Australia beat Palestine 5-0 on Jun. 11 to give the Socceroos a perfect 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign of six wins out of six matches.

The result means that Australia ended this phase of qualification with a dominant 22-0 for-and-against goals record in Group I.

Nine of the 22 goals came against Bangladesh, out of which seven of them were made in one game, which was played in Melbourne.

They had only allowed eight shots on target during this stretch.

Forward Kusini Yengi opened the scoring in Tuesday night's game via a fifth-minute penalty and the third goal in the 41st minute to end the half 3-0.

Adam Taggart scored in the 26th minute and Martin Boyle added the fourth in the 53rd minute.

Nestory Irankunda topped it off via the penalty spot in the 88th minute, the second penalty of the night.

Pre-match mood

The match was played against the backdrop of the raging Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which is in its eighth month.

Palestine's inspired run was the first time the team reached the third round in Asia of World Cup qualifying, pre-match reports indicated.

Palestine, ranked 93rd in the world, has never come close to reaching the World Cup via the Asian Football Confederation's qualifying route.

The team has a chance to make history with the 2026 World Cup expanding to 48 teams, and Asia's automatic qualification allocation doubling to eight.

Both Palestine and Australia were safely through to September's next stage regardless of the Tuesday match result.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Mohammed Rashid, Palestinian midfielder, said in Perth during a presser on Monday, ahead of the match, according to abc.net.au.

Palestine team officials apparently discourage politically charged questions at press conferences.

However, Rashid, who plays club football for Bali United in Indonesia, said: "It (playing) gives the chance to raise the name of Palestine to the whole world, and the World Cup is the biggest platform for this."

The background for this comment is widely known.

The Palestine Football Association (PFA) became a full member of FIFA in 1998 even as most United Nations members, including the U.S. and Australia, do not recognise Palestine as a country.

The team's mere existence is regarded as a political statement and accompanied with impending controversy, abc.net.au also reported.

PFA president Jibril Rajoub was denied a visa into Australia, it was reported.

Rajoub is also a politician and chair of the Palestine Olympic Committee.

But the team is determined to let the footballing speak for itself despite the circumstances.

Palestine, having conceded only one goal in five matches in this qualifying cycle before the Australia match, has not played on home soil since 2019.

The team has been forced to host matches in Kuwait and Qatar.

Players have had to flee for safety and find employment in leagues outside of their territory.

Rashid said they have had to play 28 straight games away from home soil.

Australia on a high

Australia was banking on South Korea to either draw or lose to China in Group C on Tuesday night.

If that had happened, Australia would have jumped ahead of South Korea in the world rankings and would be seeded third in Asia and avoid Japan and Iran in the next phase of qualifying.

South Korea ended up beating China 1-0.

This means that Australia will now have one of either Japan, South Korea or Iran in their group for the next phase.

Top photo via Subway Socceroos Facebook