.png)
1 month ago
13
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
43 mins: Australia persist with playing out from the back but almost come unstuck as Harry Souttar bobbles a pass to Riley McGree on the edge of the box. A moment of panic but the Socceroos are able to clear.
41 mins: Lewis Miller is getting forward more now and might have benefited from a foul near the corner flag but a curious decision goes the other way.
38 mins: Australia have settled now and are finding time and space down their right side, after the Saudis had started with most of their early attacks coming from the same half of the pitch.
35 mins: Ajdin Hrustic looks the most likely to find a way through the Saudi defence, the playmaker getting on the ball more in midfield and working the angles inside the box. Hrustic has a sight on goal from inside the box but the shot is blocked. Australia have once again taken their time to get the creative juices flowing, but there are signs they are finally here.
32 mins: Finally an extended period in the Socceroos forward half. A cross from the left sails well beyond the far post but when it is knocked back Harry Souttar has half a chance to open the scoring, until mis-timing his header. Neat touches around the box almost unlock another opportunity but the Saudis stand firm in a deep block.
29 mins: Australia push into their attacking half for the first time with any real conviction since the penalty shout, as Jordy Bos rockets a cross into the box from the left side. The ball drops into a gap but the Socceroos’ forwards can’t pounce quickly enough and the Saudi defence is able to clear.
27 mins: Nasser Al Dawsari has the first shot on goal after he finds space inside the box until pushed further out to the left as Lewis Miller closes in. The Saudi midfielder blasts away with his left boot from a tight angle but Joe Gauci covers the near post and knocks away for a corner.
24 mins: A long ball over the top puts Australian hearts in mouths as Marwan Al Sahafi runs clear but Joe Gauci is quickly off the mark to close down the danger and collect the ball. The Saudis’ speed of foot, as much as their pace on the ball, is testing the home side.
21 mins: Saudi Arabia look more comfortable on the ball so far as they again move up the field with ease. Australia struggling to maintain possession as that lengthy delay seems to have taken a bit of sting out of the game.
18 mins: Hrustic finally gets the game back underway as he crosses in the free kick. The Saudi keeper blocks it early but fails to clear, there is a scramble in the box but Harry Souttar skies a half volley over the crossbar.
16 mins: Penalty overturned! Yellow card is awarded and Tony Popovic in incensed. He has reason to be as there was no one behind the Saudi gloveman when contact was made with Duke, and the ball looked within reach if not for the collision. But it’s a let off for the Green Falcons.
14 mins: The question is whether contact was inside or outside the box. Replays suggest it was the latter and the penalty will surely be overturned, but that raises the question of whether Ahmed Alkassar is about to see red.
12 mins: Penalty to Australia! The first decent stoppage in the game as Marwan Al Sahafi gets caught under Jason Geria and takes some time to get back to his feet. A long ball from Cam Burgess at the restart unlocks the Saudi defence and Mitch Duke is through on goal. The keeper Ahmed Alkassar comes out tries to clear the ball with his head, but contact with Duke brings down the Australia striker.
9 mins: Saudi Arabia have a good period of control in their attacking half with some brisk ball movement. A cross into the box is the most threatening until a glancing header from Geria clears the danger.
6 mins: A Saudi handball just outside the penalty box gives Ajdin Hrustic the first true chance of the game, but after a long pause he can only slam the ball into the wall. A big build up to that free kick, but in the end it was a poor strike.
3 mins: Saudi Arabia win the first corner after Jason Geria is forced to bail out his side as the last man. The Socceroos clear away but that was an early warning that they won’t have it all their own way this evening.
1 min: Peep peep! The Socceroos kick off and look to make a fast start, straight into some forward momentum. The sold out crowd are in full voice, there is plenty of atmosphere matching the high stakes at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
The national anthems are complete, the players are in situ and we’re about to get underway…
Saudi Arabia present a familiar opponent, who had the better of the Socceroos in qualifying for the previous World Cup under French coach Hervé Renard. Much has changed since then, and Jack Snape was on the ground as Australia’s coach Tony Popovic backed his side to play with restored confidence.
“We feel it’s in our hands here at our home stadium and our crowd, the players look calm and confident, and I want to see that in their performance,” Popovic said.
John Duerden looked at Roberto Mancini’s exit as Saudi Arabia head coach last month – before Hervé Renard was reappointed in the role and a glow returned to the Green Falcons.
Mancini walks away from Saudi Arabia considerably richer than when he arrived 14 months earlier, but few would say that the national team is any better off.
