Under a scorching Jeddah sun, Socceroos plot winning end to qualification
As they prepare to meet Saudi Arabia, notions of being 'all but' qualified for the World Cup aren't being countenanced in Socceroo camp. But given how well they've defended, they're in a good spot.
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – As one might expect, that Australia has ‘all but’ punched its tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup hasn’t been given much credence inside the Socceroos camp in the wake of their 1-0 smash-and-grab win over Japan. That they ‘only’ need to avoid a 5-0 defeat against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday evening to ensure their progression hasn’t been countenanced much, either.
Thanks to their famous win over the Samurai Blue, Tony Popovic’s side flew into Saudi Arabia last Friday with a three-point lead over their opponents, as well as a goal difference and goals scored advantage that means they’d need to fall to the heaviest defeat in almost 13 years to slip to third and be forced into a fourth-phase of qualification. But any thoughts of anything less than three points, however, which would give Australia a handy boost in FIFA rankings points in addition to putting a bow on qualification, aren’t being considered.
“That's definitely our mentality, and that's what's put us in the position that we're in now,” midfielder Aiden O’Neill reflected to JDL Media. “We're going out there to beat them.”
Conditions overhead mean little to distract the side from this mission in Jeddah, with temperatures in the mid-30s, which feels like more than 40 degrees when bouncing off the vast network of concrete highways that dot the city, doing little to tempt players to leave their accommodations to explore the Red Sea Port. Under the watchful eye of staff, the group was put through their pace for the second and final time at the Al-Faisal Stadium on Sunday evening as the mercury slowly began to dip into the low 30s, striking a moderate intensity to their training during the portion media were allowed to observe before more in-depth positioning and tactical work began.
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For those in the 26 such as Aziz Behich, Kai Trewin, and Ryan Teague, who came straight into camp off the back of a Melburnian winter, these conditions present another challenge that will need to be overcome in Tuesday evening’s game. Those who were a part of the side’s Abu Dhabi-based training camp, however, have at least some level of acclimatisation to fall back on, with conditions during those preparations said to be even hotter than Jeddah by those present at both.
Yet for all the angles that can be read into the looming contest – Popovic would wrly observe before the Japan fixture that the first time he would often become aware of the more narrative-coded aspects of his side’s fixtures is when they were put to him in press conferences – the driving framing of it within the camp is a very simple one. They’re not here to keep it close, and they’re not here to grab a draw. They’re here to win.
“The job's not finished. We don't have our tickets yet. The country is not in that pot of teams that's already qualified yet. That's the reality situation,” said defender Jason Geria.
“Until that's the case, there's no room to take the foot off the pedal. There's no room to relax [Popovic] made that really clear the night of the game and the day after the game, especially a training, that we still have a lot of work to do, you know, to get this country qualified for next year's World Cup. So, yeah, that was the message. And everyone's taken on board.”
Now, having said all that, and apologies to Popovic for going against his narrative if he’s reading this (absolutely he’s not), there’s very little in the form guide that suggests Australia should be letting this opportunity slip through their grasp. Indeed, the form guide is skewed in their favour in such a way that, if the Saudis were to do the unthinkable, the only thing saving it from being considered one of the most disastrous nights in Australian football would be the incredibly forgiving qualification path afforded by a newly expanded 48-team tournament.
Across their nine games of qualification thus far, the Australians have conceded only six times, equal for the second-most profligate in all of Asia, alongside the Saudis, funnily enough, and trailing only Japan. However, while the Socceroos have been able to muster 14 goals going in the opposite direction, the Saudis have only scored six times across their nine matches, better than only Bahrain in this phase and sitting level with the likes of China, North Korea, and the Kyrgyz Republic.
“[Popovic] has been here as coach for quite a few camps now, and has instilled that [defensive organisation] from the first one that he was in,” O’Neill said. “So I think we come here and we know what's expected. We do a lot of video as well; that always helps to switch the brain on, especially when you come back from your club, into the Socceroos. When we come in here, we know what's expected.”
With 24 goals across their nine fixtures thus far in the third phase of Asian qualifying, no side has scored more goals than Japan, and second-place isn’t even that close either – Qatar the next best with 17 goals scored but, weighed down by their 21 goals conceded, locked into the four phase of qualifications.
And yet, across 180 minutes of football against the Socceroos, the Samurai Blue were only able to penetrate their defence once, and even that one strike, coming in the two sides' 1-1 draw in Saitama last October, carries the disclaimer that it came off Cameron Burgess. Hajime Moriyasu’s side, carrying the stated intention of breaking the South American and European duopoly over the World Cup in 2026, were only able to muster four shots on target across those two contests, too, the same number as the Australians, despite having more than two-thirds of possession in both games.
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A standout in the first game against Japan, the return to health of Alessandro Circati and the re-emergence of Miloš Degenek saw Geria come off the bench in the return fixture in Perth, with Cameron Burgess also starting and Trewin and Kye Rowles other central defensive options waiting in the wings. It speaks to a level of depth that, even without the injured Harry Souttar – a certainty to come back into the XI when fit – and Hayden Matthews – makes the Socceroos’ backline such a fearsome unit.
“It's next level,” Rowles told JDL Media. “I think that's why the defence has been a hallmark of what we've been building in recent years. The amount of competition for spots is amazing. You know that if you aren't at the level that you need to be, you might not get that next game, or you might not get the minutes that you think you're going to get.
“We're pushing each other in the best way, supporting each other, and that's why we're getting the best out of each other, because we know that competition is there, it's healthy competition, and we've all got each other's backs at the same time. You see results like [Japan], and you just can't be happier for the guys out there to keep a clean sheet against the best team in Asia. It’s pretty inspirational.
“Coming into camp, I've been feeling like I want to be playing the best football I can and putting my name out there. That’s what I've been doing the last few weeks, trying to put my best case forward. If it's not enough to get the minutes, then I know that I've got to keep doing more and hopefully prove myself that this is the level I can be at and hopefully get that chance.
“But the amount of quality that we've got, it doesn't matter who's out there. We know what job the player is going to do out there, and we know what we're going to get. So I think at the moment, anyone who goes out there is going to do a stellar job for us.”