(Football news) After winning all three of their third-round matches and finishing first in their Asian qualification group in the second round, India qualified for the tournament for the second time in a row, while the Socceroos will be participating for the fifth time in this event.
The Socceroos come into this competition with higher expectations than they did when they punched their ticket into the 2023 Asian Cup years ago, having stunned a lot of spectators at the last World Cup and advanced to the round of 16.
The Australians have won their previous five competitive matches against Asian nations, including a 2-0 victory over Bahrain last weekend, demonstrating that Graham Arnold can get the best out of this team.
They have defeated their last three Asian opponents by a total score of 10-0, and they have not lost to an opponent from that region since March 2022 (a 1-0 loss against Saudi Arabia).
Since their inaugural participation in this event in 2007, the Socceroos have advanced past the group stage every time. Four years ago, they emerged victorious from all three of their group matches.
Australia, who are now rated 25th in FIFA’s Asia rankings, is expected to challenge for the championship, as they did in 2015 when they hosted the tournament at home and finished second in Qatar (2011) the last time it was held there.
The Socceroos lost a significant tournament match at Al Rayyan for the first time when they lost 2-1 to Argentina in the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals.
India has qualified for consecutive Asian Cups for the first time in their football history, giving up just one goal in the qualifying round’s third round.
However, it seems that their manager, Igor Stimac, is less concerned with making sure his team advances to the third round of 2026 World Cup qualification and is instead downplaying the significance of this competition.
