🌎 Another team books 2026 World Cup spot, Palestine come close | OneFootball

There are now 11 teams guaranteed a spot in the World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada.

Playing away from home, Australia sealed their presence in next year's World Cup after beating Saudi Arabia 2-1 in Group C, which had Japan as the leader.

This was the sixth and final direct spot from Asia via the Qualifiers.

This will be the seventh World Cup in Australian men's football history. The sixth consecutive one after the editions of 1974, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022.

The Saudis will go to the playoffs in search of their sixth participation in a World Cup. They were in the editions of 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, and 2022.

The situation was comfortable...

The Socceroos entered the field with 16 points against 13 from the Saudis, plus an eight-goal advantage in goal difference against zero from their rivals.

In other words: they would only miss out on the spot in case of a defeat by a five-goal difference - they would have an advantage in goals scored in case of a four-goal defeat.

📸 Robert Cianflone - 2025 Getty Images

The Saudis even took the lead at 19' with Al Oboud.

But they conceded the equalizer still in the first half after Duke's great play for Metcalfe to score (42').

The situation for the home team got even more complicated right after the break after Duke turned it around (48').

Saudi Arabia even had a penalty in their favor in the final stretch of the game. But Al Dawsari saw Ryan defend and still in his 100th game for Australia.

The record holder is former goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, with 109.

Palestine sees playoff spot slip away at 97'

The other match of the day was for a playoff spot.

Playing at home, but in Jordan, Palestine faced Oman and needed to win due to the table situation before the ball rolled: nine points against ten from their rivals.

And they were winning thanks to Kharoub's goal (49') after a corner kick.

But Oman (who had Al Saadi sent off at 79') sought the 1-1 draw with a penalty goal converted by Al Sabhi at 97'.

Oman, then, finished in fourth place in Group B behind South Korea and Jordan (teams qualified for the World Cup) and Iraq, which was already guaranteed a playoff spot.

Also guaranteed in the playoffs were United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Indonesia. A total of six teams.

Regulations: the teams that finished third and fourth in each of the three groups will compete for two more spots in the World Cup.

They will be divided into two groups and will face each other in neutral locations only in one-leg matches. Which will be played in October this year.

The leader of each group will guarantee a spot in the World Cup.

The two second-placed teams will face each other to decide the Asian representative in the intercontinental playoffs.

All countries already confirmed in the next World Cup 👇🏽

United States 🇺🇸

Mexico 🇲🇽

Canada 🇨🇦

Argentina 🇦🇷

New Zealand 🇳🇿

Japan 🇯🇵

Iran 🇮🇷

Uzbekistan 🇺🇿

South Korea 🇰🇷

Jordan 🇯🇴

Australia 🇦🇺

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 Yasser Bakhsh - 2025 Getty Images