connor Metcalfe and Mitch Duke score in 2-1 win in Jeddah
It probably got a bit more tense than it should have for a while, but all the disclaimers can now finally be set aside. The Socceroos no longer have “one foot in the door”, nor have they “all but qualified”. After their 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, it’s official: Australia will be at the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Half a world away from home, the final whistle was mostly greeted by silence from the stands but nothing could contain the jubilation of the Australians. A campaign that began with a winless opening window against Bahrain and Indonesia has now ended with wins over Japan and Saudi Arabia and automatic qualification. Mission accomplished.
Taking a 19th-minute lead through Abdulrahman Al-Aboud, the host team threatened to make it interesting for a while. Given they needed to secure a miraculous five-goal win to snatch the Socceroos’ automatic qualification slot, one goal shouldn’t have been enough to trigger panic. But, considering it came just moments after Martin Boyle blazed wide with a chance that could have killed things off, Australian football’s natural inclination for cynicism was bound to stir.
