Australia 2-0 Lebanon: World Cup qualifier – as it happened

34 mins: There’s an organisation to the Socceroos that is pleasing to see. Players all seem to know what’s around them, where they should be running, and what patterns of play to execute.

32 mins: Taggart’s first touch again deserts him as an opportunity unfolds following a sweeping counterattack. Rowles then glances the resulting corner across the face of goal. The Socceroos have been energetic and purposeful so far. Graham Arnold will be delighted with the endeavour.

30 mins: A couple of lovely passages form the Socceroos, both ending in corners. Jackson Irvine to the fore in both, acting as the point man in midfield, keeping the ball moving with one-touch passes, letting the runners around him create the space. The first corner was won in the air by Irvine but Lebanon cleared the second ball. The second corner was swiftly halted when a stray finger glanced a visiting eyebrow. The Cedars have made sure to highlight the slightest contact this evening. It’s made for a stop-start affair.

View image in fullscreen

28 mins: Good save from Matar following a fierce drive from Yengi that was deflected awkwardly after the keeper had made his initial move.

View image in fullscreen

27 mins: Here’s the early goal, in case you haven’t caught it yet. Cross or shot?

25 mins: The split striker formation requires both forwards to put in plenty of unselfish runs into the channels. Taggart is doing just that non-stop, but Yengi doesn’t demonstrate the same instinct, forcing Australia to play in compressed areas. The one time Taggart holds his ground and slips the offside trap his control lets him down and Lebanon smuggle clear.

23 mins: Taggart is penalised again for being too physical and his marker, Maher Sabra, is sick of it.

21 mins: Souttar is the target of another corner, this time from the left, but he can only knee a first-time effort over the bar under pressure. He is such a set-piece threat. Not just his size but his ability to get to the ball first and win the contest.

19 mins: Another Lebanese player goes down in contact. This time Taggart is the culprit. Australia have been penalised repeatedly in these early stages.

News from the touchline is it appears to be a foot injury for McGree.

View image in fullscreen

17 mins: On comes Bos for McGree on the left wing. His first act is to watch Souttar almost loop a header back across the goalkeeper and in at the far post following a deep corner. In his urgency to force the ball home Rowles flattened Mostafa Matar and the whistle blows.

15 mins: Riley McGree doesn’t look happy. He signals that he suffered a knock in contact and Jordy Bos is being readied on the bench. Not great news for the Socceroos.

13 mins: Lebanon enjoy their first break of the night and slip the ball in behind Rowles on the right flank. Burgess comes across to concede a corner. Australia deal with the delivery comfortably in the air. However, it is noticeable how loud the crowd became during that incursion. Plenty of Lebanese fans in Parramatta tonight.

View image in fullscreen

11 mins: Souttar picks out McGree with a 50m diagonal pass that Ronald Koeman would have been proud of. Unfortunately McGree tires to do too much instead of whipping in an early cross to his twin strikers.

9 mins: Australia are playing brightly, looking to move the ball quickly and drag Lebanon out of their shape. The key move is the diagonal run from a central area to the channel, which Metcalfe times well to fashion an opening. The initial effort is defended easily but Baccus isn’t far off with the follow up from the edge of the box.

View image in fullscreen

7 mins: That was exactly what Australia wanted, the early goal to force Lebanon out of their 5-4-1 shell. It came out of nowhere but was unstoppable as soon as it left Baccus’ boot.

Was it a cross? Was it a shot? Keanu Baccus doesn’t care! 30m from goal the midfielder forces the turnover, drives forward, shifts the ball towards the right corner of the penalty area and hooks his foot around what is surely a cross – only to see the ball float over the goalkeeper and into the far corner of the net.

View image in fullscreen

4 mins: The Socceroos are missing a host of leading wide men so McGree has drifted to the left and Metcalfe the right. The latter is involved as the ball is slipped in the right channel for Taggart – who goes down just outside the box under pressure – but the referee isn’t interested.

2 mins: Straight from the kick-off Lebanon drop into a deep block and Australia are invited to break through. They build neatly and fashion a cross form the left but Taggart is penalised for roughhousing in the box.

