Sports Mole previews Thursday’s World Cup Qualifying – Asia clash between Australia and China, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Both looking to record their first wins of the third round, Australia and China will lock horns for an AFC World Cup qualifier at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
The Socceroos endured a woeful September camp and remain without a win in Group C as a result, whilst China suffered back-to-back defeats last month in this section.
Match preview
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Collecting just the single point across their opening two matches of Group C against Bahrain and Indonesia during the September international break, Australia have plenty of work to do if they wish to be one of eight AFC members who automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
The Socceroos endured a terrible night at home to Bahrain on September 5, when despite having over 70% possession they were unable to breach the visitors’ net, with a last-gasp own goal from Sheffield United man Harry Souttar condemning the hosts to an embarrassing defeat.
Five days later and Australia were back on the hunt for their maiden win of the section, and regardless of their domination of the statistics, they were forced to settle for a share of the spoils against Group C minnows Indonesia at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.
Following a sobering September camp, long-serving head coach Graham Arnold handed in his resignation, with former Crystal Palace centre-back Tony Popovic now in charge of leading the Socceroos towards a spot in the 2026 World Cup.
Australia fared extremely well during the most recent edition of football’s biggest tournament, advancing from their group ahead of Denmark and Tunisia to reach the knockout stages of the competition.
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Alongside Group A strugglers Kyrgyzstan and Group B basement dwellers Oman, Thursday’s visitors China are yet to collect any points from their third-round campaign, losing back-to-back matches during the September international break to Asian giants Japan and Saudi Arabia.
The most humbling defeat of the pair arrived on September 5, when the Dragon Team suffered a seven-goal thumping at the hands of Hajime Moriyasu‘s charges at the Saitama Stadium, where former Liverpool attacker Takumi Minamino ran the show, bagging a second-half brace.
China looked on course for a shock victory over Saudi Arabia five days later after taking the lead only for Green Falcons centre-back Hasan Kadesh to score a double, meaning that Branko Ivankovic‘s troops are still searching for their first points in Group C.
Across World Cup qualification and January’s Asian Cup, the Dragon Team have only tasted success on one occasion in nine matches during 2024, and as a result Australia are favourites to earn maximum points in Adelaide on Thursday night.
Australia World Cup Qualifying – Asia form:
China World Cup Qualifying – Asia form:
Team News
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Suffering a cruciate ligament injury whilst on club duty for Parma in Italy, Australia’s Alessandro Circati will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign.
The Socceroos are also unable to call upon the talents of Conor Metcalfe, who is in the medical room of St Pauli due to a groin strain sustained earlier this month.
There should be some attacking alterations for the hosts after they failed to find the net against Indonesia last time out, with the likes of Awer Mabil and Joshua Nisbet pushing for starts.
Despite conceding two against Saudi Arabia last month, China could stick with a centre-back pairing of Tyias Browning and Chenjie Zhu.
Australia possible starting lineup:
Ryan; Miller, Souttar, Burgess, Behich; Silvera, Irvine, Baccus, Goodwin; Mabil, Taggart
China possible starting lineup:
Wang; Gao, Browning, Zhu, Li; Abduweli, Li, Jiang, Xie; Conceicao, Wu
We say: Australia 2-0 China
Hoping to bring a new energy to the Australian ranks, Popovic should be able to inspire his troops to a maiden win of Group C on Thursday night.
China were a tough match for Saudi Arabia on home soil, although we are expecting the Dragon Team to struggle at the Adelaide Oval in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.