(Reuters) - Bahrain stunned Australia 1-0 after a late own goal from defender Harry Souttar in the opening match of the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup at Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast on Thursday.
The Bahrainis celebrated wildly after the final whistle, having beaten Australia for the first time in seven attempts and made the perfect start to their bid to qualify for the finals for the first time.
The Socceroos were already down to 10 men after the dismissal of Kusini Yengi but the Group C contest still looked destined to end goalless until Abdullah Al-Khalasi was released down the left wing looking to get the ball into the box in the 89th minute.
Defender Al-Khalasi got his cross away from the edge of the area and it took a wicked deflection off centre half Souttar which wrongfooted Australia goalkeeper Mat Ryan, who watched helplessly as it went past him into the net.
The crowd of 24,644 who had turned out expecting a fifth straight Australia victory were stunned into silence and the efforts of the Socceroos to get back on level terms in six minutes of stoppage time proved fruitless.
Substitute Mitch Duke had the best chance to equalise from an Awer Mabil free kick two minutes from the final whistle but the striker was unable to get his header on target from the centre of the box.
"It's a learning curve for the players," said Australia coach Graham Arnold. "But look at the end of the night, it was just wasn't our night.
"If you put one in the back of the net against these nations, they tend to fall apart a bit more. But we didn't do that and kept them in the game.
"Obviously very tough but you've got to give full credit to Bahrain."
Australia, aiming for a sixth straight appearance at the World Cup finals, dominated possession but had few clear chances and were frustrated throughout the contest by a well-organised and technically adept Bahrain side.
The Australian cause was not helped by the red card shown to striker Yengi, which reduced the home side to 10 men for the last 14 minutes.
Yengi got his foot too high when challenging Ali Haram for the ball and scraped his boot across the throat of the Bahrain midfielder, the dismissal confirmed by VAR.
Australia travel to Jakarta to face Indonesia in their second group match next Tuesday, while Bahrain head home to host Japan in Riffa on the same day.
The top two from each of the three groups progresses directly to the 2026 finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada with the third and fourth placed teams going into another round of qualifying.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Ken Ferris)
