Socceroos coach Graham Arnold wants his team to better record-breaking win streak
The Socceroos need another six successive wins to break a qualifying record they set on the way to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
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National coach Graham Arnold has set the Socceroos a target of bettering the 11 successive wins they achieved on the qualifying road to the 2022 World Cup in their bid to reach the 2026 edition of the tournament.
Arnold’s men completed a perfect run of six straight AFC second-round World Cup qualifying wins with a 5-0 demolition of Palestine in Perth on Tuesday night.
The Australians were among 18 AFC nations to reach the third round of qualifiers, where they can guarantee themselves a berth in the 2026 World Cup by claiming a top-two spot in one of the three groups of six teams.
On the path to the 2022 World Cup, the Socceroos also enjoyed a perfect second-round record of eight consecutive wins and followed them up with another three victories to open up their third-round campaign to become the first team to win 11 successive matches in a single World Cup qualification campaign.
However, the Australians then came unstuck, securing only six points from the remaining seven third-round qualifiers to miss a top-two group finish and automatic World Cup qualification.
They eventually qualified but only after prevailing in sudden-death playoffs against the United Arab Emirates and Peru.
“I don’t want to go through another Peru game – that’s the last thing that I want,” said Arnold in reflecting on Australia’s heart-stopping penalty-shootout success against the South Americans.
“When we went through the last campaign we won the first 11 (games).
“It’s another goal that I’ve set the boys to achieve something special – winning more than 11 games straight.
“I have high expectations all the time and I drive those high expectations to the boys.”
Despite the Socceroos’ run of six consecutive wins, they narrowly failed in their bid to jump into the top three AFC nations in the FIFA world rankings.
It means they will be placed in pot two for this month’s draw for the third-round qualifiers. Australia will be in the same group with one of Japan, Iran or South Korea, the top three AFC seeds.
“That’s probably what hurt me so much after (this year’s) Asian Cup,” Arnold said in recalling Australia’s 2-1 quarter-final loss to South Korea.
“I’d been driving to the players for nearly 12 months about the FIFA rankings, us getting in pot one … and if we’d beaten South Korea at the Asian Cup, we would have been in pot one, but OK, we’re in pot two with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and we’ve got to wait for the draw now and we’ll see what challenges we’re thrown.”
Originally published as Socceroos coach Graham Arnold wants his team to better record-breaking win streak
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