A late own goal handed Bahrain their first-ever win over former Asian champions Australia in the third round of qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Bahrain has stunned Australia with a 1-0 win courtesy of a late own goal from defender Harry Souttar in the opening match of the third round of Asian qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The Bahrainis celebrated wildly after the final whistle at Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast on Thursday, having recorded their first-ever win over Australia in seven attempts and making a perfect start in their bid to qualify for the finals for the first time.
The Socceroos were already down to 10 men after the dismissal of Kusini Yengi, but the Group C contest still looked destined to end goalless until Abdullah Al Khalasi was released down the left wing looking to get the ball into the box in the 89th minute.
Defender Al Khalasi got his cross away from the edge of the area, and it took a wicked deflection off centre half Souttar, which wrong-footed Australia goalkeeper Mat Ryan, who could only watch helplessly as the ball went past him into the net.
The crowd of 24,644 who had turned out expecting a fifth-straight Australia victory were stunned into silence, and the efforts of the Socceroos to get back on level terms in six minutes of stoppage time proved fruitless.
Substitute Mitch Duke had the best chance to equalise from an Awer Mabil free kick two minutes from the final whistle, but the striker was unable to get his header on target from the centre of the box.
“It’s a learning curve for the players,” Australia coach Graham Arnold said after the match. “But look, at the end of the night, it just wasn’t our night.
“If you put one in the back of the net against these nations, they tend to fall apart a bit more. But we didn’t do that and kept them in the game.
“Obviously very tough, but you’ve got to give full credit to Bahrain.”
Australia, aiming for a sixth straight appearance at the World Cup finals, dominated possession but had few clear chances and were frustrated throughout the contest by a well-organised and technically adept Bahrain side.
The Australian cause was not helped by the red card shown to striker Yengi, which reduced the home side to 10 men for the last 14 minutes.
Yengi got his foot too high when challenging Ali Haram for the ball and scraped his boot across the throat of the Bahrain midfielder. VAR confirmed the dismissal.
Australia travel to Jakarta to face Indonesia in their second group match on Tuesday while Bahrain head home to host Japan in Riffa on the same day.
The Samurai Blue cruised to a winning start as they thrashed China 7-0 at the Saitama Stadium.
Wataru Endo and Kaoru Mitoma gave Japan a two-goal lead at the interval in the Group C clash before Takumi Minamino hit a second-half brace.
Junya Ito, Daizen Maeda and Takefusa Kubo added to the scoreline as China were comprehensively outplayed.
The top two teams from each of the three groups progress directly to the 2026 finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada with the third- and fourth-placed teams going into another round of qualifying.
