Socceroos’ biggest problem exposed in shock 1-0 World Cup qualifying defeat to Bahrain

Australia’s long road to the World Cup is off to a poor start following a surprise 1-0 defeat to a side ranked 60 places below it which highlighted a familiar problem for Graham Arnold’s side.

Alessandro Circati controls the ball for the Socceroos. Picture: Getty Images

The Socceroos will need to do some serious soul searching to find their missing spark if they want to have any chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

Facing Bahrain, ranked 80th in the world — close to 60 places lower than the Socceroos — in front of a sold-out home crowd, should have been a brilliant way to start their third round of qualifying.

Instead the 1-0 loss highlighted the Socceroos’ biggest problem — the lack of any attacking prowess and ability to close out games.

Bahrain’s goal, which came in the 89th minute, was the first the nation had scored against Australia in 18 years. It will hurt even more with officials ruling it an own goal off defender Harry Souttar.

It had coach Graham Arnold fuming on the sidelines.

Graham Arnold had little to smile about as the Socceroos struggled against Bahrain. Picture: Getty Images

Australia’s hopes of playing at the World Cup are far from over — thankfully it is a long qualifying process with all six teams in each group playing each other twice.

With just the top two earning automatic qualification into the 2026 World Cup. the Socceroos really can’t afford to squander chances. Which is exactly what they did on Thursday night.

Perhaps they like doing it the hard way — or have just adapted to it — as they haven’t earned an automatic qualification spot at the last two editions of the tournament, instead sneaking through via the intercontinental play off.

The straight red card to striker Kusuni Yengi in the 77th minute for a high foot which landed on a Bahraini player’s neck, whose dramatic response to the incident could have earned him an Oscar, summed up the Socceroos night.

It left the Socceroos chasing their first goal without their striker, with just 10 men on the field and a clock that was fast running out of minutes.

But it was a situation that could have been easily avoided had the Socceroos been able to create or capitalise on their chances earlier in the game.

A red card to Kusini Yengi left Australia short of attacking options. Picture: Getty Images

Australia had the ball at their feet for 70 per cent of the first half, but just one shot out of five was on target.

When they did manage to send the ball forward to the final third they didn’t have a lot of options — they were stale.

Bahrain were well organised and solid in defence, happy to take their chances on a counter attack.

There were moments of promising football from the Socceroos, a great sliding tackle from Souttar early on saved goalkeeper Mathew Ryan from being called into action, Jackson Irvine had some meaningful contributions and Alessandro Circati — in just his third appearance —proved worthy of his starting spot.

Teenage superstar Nestory Irankunda was called off the bench in the 58th minute to replace Martin Boyle.

His impact was immediate. He made driving runs, got the Gold Coast crowd cheering when he passed the ball around a player back to himself down the wing and seemed to force the rest of his team to play with a bit of tempo.

It could have Arnold rethinking whether the 18-year-old is ready to take on a starting role rather than the game changer.

Nestory Irankunda provided some spark off the bench for Australia. Picture: Getty Images

The Socceroos jet off to Indonesia for their second round three qualifying match this weekend - their next match is on Tuesday night. Like this game should have been, it should be an easy victory.

From there it only gets trickier; they have to take on Japan, China and Saudi Arabia.

Off the pitch broadcaster Network 10/Paramount copped plenty of heat from fans who reported a range of issues with the stream on 10Play, including a continuous run of advertisements during play.

It doesn’t bode well after Football Australia announced a new four-year deal with the broadcaster just last week.

The Socceroos will travel and play Indonesia at 10pm on Tuesday in their second game of the third round of World Cup qualifiers.

Originally published as Socceroos’ biggest problem exposed in shock 1-0 World Cup qualifying defeat to Bahrain