World Cup Qualifying - Asia | Game10

Jun 10, 2025 at 7.15pm UK

Saudi Arabia vs Australia

Match Preview

The Saudi squad, who have scored six goals in nine qualifying games, need to beat Australia by a five-goal margin to earn a direct spot at the 2026 World Cup.

Head coach Hervé Renard knows this outcome is extremely unlikely for his team, but he is urging his players to give their all on Tuesday in the last game of the third round of Asian qualifiers for next year's tournament.

"The door is closed but we have to try to qualify even if it is through the window," Renard said after his team's 2-0 win over Bahrain last week kept Saudi. "Everything must go very well for us if we are to qualify; we have to score goals."

If Australia avoids a five-goal deficit, they will qualify for a seventh World Cup, having secured second place in Group C. The last time the Socceroos lost by such a margin was in successive 6-0 defeats against Brazil and France in 2013. The Australians have scored 14 goals and conceded six in nine qualifiers.

After successive World Cup qualifications through the play-offs, Australia is close to securing a direct route, but coach Tony Popovic is taking nothing for granted.

"We need to do a job in Saudi," Popovic said. "We're in a great position, but we need to finish it off."

Popovic has only been in the job since September, stepping in after Graham Arnold resigned after collecting just one point in the group's first two qualification games.

"It's been a really intense period since I've come in but everyone's embraced what we're aiming to do," he said. "And we're very close now to achieving our goal."

Eight places have been allocated to Asia at the 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The top two teams in each of the three groups in this round will advance directly. The teams that finish third and fourth in each group go into another round, competing for the remaining two places.

Japan was the first team to qualify, and they will top Group C regardless of the outcome of the match between Australia and Saudi Arabia, who are currently in third place. Iran and Uzbekistan have qualified from Group A, while South Korea and Jordan have qualified from Group B.

If Saudi Arabia fails to win by a margin of at least five goals, they will join the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia and Iraq in the next qualifying stage in October. Meanwhile, Oman is fourth in Group B, a point ahead of Palestine in fifth place. The two teams will meet in Amman on Tuesday.