Australia secure World Cup spot, Palestine's qualification hopes are ended by last-gasp penalty
AUSTRALIA QUALIFIED FOR next year's World Cup, while Oman denied Palestine from keeping alive their hopes of a first appearance at a global finals with a last-gasp draw in Jordan on Tuesday.
Tony Popovic's Socceroos, who went into the third round's final matchday heavy favourites to progress, defeated direct rivals Saudi Arabia 2-1 in Jeddah to seal the second automatic qualification spot in Group C.
Saudi Arabia must instead make do with a place in the fourth round, alongside Indonesia. Japan had already secured top place in the group.
Herve Renard's Saudi side went into the decider at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium knowing only win by a five-goal margin would be enough to usurp Australia in second.
In Group B, Palestinian hearts were broken when they conceded a penalty deep into injury-time to draw 1-1 with Oman in Amman.
Palestine, playing their 'home' fixtures at a neutral venue, took the lead on 49 minutes at King Abdullah II Stadium when Oday Kharoub headed Adam Kaied's corner into the top corner.
Oman were reduced to 10 men in the 73rd minute after Harib Al-Saadi was showed a second yellow card.
Yet the visitors rallied to snatch a precious point in the 97th minute, Issam Al-Sabhi converting a spot-kick following Ahmad Taha's foul on Muhsen Al-Ghassani.
The result means Oman finish fourth in the group at Palestine's expense and therefore advance to the next phase of qualification.
Taking place in October, and comprising two groups of three, there are two places at next summer's tournament up for grabs, with Oman, UAE, Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia also in the running.
In Europe, Netherlands maintained their winning start to European 2026 World Cup qualifying by dismissing Malta 8-0 on Tuesday, while their group rivals Poland lost to Finland in a match interrupted due to a medical emergency in the crowd.
The results leave Finland top of Group G on seven points, one ahead of the Dutch who have played two matches less. Poland sit third on six points after three played.
In Groningen, the Dutch raced into a three-goal lead against their overawed opponents inside the opening 20 minutes.
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Memphis Depay converted from the spot on nine minutes, before doubling the lead with a rifled finish from the edge of the box seven minutes later.
Depay's brace brought the 31-year-old to 50 international goals — level with former Manchester United and Arsenal striker Robin van Persie as the Netherlands' all-time leading goalscorer.
Captain Virgil van Dijk killed the match off as a tie when he stepped onto the ball and arrowed a right-footed finish into the bottom corner from 20 yards.
The Oranje then turned on the afterburners inside the final half-hour as Xavi Simons, Donyell Malen, who got two, Noa Lang and Micky van de Ven all netted.
Poland began life without leading goalscorer Robert Lewandowski in miserable fashion as they went down 2-1 in Helsinki.
The 36-year-old played 158 times for Poland, scoring 85 goals, but announced Sunday he was no longer available for selection so long as coach Michal Probierz remained in charge.
The Poles fell behind to Joel Pohjanpalo's 31st-minute penalty, before Benjamin Kallman added a second nine minutes after the break.
Jakub Kiwior pulled one back in the 69th minute, shortly before the match was interrupted when a spectator fell ill.
After a lengthy stoppage, the final 10 minutes of play resumed but Poland were unable to find an equaliser despite applying relentless pressure on the hosts' goal.
Elsewhere, Serbia eased past Andorra 3-0 to move to third in Group K on four points courtesy of an Aleksandar Mitrovic hat-trick.
They trail Albania in second by one point and sit level with Latvia after those sides played out a 1-1 draw in Riga.
Austria beat San Marino 4-0 to go second in Group H, three points behind leaders Bosnia and Hercegovina who have played an extra match.
Marko Arnautovic scored a brace inside the opening quarter-hour, as Michael Gregoritsch and Christoph Baumgartner completed the scoring in Serravalle.
Romania defeated Cyprus 2-0, but dropped to third in the group after Austria's second win from two outings.
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