Mat Ryan saved a late penalty in his one hundredth sport as Australia got here from behind to defeat Saudi Arabia 2-1 in Jeddah and make sure their place on the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Martin Boyle had already blazed a fantastic probability vast by the point Abdulrahman Al-Aboud tapped in a Nineteenth-minute opener after good work from Salem Al Dawsari and Feras Al Brikan.
Ali Majrashi and Musab Al Juwayr missed good alternatives to increase the lead earlier than Australia levelled three minutes earlier than the break, with Connor Metcalfe making use of a cool end after nice hold-up play from Cameron Burgess.
The Socceroos took the lead three minutes after the restart when Mitch Duke met Boyle’s left-wing free-kick with a glancing header into the far nook.
Majrashi had a straight crimson overturned for a foul on Boyle following a VAR evaluation. Saudi Arabia then had a spot-kick when Al Dawsari was felled by Jason Geria however Ryan denied the identical man, whose effort to the bottom-right nook was learn by the Australia goalkeeper.
Tony Popovic’s facet, who have been all-but there anyway, consequently qualify robotically from Group C of the third spherical of Asian qualifiers, with Saudi Arabia now heading for the fourth spherical of qualification.
QUALIFIED!!!
For the sixth consecutive time, we’re going to the #FIFAWorldCup #Socceroos #ForeverGolden pic.twitter.com/hGhsOfZ9Rq
— Subway Socceroos (@Socceroos) June 10, 2025
Knowledge Debrief: Socceroos on a roll
Australia have now racked up 4 straight wins in AFC World Cup qualifiers, their final joint-longest profitable streak was from October 10, 2017 to October 7, 2021.
Ryan made 5 saves on this match, with the final time he logged extra in a sport for the Socceroos coming in February 2024 in opposition to South Korea on the AFC Asian Cup (seven).
For Saudi Arabia, this marked the primary time they’ve misplaced after scoring the opening aim within the AFC World Cup qualifiers for the primary time since August 29, 2017 in opposition to UAE (10 video games with out defeat).