We’re under way in Sydney.

Plenty of cheers greet the teams as they step out onto the turf. There’s no shortage of red on display in the crowd as the Lebanese anthem plays.

The teams are lined up in the tunnel, Lebanon top to toe in red, Australia in gold jerseys, green shorts, white socks.

Conditions are ideal for football in NSW tonight with temperatures in the high teens, no rain, and little wind. The surface hasn’t been played on in almost two weeks so that should be in tip-top condition too.

More from Arnie from his media rounds earlier this week.

Australia’s selection stocks are hardly overflowing, and the challenges facing Graham Arnold are not being helped by the old club vs country argument rearing its head again.

If Josh Nisbet makes his international debut tonight the 1.6m Mariner will become the shortest Socceroo in history. I presume. I don’t know if there’s a list of heights somewhere, but he’d have to be at the bottom, right? He’s tiny.

Even if he doesn’t get a cap tonight hopefully Nisbet will spend some time in the vicinity of the 1.98m Harry Souttar for a quick photo op.

Lebanon will be led out tonight by 36-year-old Hassan Maatouk, his country’s most capped player and record goalscorer. Only two members of the starting XI ply their trade outside Lebanon: Bassel Jradi at Bangkok United, and Omar Chaaban at AFC Wimbledon.

The big selection news for the Socceroos is that Adam Taggart and Kusini Yengi will start up front together as dual prongs in a rejigged 4-4-2, while Kye Rowles shifts from the middle to the left of defence.

There’s some quality on the bench, including Jordan Bos and Ajdin Hrustic, but with a second match against Lebanon to come on Tuesday, expect them to feature more heavily then as Graham Arnold manages his squad’s workload.

Craig Goodwin is ill, Mathew Leckie, Martin Boyle are Aziz Behich are all injured.

Paul Williams sets the scene for what will feel like a local derby in the western Sydney stands.

Such is the size of the Lebanese community in western Sydney that this week’s visit of Lebanon to play the Socceroos in the latest round of World Cup qualifiers may at times feel like a home game for the Cedars; more Beirut than Blacktown.

21 Mar 202404.32 EDT

Preamble

Jonathan Howcroft

Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Australia v Lebanon from CommBank Stadium. Kick-off in Sydney for this 2026 World Cup qualifier is 8.10pm AEDT.

It’s been a while, so let’s quickly recap.

We are in stage two (of what should be three, but could conceivably be five) of the AFC qualification process for the 2026 World Cup in North America.

Stage one eliminated the weakest 10 of Asia’s 46 member federations.

The surviving 36 include the top 26 ranked teams for the first time, and they have been drawn into nine groups of four. The top two in each group progress to stage three, as well as qualify directly for the 2027 Asian Cup.

As expected, the Socceroos have won their opening two fixtures: at home to Bangladesh, and away to Palestine. Lebanon drew with those same opponents.

Progress to stage three of the qualification process should now be a formality for Australia, and it would be a major upset if that in turn did not lead to a spot in the bloated 48-team finals.

But that prize is more than two years away. Right now, we have FIFA ranked 23 vs 115 to deal with.

For the hosts it’s a first run-out since exiting the Asian Cup at the quarter-final stage in February. It was a tournament that ended with an agonising defeat to South Korea, a result that snapped an eight match unbeaten run. It also highlighted that while the Socceroos are clearly capable of dismissing the continent’s weaker sides they lack the guile to overcome sterner tests. With the limited talent at Graham Arnold’s disposal it’s hard to see that pattern changing any time soon.

Lebanon were on a plane home from Doha even earlier this year after failing to make it out of their Asian Cup group. In four matches in 2024 they have scored only one goal, contributing to a run of just one win in nine outings – and that required a 93rd minute penalty to force a result against Jordan.

But while tonight’s result might not be in dispute for long, the occasion should still be one to celebrate. Sydney has a large and passionate Lebanese population, for whom the opportunity to show their colours should make for a great spectacle.

I’ll leave it there for now, but if you’d like to get in touch while I’m on, please fire all communication to jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com.