As it happened: Out-of-sorts Socceroos suffer horror start in World Cup qualifying bid

The Socceroos have made a woeful start to the crucial third round of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup after falling to a shocking 1-0 defeat to Bahrain on Thursday night on the Gold Coast.

Old problems reared their head in a new setting for the national team, who played at Cbus Super Stadium in Robina for the first time in front of a crowd of 24,644. Those fans were expecting to see a win, but they were instead confronted by one of Australia’s worst performances.

Nestory Irankunda in action for Australia.Credit: Getty

Reduced to 10 men for the final stretch of the match, the Socceroos collapsed in the final minute of regulation time, going behind as Abdulla Al-Khalasi’s attempted cross was deflected off Harry Souttar, past captain Maty Ryan and into the back of the net.

They could conjure no reply in six furious minutes of added time, with late headers by Jackson Irvine and Mitchell Duke going wide.

Australia had won all five of their previous meetings with Bahrain, who are ranked No.80 in the world. This is just the second time since 1981 that the Socceroos have lost a live World Cup qualifier on home soil.

The other was two years ago against Japan in Sydney, a defeat which almost cost Arnold his job. Once again, he will come under scrutiny for this disastrous result, which immediately imperils their hopes of direct qualification for the World Cup, at least in the third round.

Clear-cut chances were few and far between in a turgid first half, as Bahrain managed to deal with the Socceroos’ barrage of long balls and diagonal passes.

The lack of a natural right fullback also hampered Australia’s efforts to generate opportunities via wing play, with Arnold, due to a lack of fit specialists in that position, opting to deploy Parma centre-back Alessandro Circati there. It had mixed success.

Australia coach Graham Arnold has plenty to think about.Credit: Getty Images

The introduction of teenage sensation Nestory Irankunda, who was Arnold’s first substitute in the 58th minute, gave them a much-needed spark, but he couldn’t turn the tide and the momentum of the hosts soon fizzled out - and then evaporated completely when striker Kusini Yengi was shown a red card in the 77th minute.

Yengi was sent off for making contact with his foot to the chin of Sayed Baqer while attempting to play the fall, with the Bahraini defender falling to the ground in a crumpled heap and writhing around in pain.

Unlike some of his teammates, however, who resorted to diving and play-acting on several other occasions as they attempted to win fouls and frustrate the crowd, this decision was justified by the replay.

The result will turn up the heat dramatically on Arnold, who has long faced criticism for the national team’s lack of functionality in midfield and cutting edge in the final third, and does not appear to have found solutions to those issues.

They enjoyed 71 per cent of possession and had 423 passes to Bahrain’s 128, but managed just four shots on target for the match.

The Socceroos will travel on Friday to Jakarta ahead of their next qualifier against Indonesia on Tuesday night; Yengi will miss out through an automatic suspension, while Arnold has a lot to think about on the flight over.

“We learn a lot from these types of games,” he says. “When players get frustrated, a lot of fouls and time-wasting. For the boys, especially the younger boys, it’s a learning process. It was not our night. We had the chances, and if you put one in against these nations they tend to fall apart. But we didn’t do that, and it kept them in the game.”

On Kusini Yengi’s red card:

“I haven’t seen it back. I can’t say if it was. From what I saw, I thought Kus didn’t see him … on the blind side and he went for the ball.”

And a back-handed compliment for Bahrain (or, rather, their travel arrangements):

“You have to give credit it to Bahrain. They came out here early. They prepared for 10 days. They got here 10 days before the game, prepared well.”

Disappointment. It’s not the way we want to start our campaign - a loss at home,” the Saudi Arabia-based winger tells Ten. “We have to go away and obviously improve for the next match. It is by no means the result we wanted. We have to look at the positives out of it and this is the first game - there’s nine others to go.

“We believe in ourselves and our quality, and this is an off night for us. It’s also a taste of the type of football we will experience throughout this campaign. We know that this is what Middle Eastern football is about, and I have my own opinions on that type of football, but we have to exclude that. That’s the way it will be. That’s how it has always been. We have to be better than what we were tonight.

“We were told by a couple of the coaches there were 36 minutes of actual playing time, extremely low. That’s the style we know we will encounter. We have to find ways to be better, stay out of the situations where they will milk everything they can. That is what they did at every moment but that aside, it is on us. We lose this game because of us, not them. We lose it because we weren’t good enough.”

Craig Goodwin.Credit: Getty Images

The Socceroos have made a woeful start to the crucial third round of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup after falling to a shocking 1-0 defeat to Bahrain on Thursday night on the Gold Coast.

Old problems reared their head in a new setting for the national team, who played at Cbus Super Stadium in Robina for the first time in front of a crowd of 24,644. Those fans were expecting to see a win, but they were instead confronted by one of Australia’s worst performances.

