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What: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier
When: Tuesday, June 11th
Where: Perth, Australia | HBF Park
Kickoff: 15:10 Jerusalem Time
TV/Streaming: Subscribe to Football Palestine on Substack (Free) to receive a streaming link to your inbox on hour before kickoff
Previous Encounters:
21.11.2023: Palestine 0:1 Australia (2026 World Cup qualification)
11.01.2019: Australia 3:0 Palestine (2019 AFC Asian Cup)
Dead Rubber
Palestine and Australia have very little to play for. Results over the past five match days means both teams have booked a place in Round 3 of World Cup qualification. Australia wrapped up business on Matchday 4 and have yet to drop a point. Palestine got the draw they needed on Matchday 5 (0-0 vs Lebanon) to progress in qualifying and clinch a berth at the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.
Australian Government deny entry to Jibril Rajoub
This match might not hold a lot of weight but a serious international incident was created in the early hours of Saturday morning when Palestine Football Association President Jibril Rajoub was denied entry into Australia.
The 71-year old was not allowed to board a plane bound for Perth and reasons for his visa denial have not been elaborated on. FIFA tried to use its considerable leverage to intervene but the decision has been upheld.
Rajoub has received an Australian visa on at least one prior occasion when he traveled with the team to the AFC Asian Cup finals back in 2015.
Arnold Rings in the Changes
With passage secured, Australia manager Graham Arnold decided to use the June window to give opportunities to untested players. A whopping 13 players who participated in matches in March have been dropped from the squad. Notable absences include Mat Ryan and Craig Goodwin who started the reverse fixture. There is also no place for Lewis Miller, Brandon Borrello, Aiden O’Neill and James Maclaren who came on as substitutes in the game in Kuwait City.
The changes have not slowed the Socceroos down who continue to find ways to win games. The 2-0 win against Bangladesh in Dhaka was not pretty by any stretch of the imagination but it means that Australia have won all five of their games scoring 17 and conceding zero goals.
Changes are expected for Australia in Perth. It has been confirmed that Harry Souttar and Kyle Rowles will not start in defence. Instead hometown boys Alessandro Circati and Cameron Burgess will start. The pair represented the nations of their birth (Italy and Scotland) at youth level before switching allegiance at the start of this cycle.
At the very least, there will be five changes to the team Palestine lost to on Match Day 2.
Kings Arena leaves Australia worse for wear
The main talking point from Australia’s routine victory over Bangladesh was just how bad the pitch was. A 2-0 scoreline showed that conditions in Bangladesh are a great equalizer for the home team.
Graham Arnold claimed that the Socceroos could have won by more “I’m not passing responsibility. That was a field that we only won 2-0, we had the chances to score five, six, seven.”
Statistics show a different story as his team only created three big chances (according to the SofaScore metric) and forced Mitul Marma into two saves. Palestine forced the Bangladesh shot stopper into nine saves when the teams met in March in a 1-0 win for the visitors.
Arnold was near apoplectic post match when asked about the state of the pitch in Dhaka:
“The pitch? Terrible. It’s unacceptable,” Arnold said.
“Because we talk about player welfare. And you’re putting players on a field where players can get injured.
“And it’s no shock to me that five or six players from Bangladesh went down with cramping, having cramps in calf muscles and hamstrings because that field is not good. I’m being honest … the field was dangerous.
“But some of the tackles, potential injuries was stressing me out last night.”
Palestine arrive in Perth rested, relaxed
Success begets success and following Palestine’s 0-0 draw vs Lebanon and successful progression to the Third Round of World Cup qualifying there was no shortage of well wishers.
In a first for the national team, the entire squad flew business class to Perth from Doha (presumably thanks to the help of the Qatar Football Association). The team arrived in Perth early Saturday morning to a raucous reception from the Palestinian community in Western Australia.
The team will not sweat the absences of two starters from the Lebanon game because their fate is already sealed. No matter the result of the Australia match, Palestine is locked into Pot 5 following the successful progression of Jordan and Oman on Match Day 5.
Odai Kharoub will miss the match due to yellow card accumulation and Wessam Abou Ali is also out after picking up an injury against Lebanon (believed to be a bruised metatarsal and ankle sprain).
Newly minted Palestine players Omar Faraj and Moustafa Zeidan should be in line for starts and there could be a reappearance for the suspended Amid Mahajna and the out of favor Yaser Hamed.
Pot Considerations
Palestine might have nothing to play for but Australia must better South Korea’s result vs. China if they are to be a Pot 1 team. Here are what the Pots look like for the 13 teams that have advanced to the Third Round- another five teams will book their place on Tuesday
Pot 1: Japan, Iran, Korea Republic*
Pot 2: Australia*, Qatar, Saudi Arabia*
Pot 3: Iraq*, Uzbekistan, UAE*
Pot 4: Jordan*, Oman, Bahrain
Pot 5: Palestine, TBD, TBD
Pot 6: TBD, TBD, TBD
The following teams are still mathematically alive and this is how they would be ranked:
Pot 5: China, Syria
Pot 5 or 6: Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea DPR,
Pot 6: India, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia
Palestine’s match against Australia is one of three dead rubbers that could affect the seeding. The other two are Saudi Arabia vs. Jordan with both teams needing a win (Saudi to hold off Iraq and remain in Pot 2 and Jordan to potentially leapfrog UAE into Pot 3) and UAE vs Bahrain.
The runner up from Group A (Afghanistan, Kuwait, or India) is locked into Pot 6. Malaysia is on life support and depends on a win against Chinese Taipei an Oman win over Kyrgyzstan and an eight goal swing.
Rivals Indonesia can advance with a win over Philippines. A loss or draw might not prevent their progression should Iraq beat Vietnam.
