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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Rob Smyth

Australia 5-0 Lebanon: World Cup 2026 qualifier – as it happened

Australia Lebanon World Cup Socceroos Canberra
Australia meet Lebanon for the second time in a week in a 2026 World Cup qualifier at GIO Stadium in Canberra. Follow live scores and updates.
Australia defeat Lebanon for the second time in a week in a 2026 World Cup qualifier at GIO Stadium in Canberra. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Match report: Lebanon 0-5 Australia

Joey Lynch has filed from the GIO Stadium, so it’s time to wrap up tonight’s blog. Thanks for your company and emails, bye!

Summary: Goodwin inspires comfortable win

“A clinic in Canberra”. That’s how the Socceroos’ social media account has described tonight’s game. I wouldn’t go quite that far but it was one of the better attacking performances of the last couple of years, with some exciting glimpses of the future. A record crowd of 25,023 should go home sated.

  • 2 min Kusini Yengi scored his first international goal from a magnificent Craig Goodwin cross

  • 47 min Bassel Jradi scored an unfortunate own goal after Harry Souttar’s header was saved

  • 48 min Goodwin waved a superb third from the edge of the area

  • 68 min The debutant Patrick Yazbek made a first international goal for John Iredale, who had just come on

  • 81 min Goodwin tapped in his second after good play from Iredale on the right.

Updated

The state of play in Group I

  • Australia P4 Pts 12

  • Palestine P3 Pts 4

  • Lebanon P4 Pts 2

  • Bangladesh P3 Pts 1

It’s currenetly goalless between Bangladesh and Palestine after an hour.

John Iredale’s reaction

It means the world to me personally, and to the boys. We set out to score more goals tonight and we’re pleased we did that.

It’s really special when you come from the same youth team [as Patrick Yazbek] to share a goal and assist. As soon as I saw him charging down the left I knew I had to get in the box.

Craig Goodwin’s got an unbelievable left foot, and having him in the squad really boosts our quality. I was really pleased to help him get his second goal.

Updated

“From the snippets I’ve seen that was pretty prosaic...” says Chris Paraskevas. “You can feel Arnie’s grip on the job loosening post Asian Cup. His body language is more tetchy than usual. Something isn’t quite right at the moment, a sense that things have become unsettled.

“Fine margins. I really think his tenure will be defined by a 15-minute spell against Korea (and possibly a more positive 15-minute spell against Argentina. As much as this is a PR boost and a ‘good night’ for Football Australia... it’s not enough to start turning the tide of public opinion.”

I wonder whether football fans expect more/too much these days, or whether we are just more exposed to complaints. I’ve no idea. But given that watching sport is something we love, we do spent an awful lot of time in a state of dissatisfaction. I don’t say that critically by the way; I’ve been a horribly entitled brat in the past.

Full time: Lebanon 0-5 Australia

The Socceroos are into the third round of World Cup qualification with a couple of games to spare. An emphatic win over Lebanon was a celebration of both the present and future. Craig Goodwin flaunted his educated left foot, making the first goal and scoring two – the first a beauty – in the second half.

There were also first international goals for Kusini Yengi and John Iredale, as well as assists for Iredale and the debutant Patrick Yazbek. All in all, it was a good night for Graham Arnold.

Updated

90+5 min Matar is back on his feet … until Silvera flattens him, a poor and entirely pointless challenge for which he is booked.

90+2 min The Lebanon keeper Mostafa Matar has a problem and is receiving treatment. This one definitely isn’t timewasting.

90 min There will be five added minutes. To what end, we know not.

89 min Look, there’s nothing to report, just a lot of dead time since the fifth goal.

87 min Australia’s record in the second round of qualification now reads P4 W4 D0 L0 F15 A0. Truly, we’ve seen worse.

86 min: Lebanon substitution Jackson Khoury, who was born in New South Wales, comes on for Bassel Jradi.

Updated

82 min: Australia substitutions Sammy Silvera and Thomas Deng come on for Mitch Duke and Gethin Jones.

GOAL! Lebanon 0-5 Australia (Goodwin 81)

The celebration of Craig Goodwin continues with his second goal of the night. Jones played a simple ball down the right to Iredale, who made a nice run into space and crossed low into the middle. Shour, stretching towards his own goal, could only divert the ball across the six-yard box to Goodwin. The rest was a formality.

Updated

79 min: Lebanon substitution An unhappy Omar Bugiel is replaced by Hasan Srour.