Nestory Irankunda in action for Australia.Credit: Getty

Reduced to 10 men for the final stretch of the match, the Socceroos collapsed in the final minute of regulation time, going behind as Abdulla Al-Khalasi’s attempted cross was deflected off Harry Souttar, past captain Maty Ryan and into the back of the net.

They could conjure no reply in six furious minutes of added time, with late headers by Jackson Irvine and Mitchell Duke going wide.

Australia had won all five of their previous meetings with Bahrain, who are ranked No.80 in the world. This is just the second time since 1981 that the Socceroos have lost a live World Cup qualifier on home soil.

The other was two years ago against Japan in Sydney, a defeat which almost cost Arnold his job. Once again, he will come under scrutiny for this disastrous result, which immediately imperils their hopes of direct qualification for the World Cup, at least in the third round.

Clear-cut chances were few and far between in a turgid first half, as Bahrain managed to deal with the Socceroos’ barrage of long balls and diagonal passes.

The lack of a natural right fullback also hampered Australia’s efforts to generate opportunities via wing play, with Arnold, due to a lack of fit specialists in that position, opting to deploy Parma centre-back Alessandro Circati there. It had mixed success.

Australia coach Graham Arnold has plenty to think about.Credit: Getty Images

The introduction of teenage sensation Nestory Irankunda, who was Arnold’s first substitute in the 58th minute, gave them a much-needed spark, but he couldn’t turn the tide and the momentum of the hosts soon fizzled out - and then evaporated completely when striker Kusini Yengi was shown a red card in the 77th minute.

Yengi was sent off for making contact with his foot to the chin of Sayed Baqer while attempting to play the fall, with the Bahraini defender falling to the ground in a crumpled heap and writhing around in pain.

Unlike some of his teammates, however, who resorted to diving and play-acting on several other occasions as they attempted to win fouls and frustrate the crowd, this decision was justified by the replay.

The result will turn up the heat dramatically on Arnold, who has long faced criticism for the national team’s lack of functionality in midfield and cutting edge in the final third, and does not appear to have found solutions to those issues.

They enjoyed 71 per cent of possession and had 423 passes to Bahrain’s 128, but managed just four shots on target for the match.

The Socceroos will travel on Friday to Jakarta ahead of their next qualifier against Indonesia on Tuesday night; Yengi will miss out through an automatic suspension, while Arnold has a lot to think about on the flight over.

“You said it perfectly,” he tells Ten after being asked if the stop-start late in the second half affected Australia’s rhythm. “As you said, I don’t think we played five minutes continuously. Every three minutes there was someone on the floor, something happening. I can’t comment on that, but it’s disappointing.”

On Australia’s performance and result in general, he says this”

“Everyone hates losing. Everyone in the team. You come here to win. We travel - personally myself, 25 hours to come here - and the last thing we want to do is lose. From my behalf and the boys’ behalf, we gave everything today. I think it showed. I think we can play better. I think we should play better. But I think regarding effort, we put 100 per cent in. I played a new position [at right-back] I’d never played and I think I gave everything that I had. But we will go back in the change room and focus on Indonesia, and the important thing is winning that game. This game is passed - nothing more to do.”

Alessandro Circati.Credit: Getty Images

They seemed to know exactly what Australia were going to do. Once Australia realised that (maybe they didn’t even get that far) they didn’t look to have a fallback option. That was a nightmare.

Bahrain’s bench stream onto the field. They are celebrating as if they have just qualified for the World Cup. At this stage, they are one step closer than Australia. And while that may or may not mean something in the long run for Talajic’s side, it almost certainly means something for the Socceroos. With Japan and Saudi Arabia in Group C, there really was little room for error from the get-go if they were to fashion themselves a chance of direct qualification from the third round. Now the pressure has only increased as they prepare to travel to Jakarta to face Indonesia.

Will Australia somehow jag an equaliser before it’s too late, or will this be recorded as abject disaster in their first real test of this qualifying campaign?

Mabil has taken on free-kick duties since coming on and he has one, and then another with one minute remaining. The ball has a lovely trajectory but his teammates cannot conjure anything from it.

Australia 0-1 Bahrain after 95 minutes

It is their first goal against Australia in 18 years, and it has come via a very unfortunate deflection off Souttar that wrong-foots Ryan and lets the ball slip in at his near post. After a Bahrain player went down in midfield, advantage play ensued as Al-Humaidan wheeled off on the left and released to Al Khalasi. That was when a breakdown in communication occurred for Australia, and when the visitors scored what will at this stage likely be the winner.

Australia 0-1 Bahrain after 89 minutes

Amid all that drama, Mabil has come on for Metcalfe no doubt to try and force a goal, and his ball to Irvine almost does it except that the latter’s header is straight at keeper. Irankunda has a crack with a shot that has the power but not the placement and the keeper gathers that with no problems either.

Al-Asfoor cops a yellow card for delaying a restart as we head into the final five minutes.

Australia 0-0 Bahrain after 86 minutes