Bangladesh conceded a 0-2 goal defeat to Australia in the Group I match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 joint qualifiers at the Kings Arena in Dhaka on Thursday.
Bangladesh went 0-1 down in the 29th minute conceding an own goal and forward Kusini Yengi doubled the margin in the 62nd minute for Australia, who won their home game in Melbourne 7-0 in November 2023.
Group leaders Australia, who are 160 places ahead of Bangladesh (184th) in the current FIFA rankings, played a high-pressing聽game from the onset.
They kept Bangladesh goalkeeper Mitul Marma busy while their goalkeeper Joe Gauci mostly spent time outside his box to help build play.
Javier Cabrera鈥檚 charges held their nerves until Australia鈥檚 midfielder Ajdin Hrustic鈥檚 30-yard-long drive deflected off defender Mehedi Hasan to wrong-foot Mitul and find the back of the net.
With the lead, the Socceroos continued their attacking game,聽forcing Bangladesh to defend their box but those efforts also went in vain as forward Kusini聽Yengi scored with a header in the 62nd minute.
Defender聽Jordan Bos provided a cross from the left flank which Yengi headed home at the far post, making coach Graham Arnold smile.
鈥楾he objective was to improve the performance of Melbourne. And we achieved our objectives. Regardless of the result, we defended well the whole game. Outstanding work in marking and defending set pieces was at the top level,鈥� Bangladesh head coach Javier Cabrera said after the game.
鈥榃e had a bit of a lack of confidence, especially in the first half and we could have created some attacking situations. But very proud of the team for showing energy, attitude, and never giving up against the 24th-ranked team in the world.鈥�
On the other hand, Australia coach Arnold expressed his dissatisfaction about the pitch.
鈥榁ery proud of boys. They showed energy but we are not used to playing in such conditions. The pitch, to be very honest, is not good. We had the chance to score five, six, or seven but there were chances of injuries,鈥� he said.
The victory helped Australia keep their position at the top as they have scored 17 goals to earn 15 points from five games.
Australia,聽who have already advanced to the third round of the qualifiers, beat Palestine 1-0 and Lebanon 2-0 and 5-0 in their other games.
The Socceroos also maintained their winning run against Bangladesh as they have now won all four ties between the sides since 2015.
Bangladesh conceded 0-5 and 0-4 defeats to Australia in their previous two meetings in 2015 in the FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers.
Bangladesh, who are already out of contention for the third round, are at the bottom of the table with just one point from five games as they played a 1-1 draw with Lebanon and lost 0-1 and 0-5 against Palestine in their other matches.
Bangladesh will complete their qualifiers round-2 campaign with an away tie against Lebanon at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Qatar on June 11.