79 min Here’s that sweet hit from Craig Goodwin that put Australia 3-0 up just after half-time.

78 min Now Bitar curls wide from the edge of the area. The Socceroos have lost a bit of focus in the last few minutes.

Updated

76 min Ryan makes a comfortable save, his first of the night I think, from Bugiel’s header.

73 min Lebanon know their race is run. What they need now is for Bangladesh to take points off Palestine in the other game; it’s 0-0 at half-time.

John Iredale, who only came on 90 seconds ago, has scored his first international goal. The debutant Patrick Yazbek charged down the left, away from a slightly woolly challenge by Khamis, and curled a superb low cross on the run. Iredale sped away from Sharafeddine at the far post and swept the ball into the empty net.

Updated

GOAL! Lebanon 0-4 Australia (Iredale 68)

How’s that for an instant impact?

Updated

66 min: Double substitution for Australia John Iredale and the debutant Josh Nisbet replace Kusini Yengi, who will remember this night for many a decade, and Connor Metcalfe.

Khalil Khamis was booked just before that, I think for dissent.

Updated

64 min Metcalfe plays in the overlapping Jones, whose cross is headed over from eight yards by Duke. It was slightly too high.

Just before that, there was an appeal for a penalty when the ball hit Bitar’s hand. It deflected off his chest, though, so it was the correct decision.

62 min It’s been fairly subdued since that third goal, with both sides knowing that the game is over barring a comeback for the books.

60 min “The game will take care of itself,” says Martin Turnbull, “but a bit of a bugbear of mine – Arnold with his hand over the heart during the anthem. Might be getting long in the tooth but despise creeping Americanisms. Teams going on o-fence and d-fence, which is also happening in the footy. Anyway, let’s get five.”

I can’t speak for Graham Arnold but I do wonder how often gestures like that are a sad (I use that word in the truest sense, while looking in the mirror) attempt to embrace a modern world that the person doesn’t truly understand. I’m not looking forward to growing old and doddery in a post-empathy world.

59 min: Lebanon substitution What, another one? Yep, Gabriel Bitar for Ali Tniech.

58 min: Substitution for Lebanon Karim Darwich replaces the excellent Hassan Maatouk, who at 36 can’t always do the full 90 minutes.

55 min: Socceroos substitution Patrick Yazbek, a 21-year-old of Lebanese descent, replaces Ajdin Hrustic.

Updated

54 min The more replays you see, the more you realise Tniech should have been sent off for that tackle on Hrustic. It was born of frustration rather than malevolence but it was still dangerous. And it has done a lot of damage: Hrustic is being helped off by two physios, moving very gingerly.

Updated

53 min That was a poor challenge, with Tniech’s studs plunging into Hrustic’s calf, and he is still down. Patrick Yazbek is preparing to come on for his Socceroos debut.

Updated

51 min Tniech is booked for taking out Hrustic in frustration after losing the ball.

Updated

51 min: Matar hits the bar! Crikey, it’s all happening. Nader Matar runs onto a loose ball 25 yards out and hits an instant, almost angry shot that beats Ryan and clatters off the bar.

Updated

Australia broke four on three, with Hrustic on the ball. He scooped it across to Goodwin,18 yards out to the left of centre. He chested the ball and hit the sweetest strike back across Matar into the far corner. Goodwin’s left foot is one big sweet spot tonight.

GOAL! Lebanon 0-3 Australia (Goodwin 48)

Craig Goodwin is having a helluva night out – he has just scored a beauty to make it 3-0.

Updated

Goodwin’s big, in-swinging free-kick from the right was met inevitably by Souttar. His downward header was well saved by Matar, diving to his right, but the ball hit Jradi and rebounded miserably into the net.

Updated

GOAL! Lebanon 0-2 Australia (Jradi og 47)

The Socceroos scored in the second minute of the first half; they’ve done it again at the start of the second.

46 min Lajud is booked within 30 seconds of coming on. He pulled back Mitch Duke, who was breaking dangerously down the right.

46 min Lebanon get the second half under way.

Half-time substitution Lebanon are bringing on Daniel Lajud, so impressive as substitute on Thursday, for Hassan Chaitou.

Updated

Half-time reading

This is terrific* piece from Jonathan Liew, who once again won Columnist of the Year at last night’s big Sports Journalists’ Association bash in London.

