Australia have sealed a direct place at the 2026 World Cup with a 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Tuesday 10 June, as Asia’s third round of qualifying closed with Jordan reaching the finals for the first time and Palestine going out on a stoppage-time penalty in Amman.
Saudi Arabia continue in October’s fourth round, where six teams will contest the two remaining direct places available to Asia.
Australia’s Win in Jeddah
The win came on the final matchday of the round. Australia and Saudi Arabia went into the match competing for the second direct place in Group C, and Saudi Arabia needed a five-goal win to overhaul Australia. Anything less would have left Australia ahead. That requirement came down to goal difference, the measure of goals scored and conceded across the group, which decides the order when teams finish level on points.
Saudi Arabia took the lead in the 19th minute through Abdulrahman Al Obud, but Connor Metcalfe equalised for Australia before half-time and Mitch Duke headed the winner three minutes after the restart, the Asian Football Confederation reported.
Captain Maty Ryan saved a late penalty in his 100th appearance to keep Australia in front, according to the AFC and the ABC. The Guardian noted two earlier Al-Dawsari penalty misses, against Indonesia and Bahrain, on other matchdays of the campaign.
The win took Australia to a sixth consecutive World Cup qualification and a seventh overall, and left them second in Group C behind Japan, according to the Socceroos.
A direct place takes a team straight into the finals, with no further rounds of qualifying to negotiate. Australia advanced directly this time, after campaigns that had gone through play-offs, the Guardian reported.
Jordan Qualify for the First Time
Jordan reached the World Cup for the first time with a 3-0 win over Oman in Muscat on 5 June, a match in which Ali Olwan scored a hat-trick, three goals by the one player.
The place was sealed the same day by South Korea’s 2-0 win over Iraq, Roya News reported, a result that left Jordan beyond the reach of the teams below them in Group B.
Jordan finished second in the group with 16 points, and the team celebrated in Amman after their final match of the round, a 1-0 defeat to Iraq that changed nothing, according to Roya News and the Guardian. The second-place finish carried the direct place, which had been secured before that match.
Palestine Denied in Stoppage Time
Palestine, whose home matches in the campaign were played at a neutral venue because of the conflict in Gaza, led Oman through Oday Kharoub’s header early in the second half in Amman, The National reported.
Oman were reduced to ten men in the 73rd minute, when Harib Al Saadi was shown a second yellow card, and the reduction left them a man short for the closing stages.
Oman won a penalty in the 97th minute, described by The National as awarded in contentious circumstances and by the Guardian as dubious. Issam Al Sabhi scored it to bring Oman level, and the 1-1 draw lifted Oman above Palestine into fourth place in Group B and ended Palestine’s campaign.
The kick arrived in stoppage time, the period added by the referee at the end of the second half to make up for time lost to stoppages. Palestine had held the place before the penalty.
Six Teams Through to the Fourth Round
The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia go into October’s fourth round, where two groups of three will contest the two remaining direct places, according to The National and the AFC. The top two in each group took the direct places, and the teams that finished third and fourth kept their campaigns alive in the fourth round.
Saudi Arabia continue after missing the top two in Group C, Iraq advanced after beating Jordan 1-0, and Oman’s place came with the penalty in Amman.
The two places at stake in October are the last direct places Asia has left to fill for the finals.
What the Expansion Changed
The 2026 tournament has 48 teams and Asia has 8.5 places in it, up from the four-team allocation of previous cycles, the Guardian reported.
That earlier allocation was, the Guardian writes, “more often than not taken by the usual suspects”, and the extra places let more of Asia’s 40-plus member associations keep their qualification hopes alive into the final matchdays.
The effect was visible in the round’s closing matchdays: more associations were still playing for places, and Jordan’s first qualification came in the first cycle of the 48-team format.
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Sources: AFC, https://www.the-afc.com/en/national/asian_qualifiers.html/news/group-c-saudi-arabia-1-2-australia; ABC News, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-11/live-updates-saudi-arabia-vs-socceroos-fifa-world-cup-qualifier/105394564; The National, https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2025/06/11/palestine-world-cup-dream-over-after-heartbreaking-draw-with-oman/; The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2025/jun/12/asia-benefits-from-world-cup-expansion-as-afc-qualification-delivers-thrills; Roya News, https://en.royanews.tv/news/60333/VIDEO%3A-Jordan-celebrates-first-ever-World-Cup-qualification; Socceroos, https://socceroos.com.au/news/subway-socceroos-qualify-sixth-consecutive-fifa-world-cup
