Australia secures World Cup berth, China ends qualifying campaign with consolation win

BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Australia confirmed its place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup while China got a consolation win over Bahrain in the AFC Asian qualifying tournament on Tuesday.

Needing to avoid defeat by five clear goals, Australia fought back to beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 in the last match of Group C action in Jeddah and took Asia's final automatic ticket.

The win meant Australia (19 points) finished second behind group leader Japan (23 points), which had already qualified for the World Cup and finished with an emphatic 6-0 win against Indonesia.

Saudi Arabia, together with Indonesia, will continue their bid to feature at next year's global showpiece in the playoffs.

Elsewhere, Wang Yudong's 90th-minute penalty enabled already-eliminated China to avoid finishing bottom of Group C with a consolation 1-0 win over Bahrain in Chongqing.

Iran and Uzbekistan already confirmed their places at next year's World Cup finals from Group A, and they both secured comfortable wins on Tuesday.

Iran swept past DPR Korea 3-0, with Uzbekistan also cruising past Qatar with the same score line.

Iran topped Group A with 23 points, two ahead of Uzbekistan, which will be featuring in its first World Cup finals.

Also in Group A, United Arab Emirates was held to a 1-1 draw by Kyrgyzstan, and finished third on 15 points, two ahead of Qatar, with both sides having sealed their places in the playoffs.

In Group B, South Korea and Jordan both secured qualification last week with a game to spare, but they enjoyed different fortunes in the last round of the group stage.

South Korea eased to a 4-0 victory against Kuwait in Seoul, while Jordan lost to Iraq 1-0 in Amman, with the visiting team confirming third place in the group.

Oman drew Palestine 1-1 to join Iraq in the playoffs.

The playoffs, which will see the six teams divided into two groups, will be contested in October.

The top team from each group will book their tickets to the World Cup, while the two second-placed sides will face off, with the winner to advance to an inter-confederation playoff for a final shot at qualifying for football's global showpiece. Enditem