Australia qualifies for 2026 World Cup with 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia

Connor Metcalfe scored his first goal for Australia and Mitchell Duke iced the 2-1 victory in Saudi Arabia that ensured the Socceroos qualified for a sixth straight World Cup.

Needing just to avoid a five-goal defeat to secure direct entry to the 2026 tournament, the Socceroos rallied with Metcalfe equalizing just before halftime with a left-foot strike and Duke putting them ahead with a 48th-minute header. Abdulrahman Al Oboud had opened for the Saudis after 19 minutes.

Goalkeeper Mat Ryan made five saves, including a late penalty, in his 100th international for Australia. The Socceroos had to qualify through playoffs in 2018 and 2022 and so earning the direct entry took some pressure off.

“We’ve done the first part — qualifying automatically,” Socceroos coach Tony Popovic said. “Now the next part is to be bigger and better for the World Cup.”

Popovic was part of the Socceroos squad that qualified for 2006, ending a long World Cup drought for Australia, and then reached the second round. Now he has guided another generation of players to the marquee global tournament.

“We’ve built a good foundation now (but) we want to get better, kick on and try and do something special in the World Cup,” he said.

Earlier, Japan and South Korea ended successful campaigns on a high with emphatic home victories over Indonesia and Kuwait, respectively.

In Osaka, Daichi Kamada scored after 15 minutes to set Japan, preparing for an eighth consecutive World Cup, on its way to a 6-0 victory.

Takefusa Kubo added a second five minutes later and Kamada extended the lead just before the break. Soon after the restart, Ryoya Morishita and Shuto Machino piled on and Mao Hosoya made it six.

The Palestinian team was eliminated from contention after conceding a goal seven minutes into stoppage time in a 1-1 draw with Oman, giving the Oman team the last spot in the next round of continental qualifying.

Six qualifiers so far from Asia

Australia joins already-qualified Japan, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Jordan i n reaching the expanded 48-team tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Asia’s two other automatic places will be settled between the six third- and fourth-place teams. That round takes place in October. The teams will be Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

Earlier, South Korea, which has qualified for an 11th straight World Cup, sealed the top spot in Group B after beating Kuwait 4-0.

Jeon Jin-woo scored after 33 minutes at Seoul World Cup Stadium and Lee Kang-in added a second soon after the restart. Oh Hyeon-gyu and Lee Jae-sung also got on the scoresheet.

Elsewhere, China finished off another disappointing campaign with a 1-0 win over Bahrain in a game between teams already eliminated from contention.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer