Hosts Bangladesh conceded a narrow 2-0 defeat against the World Cup playing Australia in their Group I home match of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in the capital on Thursday (June 6).
This was the 4th consecutive defeat for Bangladesh against the 6-time FIFA World Cup playing Australia since their first meeting in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in 2015, but a somewhat respectable performance saw them concede defeat with the narrowest margin till now.
In the last four meetings, FIFA world-ranked 24th Australia scored 18 goals against Bangladesh, without conceding any in return.
Bangladesh started their Group 1 campaign of the ongoing FIFA Cup qualifiers campaign with a massive 0-7 goals defeat against Australia held in Melbourne November last year.
Australia also outplayed Bangladesh twice in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in 2015
Australia outplayed Bangladesh by 5-0 goals in their home match in Perth on September 3, 2015 and again beat them by 4-0 goals in their away match in Dhaka on Nov 17, 2015
Australia, which eliminated from the 2nd round of the last FIFA World Cup held Qatar in 2022 losing to Argentina by 1-2 goals, today (Thursday) leading the first half against Bangladesh by 1-0 goal forcing Bangladesh to play in their territory for most of the time
But in the 2nd half, Bangladesh played comparatively better with some occasional attacks.
In the day's match, Australia took the lead in the 29th minute by a gifted goal as Bangladesh defender Mehedi Hasan sent the ball to his own net while trying to foil a long-distance shot of Australian midfielder Ajdin Hrustic (1-0).
Australian forward Kusini Yengi doubled the margin in the 63rd minute by a good header from close that kissed the net off the post (2-0).
Bangladesh will play Arab nation Lebanon in their last Group I away match on June 11 at a neutral venue -- Al Saad Club Stadium in Doha, Qatar, which will kick-off at 7: pm local time and 10: pm Bangladesh time.
Mighty Australia, which assured the Group I title to reach the next round of the meet securing full 15 points from five matches, will play another war-torn Palestine in their home match also on June 11 in Perth.
After the day's group match, Australia dominated group table to qualify for the next round with all-win record securing full 15 points, while war-torn Palestine are in the distant 2nd collecting seven points from four with two wins, one draw and one defeat.
Lebanon is in the 3rd slot securing two points from four matches two draws and two defeats while Bangladesh remained at the bottom with one point from five matches after making 1-1 draw with Lebanon in their home match in Dhaka.
Earlier, Bangladesh suffered a 0-7 goals defeat against World Cup playing Australia in their away match, drew 1-1 with Arabian nation Lebanon in the home match, suffered 0-5 defeat against Palestine in their away match in Kuwait and conceded a shocking 0-1 goal defeat in the dying moments against Palestine in their home match in Dhaka.
Australia, which arrived Dhaka last Tuesday, is scheduled to return home tonight (Thursday night).