The Socceroos could only manage a draw against China overnight, despite entering the World Cup qualifer as hot favourites.
After taking the lead in the first half, a James Jeggo handball in the box resulted in a China penalty, and midfielder Wu Lei made no mistake in the 70th minute to even up the contest.
It was the final score of the match, confirming the disappointing result for Graham Arnold’s men, who have now failed to win in their last three games.
Channel 10 commentator Robbie Thomson was behind the mic for the game and gave his thoughts on how it played out.
“A quick post-mortem result is that it’s overwhelmingly disappointing, because the Socceroos didn’t deserve it,” he told SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“Overall, it’s a bitterly disappointing result, but all is not lost, it’s still in the Socceroos’ hands.
“If they win their last four matches they will go through automatically, but they’re down to third place in the group now.”
The draw places Arnold in a delicate position as head coach.
After taking over national duties following the 2018 World Cup, and despite a relatively successful tenure including a run of 11 consecutive wins earlier this year, Arnold and the Socceroos are at serious risk of failing to qualify for the 2022 tournament.
Thomson was asked if Arnold is under pressure.
“Yeah, absolutely I think he is,” he replied.
“Australia’s qualified for the last four World Cups in a row, even if the last one in 2018 was a long and arduous road to the finals.
“A coach lives and dies by the results, at the moment the results aren’t there.
“I think it would be unfair to throw everything out the window after these three results, against two of the best sides in Asia too.
“There will be pressure, but I think it’s a little bit too early to bring the sword down on Arnie (Arnold) yet.”
It’s given the Socceroos only one way to automatically qualify for next year’s World Cup.
“The equation is simple for the Socceroos now,” Thomson said.
“Win your four remaining matches and you go through, the difficulty is they’re all going to be tough.
“There’s Vietnam followed by Oman and that’s at the end of January, the start of February.
“Then in March, it’s the two big ones, the two that are ahead of Australia in the Group B standings: Japan, followed by Saudi Arabia.
“You win them all, you go through and everyone’s happy, (but) if you start dropping points again, or if this run of three (games without a win) continues to four, you’re in trouble.”
If Australia finishes third and fails to automatically qualify, they could face a playoff with the third-placed team in Group A.
The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar next November.