Maiden goal caps stellar night for selfless Roo; returning star shows what we missed: Player Ratings

The Socceroos worked hard but weren’t at their best in a 2-0 win over Lebanon on Thursday night.

While maiden international goals for defender Kye Rowles and Keanu Baccus delivered another win on the road to the 2026 World Cup, it was a performance described as ‘sloppy’ by multiple players and coach Graham Arnold.

Here’s how we rated everyone in the victory.

‘We can do better’: Socceroos claim ‘sloppy’ win despite worrying double injury blow

DEFENCE

Mathew Ryan (C): 7

It seemed like it’d be a quiet night for the veteran gloveman, but he was called into action a few times in the second half and produced some sharp saves – the first to deny a vicious shot from a tight angle, and the second to keep out a free kick in the final seconds of stoppage time. He scrambled off his line well to clear the ball once or twice, and deserved another clean sheet.

Kye Rowles: 8

With Aziz Behich injured – the veteran who started every game of the Asian Cup in January – Rowles slid from his usual centre-back role to the left flank.

He has done it before, against Mexico and England in friendlies last year, and proved he was a dependable back-up in that position.

This time around was a similar story.

Rowles was beaten a couple of times by opposition wingers early on, but held his head high and won the majority of the battles from there.

And he put an exclamation mark on his performance by chiming in with a maiden international goal in the second half, thundering home a half-volley.

Speaking about the goal, an emotional Rowles told Channel 10: “Words can’t really describe it to be honest.”

“Lucky it happened pretty quick, I didn’t have time to think about it,” he joked.

He was named man of the match, and was all class in his