World Cup
2025-06-10 - Saudi Arabia vs Australia
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: AFC World Cup Qualifier
Tuesday 10th June 2025 - Kick Off 9:15pm (Local), 7:15pm (British)
This game is live on TV
Saudi Arabia
There will be no Qualification campaign for Saudi Arabia ahead of the 2034 World Cup that has been awarded to them, but they are in danger of missing the Finals for the first time since 2014. Fortunately there are additional places available for teams playing in the AFC Confederation and Saudi Arabia will likely be a favourite in the three team Group they are set to join without a huge home win on Tuesday.
As it currently stands, Japan have Qualified from this Group and Saudi Arabia are 3 points behind Australia, who will be visiting Jeddah to round out the fixtures within this section. Unlike some tournaments, the head to head does not decide tiebreakers between teams on the same points and that means Saudi Arabia have to win this game by at least five goals if they are to move past Australia and into the World Cup Finals without playing in another Qualifying Group.
Saudi Arabia have kept their hopes alive by picking up 7 points from the last 3 Qualifiers against China, Japan and Bahrain, but the 2-0 defeat in Indonesia will have stung. The side are unbeaten in 4 games in all competitions in this calendar year and Saudi Arabia have won 3 of those fixtures.
Australia
The move from the OFC Confederation into the AFC was designed to allow Australia to improve in their development as a footballing nation and they are on the brink of reaching the World Cup Finals for a sixth straight edition. After three straight Group Stage exits, Australia were able to reach the Second Round in Qatar in 2022 and they will want to build upon that.
One Qualifier remains and Australia's win over Japan a few days ago means they need to just avoid a really heavy loss to take their place in the Finals next summer. During this Qualifying Group, Australia have only been beaten once and they have conceded just 6 goals, and so they have to be considered huge favourites to finish behind Japan in the section and take home the second spot in North America for the Finals.
Australia scored a goal deep into injury time in a 2-2 draw in Bahrain and they have won their next 3 Qualifiers to just ensure they have kept their noses in front of Saudi Arabia in the Group. They are now unbeaten in 8 games since the very surprising 0-1 defeat to Bahrain on the Gold Coast last September.
Head to Head
The Qualifier played by Australia and Saudi Arabia ended goalless in Melbourne in November.
Saudi Arabia are now unbeaten in 3 games against Australia- two have ended goalless, both hosted by Australia, while the other is a 1-0 home win for Saudi Arabia.
Prediction
The situation is pretty clear for both teams, but games between Australia and Saudi Arabia have tended to be very close, competitive affairs in recent years and that is unlikely to change.
Yes, Saudi Arabia need to chase a big win to secure 2nd place in this Group and ultimately a place at the World Cup Finals, but they have not scored enough goals in this section. Just because they need goals, does not mean Saudi Arabia are going to change so dramatically from what we have seen in this Qualifying Group with just 6 goals scored in nine Qualifiers played.
Add in the fact that Australia are unlikely to want an open game and have conceded just 6 goals in the Group and there is every chance this is a fourth fixture in a row between these nations that ends with at least one team failing to find the net.
It is unlikely that Australia will commit too many men going forward and Saudi Arabia could lose heart for the fixture if they have not made an early breakthrough.
There is still another opportunity for Saudi Arabia to make the World Cup Finals coming up even if they are not able to score the goals needed and so this may not be a fixture in which they become desperate. Instead the focus may be to work on tactics that could be important later in the year and the expectation is that this is a low-scoring fixture in what are going to be hot conditions even at a local 9:15pm kick off time.
The Pick :
Saudi Arabia 1-0 Australia
