Emotional moments in Roos victory; ‘pretty horrible tackle’ adds to injury woes: Talking Points

The Socceroos are through to the next stage of AFC (Asian Football Confederation) qualifying for the 2026 World Cup – and with two games in hand.

In the next stage, 18 nations are split into three groups of six. The teams play their group rivals twice each – home and away.

The top two teams from each group qualify directly for the World Cup in 2026.

The Socceroos will be hoping to achieve that result – but there are still spots for grabs if they miss out on the top two spots, so long as they finish in the top four teams in their group.

The six teams who finish third and fourth are then placed into two groups, with the top team from each group qualifying for the World Cup.

The second-placed teams play off against each other for the chance to compete in an inter-confederation playoff.

All this is to say that the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams means there’s plenty of places for AFC nations to compete in the tournament.

But for the Socceroos, they’ll be hoping to get the job done at the next stage.

WHY THE NEXT MATCHES AREN’T DEAD RUBBERS

While the final two fixtures in this stage of qualifying seem to be dead rubbers, there’s a crucial reason why Arnold and the Socceroos are taking them very seriously: FIFA rankings.

The groups in the next stage are decided by seedings based on rankings – which means the top three teams in Asia are all drawn into different groups.

The Socceroos are hoping to be one of the top three highest-ranked teams in the AFC and therefore avoid being drawn in a group with heavyweights such as Japan and Iran, currently the top two ranked teams in the AFC.

As it stands, the Socceroos are ranked 23rd on the live rankings, just above South Korea – who were held to a shock draw by Thailand last