The Socceroos will face Egypt in the Round of 32 at the World Cup next weekend.
It’s a brilliant result for the Aussies, who have avoided Belgium after the European side finally woke up to thrash New Zealand in a 5-1 win.
The thumping moved Belgium to the top of Group G ahead of Egypt, who were locked at 1-1 in their clash with Iran — but in stoppage time it looked as though Iran would progress to face Australia.
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But their dramatic winner was ruled offside after VAR replays showed there was what the commentators described as a “little toe” in it to rule out Iran’s goal.
An Iranian victory would have produced a long-awaited rematch with Australia after the dramatic 1997 World Cup qualifier between the two teams at the MCG.
Instead, the Socceroos will face Egypt and their superstar Mo Salah — provided he is fit to play, after finishing the match on the bench with ice on his hamstring.
Belgium loomed as a much more difficult opponent but Australia’s clash with Egypt will pit two closely matched teams. Egypt sit 26th in the world rankings, just two places above the Socceroos.
The Round of 32 clash between Australia and Egypt will take place next Friday in Dallas, with kick-off at 4am AEST on Saturday, July 4.
The Socceroos will be without Mathew Leckie and Jacob Italiano after the injured pair were ruled out for the rest of the tournament.
Leckie (hamstring) went down in the loss to the US while Italiano suffered a groin injury in training this week and missed the draw with Paraguay.
Both losses are a blow to Australia’s depth as the tournament continues.
Italiano’s absence could mean Jordan Bos remains at right-back, where he dominated against Paraguay, with Aziz Behich staying on the left.
An Australian victory against Egypt would be likely to produce a Round of 16 rematch with Lionel Messi’s Argentina, who eliminated the Aussies with a 2-1 win at the same stage of the 2022 World Cup.
Argentina will face surprise packets Cape Verde in the Round of 32.
Australia’s possible Round of 16 match against Argentina or Cape Verde would kick off at 2am AEST on Wednesday, July 8.
The Socceroos’ loss to Argentina four years ago still stings Behich, while Jackson Irvine has urged the squad to “break that next barrier” of finally winning a knockout game on the nation’s third visit beyond the group stage.
“Obviously second time out of the group now, but the last one left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth,” Behich said.
“It’s still got that burning fire in the belly. We’ve always said we want to do something special with this group and why can’t it be us?
“And I think we’ve got a great opportunity. We’ve created this opportunity from our hard work to be here – it wasn’t given to us.
“Everything’s in our hands leading into this game. So (I’m) full of confidence that … this group can do something special this campaign.”
The Socceroos had a light recovery session on Friday as they soak up their achievement of finishing second in Group D and progressing to the Round of 32.
“For me, you need to enjoy what we did last night, because these moments don’t come around often, especially at this level,” Behich said.
“It’s the pinnacle of football, you’re up against the best in the world, and we did something special coming from Australia, so we really need to enjoy that.
“But once this week starts with our training sessions, we need to put that aside and really focus on what’s next and I think that’s important.”
Australia won’t relocate from their Bay Area base until July 1, two days before their game in Dallas.
“We’ve got eight days to recover, which helps our younger players to get over this euphoria of the win — and then we need to work hard, and we’re a chance,” coach Tony Popovic said.
— with AAP
