If the Socceroos don’t qualify for the 2026 World Cup it won’t be because of the efforts of the other teams in group C, but instead a series of self-inflicted blows.

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Tony Popovic’s side could not have looked more comfortable against Bahrain, but somehow their trip to Riffa ended with a near calamitous 2-2 draw, which sees them with a tentative, instead of firm grip, on their own World cup qualifying fate.

This is a result that never should’ve happened. The draw – one that felt like a defeat based on the post-game interviews given by the players in Bahrain – eventuated on the back of themes that remain constant despite different personnel.

Until now, the slip-ups during this campaign have been downplayed, to an extent, on the proviso that the side still had time as its ally. That was the case until the most experienced Socceroo in the current squad emerged from the dressing room and slammed the current level of performance.

MAT RYAN BLASTS PLAYING GROUP

Socceroos captain Mat Ryan, restored to the starting eleven for the first time in three-games under Popovic, endured the frustration of seeing his goal breached twice; both in freak circumstances.

The Roma gloveman, who moved to equal third on the all-time appearance list on 96 with former skipper Lucas Neill, was in no mood to make excuses after the 2-2 result that followed a scoreless draw against Saudi Arabia in Melbourne days earlier.

“To pretty much throw it away, or throw the win away at least, is obviously very disappointing,” Ryan said in an extraordinarily honest interview with Football Australia’s own YouTube page.

“We’ve got to be smarter and more wise in those scenarios.

“We try and create a winning culture here and we’re falling short of that at the minute and the reflection in the change room was just talking about that it’s not good enough at the minute.

“I don’t think that it’s intentionally that guys are making mistakes or not being quite there. It’s more a fact of being a bit naive and a bit raw in that sense and basically being a little bit ignorant and all these types of things (when it comes to) what it takes to win a football game.

“It’s more than just being skilful and having talent and being tactically organised and mentally being strong.

“I think we’re a little ignorant in that regard in terms of closing out games and managing games in order to get the result.”

Ryan also praised the character it took to come back to earn a draw, but the leader of the side has clearly seen enough.

WASTED CHANCES AND WASTED TIME

The Socceroos were 1-0 up after 38-seconds through Kusini Yengi

X account @OptaJason posted it was the “earliest goal the Socceroos have scored since Opta began collecting the data in Oct 2013.”

Strangely, the early breakthrough might’ve worked against the side mentally.

“It was good to get the goal early and that filled us with a bit of confidence – maybe a bit too much – and we were a bit passive from then on,” striker Kusini Yengi said.

There was the usual glut of missed chances – Yengi had three of them – but it was their lack of urgency to create more opportunities in attack that was hard to understand.

It looked like game management for large parts of the first hour of the contest; something fraught with danger while only holding a 1-0 advantage. “Passive,” as Yengi described it, was a good description and the striker knows both he and his teammates need to make a change.

“When we come back in March to play, we need to know that when we find ourselves ahead, we need to keep pushing on, keep pressing and be clinical and finish those chances to put games to bed,” he said.

That won’t come as a surprise. Popovic also identified their inability to be ruthless in-front of goal – a problem which has plagued not just this window, but almost every game in the third round so far – as an issue in his post-match news conference.

“We had some opportunities to get a second goal, which you always feel in these conditions – the pitch – that a second goal was necessary,” Popovic said.

TEAM SELECTION CHANGES

Popovic should be given credit for trying to fix the recurring issues by altering his picks at the selection table.

He made six changes to his side from the scoreless draw with Saudi Arabia in Melbourne and this squad also featured eight new faces compared to the first one under his watch in October.

His boldest call was throwing 20-year-old Sydney FC defender Hayden Matthews into the starting line-up for the game against Bahrain.

It was thought Matthews was just on work experience during this camp; after all, he only signed his first professional contract in January this year. Instead, Popovic, a former defender himself, handed him his debut in a game of magnitude.

The decision looked like a huge risk, but it took just 25 seconds to realise the coach had made the right choice. Matthews completed four passes under pressure in that period and his fifth was a beautifully threaded through-ball that led to Yengi eventually putting the ball in the back of the net. It was part of an assured performance you’d expect from a player with many more caps under his belt.

