Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Melbourne: Saudi Arabia's 2014 World Cup qualification hopes came crashing down on Wednesday when they conceded three times in a four minute spell to lose 4-2 to Australia and miss out on a place in the fourth qualifying round to Oman, who defeated Thailand 2-0 in a thrilling climax to Group D.
Things started well enough for a Saudi side determined to stay in the hunt to qualify to the FIFA World Cup finals for a fifth hunt when they took a 2-1 lead into the interval at AAMI Park with a Nasser Al Shamrani strike two minutes into first-half stoppage-time restoring the Saudis advantage after Alex Brosque's 43rd minute leveller had cancelled out Salem Al Dosari's opener, which came after 19 minutes.
However, it was to all go horribly wrong for Frank Rijkaard's side with Harry Kewell drawing the Socceroos level in the 73rd minute before the 2011 AFC Asian Cup runners-up scored two in the space of 60 seconds through a second from Brosque (75th) and a fourth courtesy of Brett Emerton (76th) as the Saudis finished their campaign below Group D runners-up Oman.