Iraq put the entire football world in awe as they displayed complete dominance in their World Cup 2026 qualifiers against the Philippines on a humid Tuesday night at Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila.
The Philippine outfit fared well during their away leg against one of the best clubs in Asia, managing to keep Iraq to a 1-0 win, which is already a great achievement from the bottom team in Group F. Tom Saintfiet and the rest of his team were hopeful that playing in front of their home crowd would be the X factor they’d need to pull off an upset against the unbeaten Iraq.
Unfortunately for the Philippines and their fans, it’ll take more than home advantage to get the upper hand against a team like Iraq, especially when their striker, Aymen Hussein, is playing his best football as of late.
Hussein, 28, started things off for Iraq by scoring an opener in minute 14 from the penalty mark, while Amir Al-Ammari followed it up with a stunner in minute 30. Hussein decided to secure the win before halftime and scored his brace in minute 36. Zidane Iqbal and Zaid Tahseen showed brilliance in the second half and scored one goal apiece, completing the 5-0 obliteration of the Philippines right in front of their home fans.
With this win, Iraq improved to a 4-0-0 record, towering over their adversaries in Group F with 12 points, five points clear of second-place Indonesia. Meanwhile, the Philippines stay at the bottom of the pack with one point.
No surprises for Thailand this time around
Thailand stunned the entire Seoul World Cup Stadium with a second-half goal by Suphanat Mueanta that forced a pivotal 1-1 draw against the Taegeuk Warriors. That draw prevented Korea Republic from being the undisputed World Cup 2026 betting odds favourites in Group C and gave Thailand a newfound swagger to boot.
With an extra bounce to their step, Thailand played host to the disgruntled Taegeuk Warriors at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok. Despite still being the underdogs, Thailand felt that they could fare well against Korea Republic, especially in front of their home fans. Or so they thought.
It seemed like it took just a little bump in the road to wake up the Koreans, as they proceeded to wreak havoc on the untroubled Thailand outfit, surgically dismantling them in the early, middle, and late parts of the match.
Lee Jae-sung started things off with an opener in minute 19. The Koreans kept the pace during the first half, really picking their moments to attack. Their efficiency paid off in the second half, where Tottenham talisman Son Heung-min scored in the first 12 minutes of the second half, then was followed up by Park Jun-seop, who put the nail on the coffin with a late 82-minute goal to send Thai fans in attendance with dismay and zero points on the way out of Rajamangala Stadium.
Hwang Sun-hong’s new outfit made sure that there would be no more surprises during their rematch, and proceeded to dominate the Thai outfit with a 0-3 clean sheet victory. This win keeps the Taegeuk Warriors at the top of Group C, just three points clear of China, who also won their most recent tie against Singapore with a dominating 4-1 performance.
The Socceroos continue their flawless run
Australia look like they’ve already moved on from their quarterfinal loss in the AFC Asian Cup, as they’ve been nothing but stellar in the World Cup qualifiers. Since the AFC Asian Cup, the Socceroos have been unbeaten, thrashing Lebanon in both of their bouts during the current international window.
With heavy hearts, the Socceroos marched to CommBank Stadium with their chests and chins up, braving and then demolishing the visiting Cedars with a 2-0 clean sheet victory. Keanu Baccus started to work early, scoring the opening goal in the first five minutes of the tie. Kaye Rowles added to their goal tally with a second-half goal to blow the game wide open.
Lebanon struggled to keep the Australian charge at bay, playing most of the match on their own side, fending off imminent Socceroos attacks. The Cedars had to settle for a goalless outing and hoped they could fare better in their rematch.
Unfortunately for the Cedars, Australia decided to put out the most dominating World Cup 2026 results in the qualifiers thus far by thumping Lebanon with a five-goal performance. Craig Goodwin led the way with a brace, while Kusini Yengi didn’t make the fans at GIO Stadium wait that long for some action by scoring the opening goal in the second minute of the first half. John Iredale joined in the barrage of goals by scoring one himself in minute 68, while Bassel Jradi added insult to injury by scoring an own goal in minute 47.
Yet again, the Cedars failed to find the back of the net against the Australians, and this time, they suffered an even more heartbreaking 5-0 loss.
With this win, Australia improves to 4-0-0 in the World Cup 2026 qualifiers and are poised to win Group I if they can keep their current form. They are five points clear of second-placed Palestine and have yet to concede a single goal in the qualifiers thus far.
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