The Socceroos took a step towards securing their spot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Australia dominating China with a 2-0 victory in Hangzhou. However, the job isn’t complete for Australia as they need to beat Japan at Optus Stadium on June 5 to secure their spot. If the Socceroos draw against Japan, they will need to draw or beat Saudi Arabia, but if they lose, they will need to rely on other match results and goal difference to qualify.

China took many shots throughout the match but couldn’t find the back of the net with Australia scoring two goals from Jackson Irvine and Nishan Velupillay before half-time in front of 80,000 mostly passionate Chinese fans. Australian coach Tony Popovic highlighted post-match that qualification is in their hands, but they needed to get the job done.

”We did our part (in the March window), we got six points, we extended our lead (over Saudi Arabia) to three, so we’re in a good position. “Now the challenge is a great one. We’ve got Japan and Saudi. Can we improve once more in June against the best team (Japan) in Asia? “It’s wonderful two games coming up. Firstly, Japan in Perth, it’ll be a special match, and we’re really looking forward to that,” Popovic emphasized. On the other hand, Socceroos midfielder Jackson Irvine expressed praise for his team’s mentality in defeating both Indonesia and China.“It’s been a massive team effort to get these two results,” Irvine said. Furthermore, Socceroos forward Velupillay expressed, they couldn’t get too ahead of themselves as they still had two tough qualifying games to play, but acknowledged that it’s good to dream.

This comes after New Zealand made history after defeating New Caledonia 3-0 at Eden Park, marking their return to the World Cup for the first time in 16 years. After being scoreless in the first half, the Kiwis clicked into action bringing a scoring rout, managing to score three goals in the second half from Michael Boxall, Kosta Barbarouses and Elijah Just sealing the victory.