Australia took a step closer to automatic World Cup qualification with a comfortable 2-0 victory over China in Hangzhou on Tuesday.
The away win, hot on the heels of their 5-1 win over Indonesia last week, leaves the Socceroos second in Group C on 13 points with two to play, three points ahead of Saudi Arabia with a much better goal difference.
The top two teams advance straight to the 2026 World Cup in North America.
But with Australia having to host already qualified table-toppers Japan and travel to Saudi Arabia for their final qualifier in June, the group could go right down to the wire.
China are bottom on six points but still have a chance to finish third or fourth, which would be enough to enter a further qualifying round.
They face Indonesia away and Bahrain at home in their final two matches.
Australia dominated from the start in Hangzhou to maintain Tony Popovic’s unbeaten record since he became head coach in September.
Jackson Irvine gave Australia the perfect start when he curled home in the 16th minute after sloppy Chinese defending left him the opportunity to shoot.
The 32-year-old FC St Pauli player was able to retrieve a loose ball in the area after his first shot was blocked, before evading two timid challenges and sweeping home a left-foot shot.
A terrible blunder by goalkeeper Wang Dalei gifted Popovic’s side a second in the 29th minuteNishan Velupillay’s scuffed shot looked easy to gather, but the Chinese captain let it squirm through his grasp, bounce off his body and trickle over the line for the Australian’s third goal in five internationals.
Brazil-born Serginho (known as Sai Erjiniao in Chinese), recently naturalised as Chinese, came on for his international debut at half-time.
He almost made an instant impact but Australia goalkeeper Mathew Ryan tipped his powerful shot from the edge of the area over the bar.
China, roared on by over 70,000 fans, applied more pressure in the closing stages but lacked the cutting edge to trouble a side 64 places above them in FIFA’s world rankings.
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