“I had just over 24 hours to prepare,” Matthews said while balancing the joy of his debut with the frustration of the result.

“I felt like mentally I was ready. Stepping on the pitch for the first time, singing the national anthem, side-by-side with the biggest names in Australian football at the moment was an unbelievable experience.”

Matthews did play a part in Bahrain’s second goal. His header ricocheted off the post and into the path of Mahdi Abduljabbar who poked it home. To lay blame at the first timers feet (or head as it was) would be unfair. You can file that one under weird football moment instead of debut blunder.

KUSINI YENGI CONTINUES GOALSCORING RUN

We now have a large enough sample size. The role of starting Socceroos striker should be Kusini Yengi’s to lose for the rest of the qualifying campaign.

Yengi, who plays for Portsmouth in the Championship in the UK, has played 11-times for Australia and scored six-goals. Those six-goals have come in his last seven games.

The South Australian born forward bagged a double against Bahrain and has shown a consistent ability to score at international level over the last eight months that hasn’t been seen since Tim Cahill was wearing green and gold.

The 25-year-old missed the squad in October due to injury and a suspension for a red card against Bahrain on the Gold Coast in September. He also had to bide his time before being an extremely late substitute against Saudi Arabia on Thursday night.

By his own admission, he’s far from the finished article. Three missed chances against Bahrain is evidence of that, but things happen when he’s on the pitch. That’s not always something we’ve been able to say about the Socceroos recently.

“Scoring goals is what I’m in the team to do, but ultimately winning games is what I want,” Yengi said.

“These are FIFA World Cup qualifiers, and I want to be on that plane and I want to be in that squad, and I want to help this country get to this next World Cup.

“Today we missed out on an opportunity to get some points and put ourselves closer to our goal.”

THE QUADRUPLE SUBSTITUTION

Just after the hour mark Popovic turned to his bench.

In the 62nd minute, midfielder Jackson Irvine and right back Lewis Miller made way for Aiden O’Neill and Jason Geria. That was followed six minutes later by the introduction of defender Jordy Bos and midfielder Ajdin Hrustic at the expense of Aziz Behich and Craig Goodwin.

The introduction of four new players within a short space of time didn’t seem to impact the fluency of the side. O’Neill, in particular, looked incredibly dangerous but all of Bahrain’s best chances and their two goals came in, around and just after the time the substitutions were being made.

It was a point highlighted by former Socceroo Robbie Slater while speaking on Fox Sports News on Monday.

“We were cruising at 1-0 – they didn’t look like they were going to score – and we took off, in the space of five minutes, three of our most experienced players,” Slater said.

“Once those three very experienced players in the team came off; I think it disrupted the structure a bit and allowed Bahrain as we saw, in the space of a couple of minutes, to take the lead.”

“That might’ve been a mistake to take off three very, very experienced players and in Jackson Irvine, that’s your number six as well, controlling the midfield.”

THE STATE OF PLAY UNTIL MARCH

When the full-time whistle went in Riffa, it marked the end of a rollercoaster year for the Socceroos.

It started with a heartbreaking quarter-final exit at the hands of South Korea at the Asian Cup. The team progressed through the second round of World Cup qualifying, scoring 22 goals without conceding, on their way to six wins from six games. The third round saw the drama return with Graham Arnold stepping aside and qualification still uncertain under his replacement.

The Socceroos, somehow, still sit in second spot in group C after Indonesia beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 in Jakarta. Japan leads the way with 16-points with Australia on seven and Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and China all on six-points.

The chance to end this window three points clear of the chasing pack behind Japan beckoned. Instead, they hold an advantage of a single point.

“We’ve won a game and three draws,” Popovic said reflecting on his brief tenure.

“We would’ve like to have won another game, at least against Saudi or here tonight, which would’ve put us in a much better position.

“We’re second on the table, very different to where we were four games ago. We have to look forward and the goal is to make the World Cup.

“We’ve got to make sure that March is a very good window for us.”

That window starts with the visit of Indonesia before the Socceroos travel to China.

Two victories will be vital.

The final window in June next year could not be more difficult.

Japan will come to Australia before the side squares off with Saudi Arabia away from home.

Given a single point currently separates second from last in the group, chasing points on Saudi soil in the last remaining qualifier, would be a huge test of character.