In the early hours of this morning, the mighty Socceroos beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 in Jeddah to secure their berth at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

While not as nail-biting and exciting as the penalty shootout against Peru four years ago, I’m glad that this time around they qualified via the direct and easier path.

A special shout-out goes to coach Tony Popovic, whose record stands at 5 wins, 3 draws and 0 losses. To be honest, it was a little up and down at times, but he got the job done!

The final table shows that Australia qualified by two clear games and vastly superior goal difference, but there are a few interesting things to point out here.

1. Bahrain – who finished last – managed a total of 6 points, of which 4 of those came courtesy of their two matches against the Socceroos.
2. Indonesia secured 4th place – and passage through to the next qualifying round – which is a massive achievement for them, and note that they won 3 matches during this difficult stage.
3. China flop yet again – finishing 5th – and were eliminated from the competition.
4. Japan were almost unstoppable in this group, but the Socceroos had their measure – holding them to a draw in Tokyo and beating them last week in Perth.

This is six successful qualifying campaigns in a row! Bring it on next year!

All photos courtesy of Football Australia and various online sources.