Match Preview: Bangladesh v Australia | FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers™

Tim Gibson / Insights: Jack George 1717541712,1717628418

The Subway Socceroos travel to Bashundhara Kings Arena on Thursday night (8:45pm AEST) to take on Bangladesh in its penultimate Second Round FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier™.

Australia have been flawless in qualifying so far, with four wins from four and are yet to concede a goal.

When Graham Arnold’s men faced Bangladesh in Melbourne, they put their opponents to the sword with a 7-0 victory.

Harry Souttar opened the scoring within four minutes, and Borrello added another before Mitch Duke grabbed a brace late in the half.

The second period saw Jamie Maclaren notch a hat-trick before Massimo Luongo missed a late penalty in his last appearance for the Socceroos.

Australia’s last two fixtures were a doubleheader against Lebanon in March. The team prevailed on both occasions, 2-0 and 5-0, respectively, in response to their quarter-final exit against South Korea in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023.

While Australia have been comfortable in their home ties this campaign, the toughest challenge came in their only away fixture so far against Palestine.

They edged past Palestine 1-0 that game - six days after the Bangladesh win in November - so another away day poses the Socceroos’ biggest threat to extending their perfect run.

Bangladeshi 25-year-old forward Rakib Hossain has been selected as part of the squad for the hosts and is one of the key players to watch out for on his familiar turf.

He has proven to be a formidable attacking asset, scoring 18 goals and providing 10 assists for Bashundhara Kings in the Bangladeshi Premier League this season.

Also, youngster Mojibur Rahman Jony is in the squad for Bangladesh. The 19-year-old has enjoyed a breakout season with the Kings, scoring eight goals, and will offer the team some quality from midfield.

Australia coach Arnold faces selection headaches right across the team but most prevalently in the goalkeeper position.

With captain Maty Ryan recovering from injury, Arnold will have to ponder a team without his current longest-serving Socceroo.

Joe Gauci has spent the last four months with his new club, Aston Villa, as the team secured UEFA Champions League qualification for next season.

He faces competition for the spot with experienced Western Sydney Wanderers goalkeeper Laurence Thomas and Melbourne Victory’s Paul Izzo - who was one of Victory’s standout players on their route to the A-League Men’s grand final.

In defence, Aziz Behich returns as an option at left back while Jordan Bos has also recovered well from injury to join up with the team.

Serie B champion Alessandro Circati is in the squad for the first time since the beginning of this year and will look to pick up where he left off at centre-back.

Arnold has some new dilemmas in the wide areas, with regulars Mathew Leckie and Martin Boyle facing new competition.

Munich-bound Nestory Irankunda has made the squad for the first time, and Daniel Arzani has returned to the squad for the first time in six years.

The central striker position is also one to look out for as in-form ALM pair Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Adam Taggart jostle with Kusini Yengi and Mitch Duke for a start.

The Socceroos will take the field against Bangladesh at 8:45 pm (AEST) on Thursday night.

FIFA World Rankings

Bangladesh: 184th
Australia: 24th

Head-to-Head

Played: 3
Wins: 3
Draws: 0
Losses: 0

Insights

Across the Socceroos’ last nine victories, they have kept clean sheets in every one of those games
The Socceroos have scored in their last 11 consecutive matches in a row; over their last 25 games, the Green and Gold have only failed to score against Peru, England and Argentina
In their previous three meetings, the Socceroos have never conceded against Bangladesh
Australia have outscored Bangladesh 16-0 in those past three encounters
Daniel Arzani was a creative hub for Melbourne Victory throughout the A-League Men campaign, averaging 3.84 successful dribbles per game, assisting 0.29 times per match and creating 3.16 chances per 90 minutes
Nestory Irankunda averaged 0.75 direct goal contributions per match for Adelaide United last campaign at just 18 years old
Arzani and Irankuda averaged the second and third most successful dribbles per 90 in the A-League Men in 2023/24 (only considering players with 500+ minutes)
Adam Taggart topped the A-League Men scoring charts with 20 goals last season, whilst taking 5.1 shots per 90 - also the most in the league
Apostolos Stamatelopoulos scored 17 goals for Newcastle Jets in just 25 matches last campaign, an average of 0.72 per 90

What They Said

Jackson Irvine

"The squad itself, it's been a great few days. Of course with Kusini [Yengi] getting promoted, Cam [Burgess] getting promoted, Alessandro [Circati] getting promoted, guys like [Josh] Nisbet had an incredible season winning silverware, and Nestory [Irankunda] has his opportunity to take that next big step."

