Key events
The question is whether contact was inside or outside the box. Replays suggest it was the later and the penalty will surely be overturned, but that raises the question of whether Saudi keeper Ali Al Bulayhi is about to see red.
12 mins: Penalty to Australia! The first decent stoppage in the game as Marwan Al Sahafi gets caught under Jason Geria and takes some time to get back to his feet. A long ball from Cam Burgess at the restart unlocks the Saudi defence and Mitch Duke is through on goal. The keeper comes out tries to clear the ball with his head, but contact with Duke brings down the Australia striker.
9 mins: Saudi Arabia have a good period of control in their attacking half with some brisk ball movement. A cross into the box is the most threatening until a glancing header from Geria clears the danger.
6 mins: A Saudi handball just outside the penalty box gives Ajdin Hrustic the first true chance of the game, but after a long pause he can only slam the ball into the wall. A big build up to that free kick, but in the end it was a poor strike.
3 mins: Saudi Arabia win the first corner after Jason Geria is forced to bail out his side as the last man. The Socceroos clear away but that was an early warning that they won’t have it all their own way this evening.
1 min: Peep peep! The Socceroos kick off and look to make a fast start, straight into some forward momentum. The sold out crowd are in full voice, there is plenty of atmosphere matching the high stakes at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
The national anthems are complete, the players are in situ and we’re about to get underway…
Saudi Arabia present a familiar opponent, who had the better of the Socceroos in qualifying for the previous World Cup under French coach Hervé Renard. Much has changed since then, and Jack Snape was on the ground as Australia’s coach Tony Popovic backed his side to play with restored confidence.
“We feel it’s in our hands here at our home stadium and our crowd, the players look calm and confident, and I want to see that in their performance,” Popovic said.
John Duerden looked at Roberto Mancini’s exit as Saudi Arabia head coach last month – before Hervé Renard was reappointed in the role and a glow returned to the Green Falcons.
Mancini walks away from Saudi Arabia considerably richer than when he arrived 14 months earlier, but few would say that the national team is any better off.
Phil Withall is next up with a reminder that the spotlight has been turned onto the football in Melbourne, rather than the cricket in Brisbane (though we also have live blog running for the T20), with bad weather settling in.
“It’s a stormy old night up here in Queensland. Intermittent power outages, intense lightning and thunder so loud that AC/DC would feel intimidated. I’m hoping to be able to watch the match, accompanied by the magnificent MBM … Either way a home win is paramount but I see this being a lot closer than some anticipate.”
Rob Haigh is the first to get in touch with not so much a prediction as a plan of attack for the Socceroos.
“A big 6 pointer today, some stabilising experience back in the squad, and a vociferous crowd behind them, the 12th man for Oz … make it a desert for the opposition, not an oasis please”
Hervé Renard is back in charge of Saudi Arabia with the hope that he can again sprinkle around his magic dust that tends to lift spirits and get a playing group to rise above their supposed level.
More on the second coming of the Frenchman and the Green Falcons, from yours truly:
Saudi Arabia XI
Green Falcons: Ali Al Bulayhi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Marwan Al Sahafi, Feras Albrikan, Musab Aljuwayr, Saleh Al Shehri, Saud Abdulhamid, Yasir Gharsan S Alshahrani (capt), Faisal Alghamdi, Hassan Al Tambakti, Ahmed Alkassar
Hervé Renard swings the changes in his first match back in charge of Saudi Arabia since taking them to the 2022 World Cup.
Australia XI
Socceroos: Joe Gauci, Lewis Miller, Jason Geria, Harry Souttar, Cam Burgess, Jordy Bos, Jackson Irvine (capt), Aiden O’Neill, Ajdin Hrustic, Riley McGree, Mitch Duke
Just the one change from the starting lineup that drew 1-1 in Japan last month, as Aiden O’Neill replaces Luke Brattan in the central midfield. Jackson Irvine again takes the captain’s armband with Joe Gauci preferred over Mat Ryan in goal.
The Socceroos will be without the suspended Craig Goodwin and have not included teen sensation Nestory Irankunda in the squad to face Saudi Arabia tonight and Bahrain next week, as coach Tony Popovic continues to introduce fresh blood (hello Max Balard) and bring A-League stalwarts in from the cold (welcome back Rhyan Grant and Anthony Caceres).
Irankunda’s omission supposedly wasn’t about his Socceroos performance so far, but instead about allowing him time to settle in Germany while trying to break into the first team at Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
We know he’s a young man with a lot of potential who finds himself at one of the biggest clubs in the world,” Popovic said last week. “We just feel it’s an opportunity for him to settle in at Bayern, get the development that he needs there and the growth and just settle into a new culture, new country, new language.
Preamble
Martin Pegan
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the 2026 World Cup qualifier between Australia and Saudi Arabia at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium (also known to some as AAMI Park). This is the third World Cup qualification campaign in a row that the familiar foes have faced each other at this point and once again the stakes are sky high. The Socceroos and Green Falcons have edged in front of up to five teams competing for what looks likely to be just one remaining automatic qualification spot, and are currently separated in second and third place in their group only by goal difference.
After a horror start to the third round, the Socceroos have handed the reins to Tony Popovic and then taken tentative steps towards turning around their form with a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over China followed by a backs-to-the-wall 1-1 draw in Japan. The four points taken from that window were enough to lift Australia to second place in group C, equal on five points with this evening’s opponents as well as Bahrain, though they are all five points behind runaway leaders Japan.
While the Green Falcons are equal on points with the Socceroos they are perhaps a few strides further back in their hopes of a revival after ending Roberto Mancini’s 14-month reign just three weeks ago. Hervé Renard is back in charge after leading the side to the 2022 World Cup, where they stunned eventual champions Argentina before exiting at the group stage, and was coach when Saudi Arabia frustrated the Socceroos with a 0-0 stalemate in Parramatta in 2021. The Frenchman returned to the same shores when coach of his home nation’s women’s team at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, where they were knocked out in a last-eight shootout against the Matildas.
All that sets the scene for a cagey battle where the winner will end the evening sitting in the critical second spot in the group at the halfway mark of the third round.
Kick-off is at 8.10pm AEDT. I’ll be back shortly with the line-ups and team news.
Remember to get in touch with any comments, questions, thoughts and predictions. You can shoot me an email, or find me on X @martinpegan and Bluesky @martinpegan.bsky.social. Let’s get into it!