Phil Withall is next up with a reminder that the spotlight has been turned onto the football in Melbourne, rather than the cricket in Brisbane (though we also have live blog running for the T20), with bad weather settling in.
“It’s a stormy old night up here in Queensland. Intermittent power outages, intense lightning and thunder so loud that AC/DC would feel intimidated. I’m hoping to be able to watch the match, accompanied by the magnificent MBM … Either way a home win is paramount but I see this being a lot closer than some anticipate.”
Rob Haigh is the first to get in touch with not so much a prediction as a plan of attack for the Socceroos.
“A big 6 pointer today, some stabilising experience back in the squad, and a vociferous crowd behind them, the 12th man for Oz … make it a desert for the opposition, not an oasis please”
Hervé Renard is back in charge of Saudi Arabia with the hope that he can again sprinkle around his magic dust that tends to lift spirits and get a playing group to rise above their supposed level.
More on the second coming of the Frenchman and the Green Falcons, from yours truly:
Saudi Arabia XI
Green Falcons: Ahmed Alkassar, Ali Al Bulayhi, Saud Abdulhamid, Yasir Gharsan S Alshahrani (capt), Hassan Al Tambakti, Nasser Al Dawsari, Marwan Al Sahafi, Musab Aljuwayr, Faisal Alghamdi, Feras Albrikan, Saleh Al Shehri
Hervé Renard swings the changes in his first match back in charge of Saudi Arabia since taking them to the 2022 World Cup.
Australia XI
Socceroos: Joe Gauci, Lewis Miller, Jason Geria, Harry Souttar, Cam Burgess, Jordy Bos, Jackson Irvine (capt), Aiden O’Neill, Ajdin Hrustic, Riley McGree, Mitch Duke
Just the one change from the starting lineup that drew 1-1 in Japan last month, as Aiden O’Neill replaces Luke Brattan in the central midfield. Jackson Irvine again takes the captain’s armband with Joe Gauci preferred over Mat Ryan in goal.
The Socceroos will be without the suspended Craig Goodwin and have not included teen sensation Nestory Irankunda in the squad to face Saudi Arabia tonight and Bahrain next week, as coach Tony Popovic continues to introduce fresh blood (hello Max Balard) and bring A-League stalwarts in from the cold (welcome back Rhyan Grant and Anthony Caceres).
Irankunda’s omission supposedly wasn’t about his Socceroos performance so far, but instead about allowing him time to settle in Germany while trying to break into the first team at Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
We know he’s a young man with a lot of potential who finds himself at one of the biggest clubs in the world,” Popovic said last week. “We just feel it’s an opportunity for him to settle in at Bayern, get the development that he needs there and the growth and just settle into a new culture, new country, new language.
Preamble
Martin Pegan
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the 2026 World Cup qualifier between Australia and Saudi Arabia at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium (also known to some as AAMI Park). This is the third World Cup qualification campaign in a row that the familiar foes have faced each other at this point and once again the stakes are sky high. The Socceroos and Green Falcons have edged in front of up to five teams competing for what looks likely to be just one remaining automatic qualification spot, and are currently separated in second and third place in their group only by goal difference.
After a horror start to the third round, the Socceroos have handed the reins to Tony Popovic and then taken tentative steps towards turning around their form with a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over China followed by a backs-to-the-wall 1-1 draw in Japan. The four points taken from that window were enough to lift Australia to second place in group C, equal on five points with this evening’s opponents as well as Bahrain, though they are all five points behind runaway leaders Japan.
While the Green Falcons are equal on points with the Socceroos they are perhaps a few strides further back in their hopes of a revival after ending Roberto Mancini’s 14-month reign just three weeks ago. Hervé Renard is back in charge after leading the side to the 2022 World Cup, where they stunned eventual champions Argentina before exiting at the group stage, and was coach when Saudi Arabia frustrated the Socceroos with a 0-0 stalemate in Parramatta in 2021. The Frenchman returned to the same shores when coach of his home nation’s women’s team at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, where they were knocked out in a last-eight shootout against the Matildas.
All that sets the scene for a cagey battle where the winner will end the evening sitting in the critical second spot in the group at the halfway mark of the third round.
Kick-off is at 8.10pm AEDT. I’ll be back shortly with the line-ups and team news.
Remember to get in touch with any comments, questions, thoughts and predictions. You can shoot me an email, or find me on X @martinpegan and Bluesky @martinpegan.bsky.social. Let’s get into it!