* And slightly dispiriting, because we’ve cocked this human experiment thing up, haven’t we

Half time: Lebanon 0-1 Australia

Australia lead in Canberra. The first half was essentially an ode to the left foot of Craig Goodwin. His unplayable cross set up Kusini Yengi’s early goal, Yengi’s first for the Socceroos, and an equally delicious ball was headed against the post by Harry Souttar just before half-time.

Lebanon had some promising moments, usually when their captain Hassan Maatouk was on the ball, but Maty Ryan didn’t have a save to make. Australia are in control and heading for the third round of qualification.

45+2 min Hrustic is wiped out by the lunging Sharafeddine in the D but the referee gives nothing. That was a clear foul and probably a yellow card.

Updated

45 min Four minutes of added time.

43 min: Souttar hits the post! Oof, how has he missed that? Goodwin took a short corner on the left, got it back and teased a gorgeous deep cross with the outside of the left foot. It curved onto the head of Souttar, whose downward header from six yards hit the post. For a goal machine like Souttar, that was a great chance.

Updated

42 min Corner to Australia on the right. Goodwin’s delivery is a bit flat and forced away at the near post. Australia regain possession and Hrustic has a shot blocked on the edge of the area.

Updated

38 min Lebanon win a corner on the right. Maatouk takes it short, gets it back, slips Yengi neatly and hits a cross that is blocked by Duke.

37 min Souttar catches Bugiel with his arm while winning a header, drawing a bit of blood in the process. It’s just a graze, a 0.4 on the Butcher scale.

36 min Maatouk tries to run Rowles, who stands up well and concedes a throw-in. I’d love to see Maatouk in a better team and/or when he was five years younger; he looks a very accomplished player.

33 min The camera cuts to Maty Ryan, just to remind us that he’s on the pitch. He hasn’t had a save to make yet.

Mind you Australia have only had a couple of shots on target, Yengi’s goal and Metcalfe’s effort that was saved by Matar.

31 min: Chance for Hrustic! Yengi finds Goodwin in space on the left, with plenty of options in the middle. He arrows a cutback to Hrustic, unmarked 15 yards out, but Hrustic blooters a first-time shot into orbit. He looks suspiciously at the pitch so maybe it took a bobble. It was another lovely ball from Goodwin though, this time because of the head-up awareness as much as the delivery.

28 min A bit of a quiet spell. Australia are reasonably comfortable, though Maatouk remains a threat on the Lebanon right. For Australia, Goodwin has been particularly bright; Metcalfe has also played well, the missed chance aside.

25 min Goodwin uses that Harvard-educated left foot to shape a nice pass down the left to Duke, whose slightly heavy touch takes the ball out of play.

25 min Hrustic pings a terrific crossfield pass towards Goodwin. Matar charges out of his area and gets to the ball a split-second before Goodwin, who is penalised – perhaps harshly – for his challenge.

Updated

24 min Souttar plays a crisp pass between the lines to Hrustic. He moves menacingly towards the penalty area but his eventual pass is well cut out.

20 min: Chance for Metcalfe! Burgess’s chipped ball forward hits the head of Tniech and loops in behind a static defence. Metcalfe runs on to it, 18 yards out, but shoots a little tamely with his left foot. Matar dives to his right to push it behind.

Updated

19 min Metcalfe goes on a mazy run at the other end, but his shot from the edge of the area has the sting taken out of it by a defender.

18 min This is a decent spell for Lebanon. Matar has a long-range shot blocked, then hits another into orbit a few seconds later.

17 min Khamis is on his feet and okay to continue.

16 min Metcalfe sweet-spots a drive from 25 yards which hits Khamis in the thigh and knocks him off his feet. At first I thought it had hit him in, well, the sweet spot but it was definitely the thigh. He still looks in a fair bit of discomfort, though, so he might have a dead leg.

14 min The first opening for Lebanon. Matar makes an excellent run into the area, onto a clever reverse pass from Maatouk, but then hits the side netting from a prohibitively tight angle. A speculative cutback would have been the better option.

Maatouk, the Lebanon captain, looks a really good player. He’s 36, though, so you can probably forget about buying him on Football Manager.

Updated

13 min Here’s that opening goal from Kusini Yengi.

Updated

12 min Yengi is back on and moving freely. The goal aside, it’s been a fairly sedate start to the game.

11 min Yengi looks fine. The contact drew blood so he’s having his knee bandaged.

10 min Yengi is down and looks in a bit of pain. He was caught by a follow-through after trying to press one of the defenders. Hopefully it’s just an impact injury and he can run it off.

