World Cup Qualification Thread for 2026 - Socceroos/Asia

[Volrath2002]

Some really odd choices in the squad for these two games. But Popa must love to keep us on our toes.

Personally I am baffled by the omission of Baccus. he has been the best deep central mid for the national for a long time now. I keep wanting to cheer on O'Neill in that role whenever he is selected to perform it, but I always go away feeling underwhelmed.

First Brattan and now Caceres. I feel like Popa thinks they deserve to be capped so is ensuring they get one. But neither are in it for the long haul and I question just how much they can produce for the team in the short term. Either way, I'm not the boss so I just hope if and when they do make it on the pitch that they do perform well.

Max Balard is a great addition and should provide a good alternative to Baccas and O'Neill. I would still like to see Devlin get a proper chance to shine for the NT.

Why is Hayden Matthews getting a call up?

Mabil is playing regularly in Switzerland yet seems to have fallen off the radar of the NT. It is odd since he used to be the only winger we had who liked to take on his man and try and beat him. This is something our NT seems to struggle with constantly. It is a major problem we need to resolve as we lack creating many quality chances in games and that often is down to our inability to get in behind defenses and turn them.

I do echo what some others on here have been saying about Nisbet, Arzani and Nestory. I would have all in my squad atm.

 

[JS96]

Still have random thoughts about Grant being in squad. Just maybe there's one final solid performance but either way, Saudi will target our RWB area. Their RB is also very pacey and packs a good shot.

 

[JS96]

What skill by Piscopo. Once Duke is up I wish to have a nimble front 3 with a lot more ball on the floor. We've got a lot of skill in that sense.

 

[Barca4life]

The last couple of weeks Piscopo has been fantastic for the Victory, he’s always been a very good player.
A great get for them.

 

[grazorblade]

kind of amazing how aussies tend to have become late bloomers in both football and cricket. Is it the short season meaning it takes a while to improve? We have a shortened shield season these days in cricket

 

[Barca4life]

kind of amazing how aussies tend to have become late bloomers in both football and cricket. Is it the short season meaning it takes a while to improve? We have a shortened shield season these days in cricket

The length of the seasons has to be a factor, the successful football countries simply play more football than here.

 

[Bbouy]

Toure the biggest miss for me. He's on fire atm. Should have even been ahead of yengi

I wouldn't touch Toure just yet. He's been struggling to find consistent minutes his whole professional career due to injuries, inconsistencies and more injuries. This is the best run of form he has had and I would just let him continue and not touch him. Next window, if he is still going strong then for sure, but in the end he probably wouldn't get many minutes in the window anyways so there's less point to disrupt his form and bring half way across the world.

 

[JS96]

I wouldn't touch Toure just yet. He's been struggling to find consistent minutes his whole professional career due to injuries, inconsistencies and more injuries. This is the best run of form he has had and I would just let him continue and not touch him. Next window, if he is still going strong then for sure, but in the end he probably wouldn't get many minutes in the window anyways so there's less point to disrupt his form and bring half way across the world.

These qualifiers are of the utmost importance. We should strike while the form and fitness is there. If he's that good his club won't bench him upon international return.

 

[Brenton1986]

double blow for Saudi Arabia confirmed as both Salem Al-Dawsari and AbduleIlah Al-Malki ruled out thru injury for its trip to Melbourne on Thursday.

World Cup qualifiers: Saudi national team departs for Australia with key absences due to injury

The Saudi national team departed early Saturday morning without two of their key midfielders, Salem Al-Dawsari and AbduleIlah Al-Malki, after French coach Hervé Renard made the decision to exclude them from the squad following injuries sustained in the match between Al Hilal and Al Ettifaq on...

www.saudigazette.com.sa

 

[Pasquali]

These qualifiers are of the utmost importance. We should strike while the form and fitness is there. If he's that good his club won't bench him upon international return.

While I’m disappointed he didn’t make it, i believe the right decision was made. Patience is key

 

[grazorblade]

Saudi arriving early. Worries me a bit that they will have better prep

 

[JS96]

double blow for Saudi Arabia confirmed as both Salem Al-Dawsari and AbduleIlah Al-Malki ruled out thru injury for its trip to Melbourne on Thursday.

World Cup qualifiers: Saudi national team departs for Australia with key absences due to injury

The Saudi national team departed early Saturday morning without two of their key midfielders, Salem Al-Dawsari and AbduleIlah Al-Malki, after French coach Hervé Renard made the decision to exclude them from the squad following injuries sustained in the match between Al Hilal and Al Ettifaq on...

www.saudigazette.com.sa

Wow that's like us losing Goodwin and O'Neill. Well, they're the best winger and midfielder. Kanno suspended. Al Burikan to feature prominently.

