The Australian national team renewed its dominance over Lebanon, defeating them 5-0 in their second encounter within the dual Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup. The match took place at the "GIO Stadium" in the Australian capital, Canberra, as part of the fourth round of Group 9, which also includes the national teams of Palestine and Bangladesh. The "Socceroos" demonstrated their superiority in this group by achieving a perfect score with four consecutive victories, raising their points total to 12, while Lebanon remained stagnant at two points. Lebanon still has two matches left against Palestine and Bangladesh on June 6 and 11, respectively.
Montenegrin head coach Miodrag Radulovic made two changes to his starting lineup, bringing in defender Hussein Sharafeddine to replace the injured Maher Sabra and midfielder Nader Matar instead of Hassan Sarour.
The Lebanese team faced early pressure as the Australians surged into attack from the first moments of the match, successfully opening the scoring in the second minute through a cross from Craig Goodwin on the left, which was unexpectedly finished by Kusini Yenghi into the net. Goodwin was a constant threat on the left with his movements and crosses, while Lebanon came close to equalizing, but Nader Matar hit the outer netting in the 14th minute. Goalkeeper Mustafa Matar and the left post saved Lebanon on two occasions: first, from a shot inside the area by Connor Metcalfe (20), and second, from another dangerous cross by Goodwin that was headed by defender Harry Souttar and rebounded off the post (43).
The scenario of the first half repeated itself, as Lebanon's net shook twice in the opening minutes of the second half. First, a free kick executed by Goodwin was converted by Souttar with his head, rebounding off Basel Ghradi into the net to announce the second goal (47). Only two minutes later, Goodwin showcased his talent with a powerful left-footed shot into the left corner of the goal.
Lebanon attempted to respond just two minutes later, but Nader Matar's strong shot from outside the box hit the crossbar. The 54th minute saw the debut of Lebanese-born midfielder Patrick Yazbek with the Australian team, who quickly made an impact by providing a decisive cross to substitute John Airdale, who scored easily (68), similar to Goodwin, who sealed the match with the fifth goal (81).
Lebanon's lineup included: goalkeeper Mustafa Matar, and players Nasar Nasar, Khalil Khames, Walid Shour, Hussein Sharafeddine, Hassan Shaaito (Daniel Lahoud 46), Ali Tanish (Gabriel Bitar 59), Nader Matar, Hassan Maatouk (Karim Darwish 58), Basel Ghradi (Jackson Khoury 86), and Omar Shaaban (Hassan Sarour 79).
