What had once looked fanciful has now become a reality: the Socceroos have qualified automatically for the 2026 World Cup. For the first time in over a decade there will be no playoff heroics required, no ice cold hat-trick from Mile Jedinak or shootout dancing from Andrew Redmayne. After a 1-0 win over Japan in Perth and a 2-1 win against Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, Tony Popovic’s team have done it the easy way, joining Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, and Japan from Asian qualifying in North America next year.
Had this scenario been presented when the draw for this phase of qualification was made, few would have believed it. Not just because Australian football has bred its own unique brand of cynicism over the years, but also because the last two times Australia’s men had been sorted into a group with Japan and the Saudis, they had been forced to settle for third place and further playoffs. There would have been even fewer believers to be found in the months that followed, when a loss to Bahrain and a draw with Indonesia marked a winless opening window, the departure of Graham Arnold and the hiring of Tony Popovic with just weeks to prepare for fixtures against China and Japan.
