Victory in Hangzhou would see Australia take a giant step towards the 2026 tournament with automatic qualification tantalisingly close

When the Socceroos first hit the training track in Hangzhou, the team bus parked next to the final installations marking the finish line of the Linping half marathon. It felt apt as, with four years between tournaments, the process of World Cup qualifying is as much a marathon as the month-long tournament itself is a mad sprint to the finish. It’s not about how you start the race but how you finish it. Ahead of Tuesday’s qualifier against China, the Socceroos are being asked to produce one final kick.

No matter what series of results from this week’s Asian qualifiers are fed through the abacus, Australia cannot qualify for the 2026 World Cup by beating China. Unlike Japan, who secured passage to North America with a 2-0 win over Bahrain last week, that right has not been earned just yet. The reverberations from a calamitous opening window last September in particular – when they suffered a home defeat to Bahrain and played out a scoreless draw with Indonesia – are still being felt seven months on.