JEDDAH: Australia qualified for next year’s World Cup in North America with a 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Tuesday while Oman kept their hopes of a place at the finals alive with a last-gasp 1-1 draw against Palestine in Jordan.

Tony Popovic’s Socceroos, who went into the third round’s final match day heavy favourites to progress, only had to avoid a five-goal defeat to confirm their appearance at a sixth consecutive finals and goals from Connor Metcalfe and Mitch Duke earned the Australians a come-from-behind win to brush aside the Saudis.

The win confirms the Australians as second-place finisher in Group ‘C’ behind Japan, who secured their spot at the finals in March. The Socceroos had to qualify through playoffs in 2018 and 2022 and so earning the direct entry took some pressure off.

“It is special. It probably hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Popovic, who took over as coach last September after Australia made a stuttering start to the third round of qualifying. “We’ve done the first part — qualifying automatically.

“It’s been a very intense period since I’ve joined. We’ve built a good foundation now [but] we want to really get better, kick on and try and do something special at the World Cup.”

Herve Renard’s Saudi Arabia took third place in Group ‘C’ and will feature in a fourth phase of qualifiers in October alongside Indonesia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Oman.

Abdulrahman Al-Obud had given the home side a glimmer of hope when he netted from close range in the 19th minute at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium but Metcalfe equalised with three minutes left in the half with a left-foot strike to extinguish Saudi dreams.

Duke then put the visitors in front in the 48th minute when he glanced Martin Boyle’s free kick past Nawaf Al-Aqidi before Mat Ryan, making his 100th appearance for his country, saved a late penalty save to deny Salem Al-Dawsari an equaliser.

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.

“To show that character, resilience and then quality to come back and actually take the lead and win the game, I’m delighted,” said Popovic.

Earlier in the evening, Japan ended their successful campaign on a high with a 6-0 home victory over Patrick Kluivert’s Indonesia, who finished fourth in Group ‘C’.

South Korea sealed top spot in Group ‘B’ after beating Kuwait 4-0 while Jordan, who qualified for their first World Cup on Thursday, finished second despite losing 1-0 to Graham Arnold’s Iraq in Amman.

Iraq confirmed third place in the group but Palestine’s hopes of a first appearance at the finals ended after they conceded a penalty seven minutes into stoppage time in a 1-1 draw with Oman in Amman.

Palestine, playing their home fixtures at a neutral venue, took the lead on 49 minutes when Oday Kharoub headed Adam Kaied’s corner into the top corner.

A second yellow card for Oman’s Harib Al-Saadi had put Ihab Abu Jazar’s side in control until the dying minutes, when Muhsen Al-Ghassani was brought down in the area.

Issam Al-Sabhi stepped up to send goalkeeper Rami Hamada the wrong way to seal fourth place in the group for Oman and eliminate the heartbroken Palestinians.

Iran confirmed themselves as Group ‘A’ winners with a 3-0 win over North Korea that came after Kye Tam was sent off for the visitors with 24 minutes remaining in Tehran.

Mehdi Mohebi, Mehdi Taremi and Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh were all on target in the last 16 minutes to guarantee first place for the Iranians, who had secured their berth in March.

Already-qualified Uzbek­istan took second spot with a 3-0 win against Qatar in Tash­kent while the United Arab Emirates claimed third ahead of the Qataris despite conceding a late goal to draw 1-1 with Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2025