If you had offered the Socceroos four points from the October international window and second place in their World Cup 2026 qualification group three months ago, they’d likely have had your arm off with the speed they’d try to shake on it. That’s at least once they’d gone through the motions of talking about how they go into every game trying to win.
If you’d asked them much the same three weeks ago, though advancing the prospect of securing a 3-1 win over China in Adelaide before emerging from Saitama with a 1-1 draw against a previously perfect Japan – results that would see them take hold of an automatic Asian qualification place in Group C – they’d probably have dropped the niceties.