 

[JS96]

While I’m disappointed he didn’t make it, i believe the right decision was made. Patience is key

As long as we qualify we can then look at getting these newer names to the world cup. We surely can't be looking at Duke and Behich to go one more time let alone the starting line up.

 

[JS96]

Renard has made several changes to the squad compared to the previous list under former coach Roberto Mancini, with 13 players dropped.

He's gutted the squad and gone with a lot of highly capped players so basically his former side. Expect something very different to the previous games.

 

[grazorblade]

Renard has made several changes to the squad compared to the previous list under former coach Roberto Mancini, with 13 players dropped.

He's gutted the squad and gone with a lot of highly capped players so basically his former side. Expect something very different to the previous games.

will have to look later at age and league minutes of these players

 

[Balin Trev]

Nine clubs in seven years, and considered to have an attitude problem, Arazani didn't make it at Celtic.

He might have if he didn’t tear his knee

 

[grazorblade]

Ok lets see if I can make sense of their changes. Max available minutes is 900 so far in the saudi pro league

Name	Age	Minutes	Replacement	Age	Minutes
Al Kassar (gk)	33	45
Hamed (rb)	22	245	Abdulmaid (cb)	25	0
Tambakti (cb)	25	92
Lajami (cb)	28	415
Kadesh (lb)	32	563	Shanqeeti (cb)	25	658
Al Malki (cm)	30	247	Ghannam (cm)	30	5
Asmari (cm)	27	250	Kanno (cm)	30	235
S Al Dawsari (cm)	33	868
Yahya (rw)	23	120	Al Hamdan (fw)	25	143
Al Buraikan (st)	24	645
Sahafi (lw)*	20	422
Radif (st)	21	375
Maran (st)	23	41	Fallatah (st)	21	511
Alkhaibari (cm)	28	699	Al Malki (cm)**	30	247
N Dawsari (cm)	25	318	Al Khaibari (cm)	28	852
Al Juwayr (cm)	21	596
Al Rubaie (gk)	27	180
Najjar (gk)	28	360	Al Sanbi (gk)	23	405
Majrashi (rb)	25	790	Bulaihi(cm)	34	855
Slaluli (cb)	26	401	Shahrani (cm)	32	239
Ghamdi (cm)	23	424
Ghareeb (lw)	27	309
Al Sehri (st)	31	240
			Al Shanqiti (gk)**	19	1
			Al Amri (cm)**	27	610
			Al Faraj (cm)	35	0
			Al Nasser (lb)	23	719

* Plays in belgium, max available minutes for him is actually 1170
** listed on wiki as in the squad but on dotmob as injured

 

[grazorblade]

He might have if he didn’t tear his knee

something deeply unhealthy about a fanbase that resents a player for doing their acl
lucky tombides never played for celtic....

 

[grazorblade]

not a lot of of patterns in the replaced players, but both the previous squad and this squad has a lot of players struggling to get minutes in their own league which might explain their drop in quality?

Also a good case study for importing foreign attackers can kill your development. They have similar problems as us in converting touches in the pen area to goals, probably due to attackign positions being dominated by foreigners

 

[JS96]

2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying Points Simulator AFC Third Round - ULTRAZONE

Enter the score to calculate Points and Standing of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying (AFC Third Round).

ultra.zone

The absolute dream window is 2 wins and Bahrain lose at home to China and Saudi lose in Indonesia. Pretty unlikely. That scenario gives us a 5 point gap on the lower two ranked group teams.

Slightly more feasible is draws in the other group games meaning 5 points ahead of Bahrain and Saudi which I would take in a heart beat. This is all assuming Japan beat Indonesia and China.

It's the perfect window in a way. We can hopefully tick off the two ME sides, Japan does the work for us with the other two while the other two in turn hopefully dent the ME teams.

Most likely is Australia beat Saudi, draw Bahrain. Japan win both. Bahrain beat China and Saudi beat Indonesia.

This means:
Aus: 9
Bah: 9
Saudi: 8

But then Indonesia and China so for down that the safety net of 4th is near secured. Really don't want 4th but it's an absolute last resort.

Looking ahead to March, Japan surely secure qualification there. The dream is to end that window 6 points ahead of Saudi/ Bahrain with two games to spare. Just realised the Bahrain Saudi game next June could have big implications depending on how we go at home, hours earlier against Japan. Japan won't throw the Australia game by any means but being assured against our need for a point should see a close contest.