Herve Renard

MELBOURNE, Nov 13, (AP): Australia will host Saudi Arabia in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Melbourne on Thursday. Japan and South Korea can take a big step towards North America in 2026 when the third round of Asian qualifying reaches the halfway stage.

With only the top two teams from each of the three groups of six progressing automatically to the expanded 48-team tournament, Australia and Saudi Arabia have only five points from four Group C games, five behind leaders Japan.

Since the third round began, the two teams' sputtering form has already resulted in coaching changes. Graham Arnold stepped down as Socceroos head coach in September. He was replaced by Tony Popovic, while Saudi Arabia fired Roberto Mancini in October after a 0-0 draw with Bahrain in Jeddah.

Herve Renard is back in Riyadh to take over the Saudi team for a second spell.

"I believe we can qualify; otherwise, I wouldn’t be here,” Renard, who left Riyadh in March 2023 to take over the French women’s national team, told local media. "I know the players well. We’re not in an ideal situation, but it’s far from hopeless. We still have six games remaining, four of them away.”

Renard led Saudi Arabia to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, topping a qualification group above Japan and Australia. It defeated eventual champion Argentina 2-1 in its opening game in Qatar before losing its next two games and finishing last in its group, failing to qualify for the knockout rounds.

"Many of these players were part of the squad that qualified for the 2022 World Cup,” Renard said. "They must draw on that experience, keep their spirit high, and do everything necessary to reach the 2026 World Cup.”

Saudi Arabia hopes that a coaching change can produce the same upturn in results that Popovic delivered for Australia in his first two games in October, a win over China at home followed by a 1-1 draw in Japan.

Those were the first points that Japan, which has appeared in every World Cup since 1998, dropped in qualification. The Samurai Blue is expected to beat Indonesia despite playing in front of an expected 78,000 fans in Jakarta, before traveling to China.

"If you look at the FIFA rankings and the games in the World Cup qualifiers so far, you might think that the advantage is with Japan,” said coach Hajime Moriyasu. "But we are playing both games away and I think it will be tough.”

In Group A, Iran and Uzbekistan are six points clear of the rest of the group and face respective away games against North Korea and Qatar.