Updated

6 min The early goal means that Australia can pass the ball around and wait for an opening. I’m a neutral, so my opinion isn’t especially relevant, but I’d love to see them be a bit more aggressive and try to put teams away in the first quarter. Sometimes they seem a bit too happy to let the chips fall where they may.

3 min That cross from Goodwin was about as good as it gets. Yengi should probably have scored with his first effort, but who cares.

Updated

That’s the perfect start for Australia – not just the goal but the identity of the scorer. Goodwin made a good run down the left and curled a quite unplayable first-time cross into the six-yard box. Yengi’s first shot hit the post but it rebounded off his left shin and into the net.

Updated

GOAL! Lebanon 0-1 Australia (Yengi 2)

Kusini Yengi gets his first international goal!

Updated

Kick-off

1 min Peep peep! Australia, in their dark blue change strip, kick off from right to left as we watch.

Updated

Apologies for the poverty of entries. I’ve just been trying to make sure the Lebanon team was correct as there were a couple of anomalies on the ever-reliable internet. I think it’s correct now, so these are the teams that will take the field in about five minutes’ time.

Australia (possible 4-4-2) Ryan; Jones, Souttar, Burgess, Rowles; Hrustic, Irvine, Metcalfe, Goodwin; Duke, Yengi.

Lebanon (possible 5-4-1) M Matar; Nassar, Khamis, Sharafeddine, Shour, Chaitou; Maatouk, Tneich, N Matar, Jradi; Bugiel.

Updated

Lebanon team news

Hussein Sharafeddine makes his debut in defence, one of two changes from the match in Sydney. Nader Matar also comes into the team, with Hasan Srour and Maher Sabra dropping out.

Lebanon (possible 5-4-1) M Matar; Nassar, Khamis, Sharafeddine, Shour, Chaitou; Maatouk, Tneich, N Matar, Jradi; Bugiel.
Substitutes: Khalil, Sabeh, Dhaini, Moghrabi, Haidar, Srour, Khoury, Bitar, Al Haj, Lajud, Farah, Darwiche.

Updated

Tonight’s match in Canberra is a sellout according to Football Australia. We won’t know the exact figure until the second half but the ground record for a football match is 24,800 which was for a double-header during the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Socceroos team news

As expected, Graham Arnold has made a number of changes, some enforced. Craig Goodwin, Mitch Duke, Gethin Jones and Ajdin Hrustic replace Riley McGree (and Jordy Bos), Adam Taggart, Nathaniel Atkinson and Keanu Baccus.

Patrick Yazbek, who is of Lebanese descent, is on the bench.

Updated

That meeting in Sydney was, as Jack Snape wrote, a world away from the horrific situation in the Middle East.

In the third row, Yessar Daou had come to the match with his family and girlfriend, and taken in a meal at a Parramatta Lebanese restaurant on his way to the ground. “We’re always celebrating big when it’s a wedding or anything like that, but we rarely do when it comes to sport,” he said. “The result actually doesn’t matter.”

This was an evening to acknowledge the world game in one of the country’s multicultural hubs. Almost a quarter of a million Australians have Lebanese heritage, and many live in Sydney’s west.

Australia beat Lebanon 2-0 on Thursday, though it came at a cost: Riley McGree and Jordy Bos were both injured and will tonight’s game.

Preamble

The World Cup is a marathon, not a sprint – and that’s the qualification part. When Australia tried to reach the 1966 World Cup, they played just two games. This time they will have to play at least 16 and potentially 23 matches before they can book a trip to Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026.

This is game four of that journey, and a strange kind of away fixture. Not many national teams get to play an away match in their capital city, but that will happen to the Socceroos tonight. The return match against Lebanon has been switched to the GIO Stadium in Canberra because of the instability in the Middle East.

A win will be enough for Australia to qualify for the third round with two games to spare, though a draw would also suffice unless Bangladesh beat Palestine this evening. The second round was always likely to be a formality, and so it has proved: three wins, ten goals scored, none conceded. But the Socceroos had to work hard to beat Palestine (1-0) and Lebanon (2-0 in Sydney last Thursday).

Barring a complete fiasco, the last three games in Group I are more about PR than points, a chance to generate some goodwill after an ultimately disappointing Asian Cup. Injuries and rotation mean there should be some newish faces tonight. We’ll have the team news shortly.

Kick off 7.45pm AEDT

Updated

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