It's just an unbelievably exciting environment. Everyone's in such a great phase of football at the moment.

"I see it more and more when newer players come in, how quickly they adapt into the atmosphere and the culture of this group, it still surprises me how quickly players are able to adapt. It's great to see because I think that's a reflection of the type of people that we have in this team."

"When you come into these camps, it's an opportunity to take another step forward and continue to get better. Certain games have different bearings, but we want to break records, we want to carry on winning streaks, we want to keep clean sheets, we want to do all the things."

"We have to do that through playing the way that we want, to approach every single game as a team that wants to win every single game, whether it's a friendly, a qualifier or one of the best teams in the world, the mentality never really changes."

Joe Gauci

“I'm ready to play if called upon, but every camp is another opportunity. It doesn't change with Maty in or out of camp. Every time I step into camp, it's an opportunity to show the progressions that I’m making and the development that I'm making in my game.

“I'm in camp with two other experienced goalkeepers who are probably eager to play minutes for the Socceroos as well, not probably, I know they definitely are.”

“I think everything happened really fast for me through January, being in the Asian Cup, coming out of that, belonging to a different club, and having to transition and move to the other side of the world."

"Then to go straight into a team that was seriously competing in the Premier League. And also, playing in the conference league as well, and fighting for a trophy there."

Connor Metcalfe

I just come into the squad and it’s the same everywhere. Wherever Arnie wants me to play, I will play and do the best I can.

“We want to win both games so we can (try and) be in pot one. Everyone wants to play and everyone wants to push to start, so it's always pretty intense during training and I'm looking forward to getting more into it.”

“I was talking to my parents, saying that it’s been less than two years since leaving Australia and St Pauli have had decent opportunities to go up but now to finally achieve it is an amazing feeling. The reason we all play is to have these moments of success. Once you get it, you want more and more."

Kusini Yengi

"[Promotion] was really special, something I hadn't experience, so I'm definitely going to remember those scenes and those moments for the rest of my career, hopefully there's many more to come. Yeah, not only me, there's quite a few other boys that experienced similar situations this season, which is amazing."

I'm sure we're going to use that experience and that joy coming into camp to create positive vibes and hopefully help us win these next two games.

"It's going to be a bit more of a difficult game [against Bangladesh] compared to the first one. The conditions obviously, quite different for a number of players coming in to camp here. Also the weather conditions, we have no idea what the pitch is going to be like, and they're up for the fight. So we're going to have to be at our best to win this game, hopefully we will dominate and score a lot of goals like last time."

Daniel Arzani

“I got a message from Arnie when we were on the bus going back to the airport, the day after the grand final on Sunday, that said he wanted to call me, and I was a little bit excited when I saw that. But I didn't want to get my hopes up,” Arzani said.

“So when I got back to Melbourne, I gave him a quick call. He gave me the good news. I was absolutely ecstatic. It's something that I've been talking about and wanting for a long time. And it's always an honour to be called up to represent your country."

“Another World Cup would be an incredible experience. It was an honour last time, It'd be an honour, again, it would be two World Cups for me. It's something that I'm going to work hard to be able to do.”

Match Details

Bangladesh v Subway Socceroos
Thursday, 6 June
Bashundhara Kings Arena, Dhaka
Kick-off: 4.45pm local / 8.45pm AEST
Broadcast: Paramount+

Subway Socceroos v Palestine
Tuesday, 11 June 2024
HBF Park, Perth
Kick-off: 8.05pm AWST / 10.05pm AEST
Tickets: Start from $15 Child, $20 Concession, $25 Adult, and $50 Family. Tickets from Ticketmaster.
Broadcast: 10, 10 Play, Paramount+