Australia will play their final FIFA World Cup 2026™ Third Round Asian Qualifier of 2024 early Wednesday morning when they take on Bahrain. It’s a crucial Group C encounter with just one point separating the pair in the standings, so you can expect a fierce battle at Bahrain National Stadium. As always, we bring you our match preview and best bet below!
2026 World Cup Qualifiers
Australia vs Bahrain
Wednesday 5:15am AEDT, Bahrain National Stadium
Australia remain undefeated under new head coach Tony Popovic with one win and two draws from his three matches in charge. He began with a bang with a strong 3-1 win at home against China before the Aussies took home an unlikely point against Group C runaway leaders, Japan.
However, the Aussies failed to deliver the expected three points last start against Saudi Arabia on home soil, meaning they’ve now only won one of their five matches in the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.
The Socceroos could muster only two shots on target from their 14 attempts against the Saudis, which is no surprise to fans of the green-and-gold. The Aussies have lacked firepower up forward for the best part of an entire generation now, and they’ve scored just four goals from five matches in this round of qualification.
Bahrain began the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers with a massive scalp, downing Australia on enemy soil despite being $13 underdogs. The bad news is they’ve failed to taste success since, drawing twice and losing twice in their past four outings.
On top of that, the “The Red” suffered a shock defeat in their most recent fixture, losing 1-0 at home against China in a brutal blow to their qualification aspirations. They had a goal disallowed by VAR in the 87th minute, only to concede four minutes later in stoppage time.
Bahrain have also found goals hard to come by in this round of qualification. They’ve scored three times in five matches, and have failed to find the back of the net in each of their past two.
Match Prediction: As mentioned above, Bahrain secured a massive upset win when these nations met in Australia two months ago, with the $13 underdogs winning 1-0 despite trailing in pretty much all major statistics, including shots (4-11) and possession (33%-67%) to name a few.
However, that result means we get a much juicier price about the Socceroos here which I’m keen to snap up. Prior to their recent clash the Socceroos had won all six of their meetings without conceding a single goal, and it’s likely they’ll only need to find the back of the net once to take home the chocolates on Wednesday morning.
Australia to Win
$1.78 (1.5 Units)
