{"id":764530,"date":"2026-06-27T22:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T22:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/764530\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T22:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T22:00:12","slug":"australia-buys-into-world-cup-journey-as-nation-approaches-peak-socceroos-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/764530\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia buys into World Cup journey as nation approaches peak Socceroos | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was not the coverage Port Phillip Bay Council had in mind when they sent out a good-natured press release on Friday afternoon, announcing St Kilda beach was to be temporarily renamed Patrick beach, after the Socceroos goalkeeper.<\/p>\n

Defender Aziz Behich was told of the name change for Melbourne\u2019s seaside marvel. \u201cHopefully they clean it up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Beach himself was more generous, describing St Kilda as a nice, relaxing spot, especially in the summer. \u201cI don\u2019t know how long that [the change] is or what\u2019s the go with that, but it\u2019s very much appreciated,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s pretty funny as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a tepid buildup to the tournament, the nation appears to be approaching peak Socceroos. There are surging television ratings<\/a>, an avalanche of memes and social media content, and a seemingly never-ending stream of football-themed advertising. Harry Souttar was featured in a mural painted in Richmond this week, sponsored by a boot company, depicting the so-called \u201cminister of defence\u201d as a bricklayer building a wall.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s elected representatives have also leveraged the excitement. The prime minister Anthony Albanese posted a video with a trio of Socceroos on his social media accounts last week, while Coalition leader Angus Taylor also got in on the fun<\/a> following the Paraguay clash: \u201cFantastic. Great move. Well done Socceroos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Socceroos fans gather in Sydney’s inner-west to watch the Paraguay game. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Australia have now reached the World Cup<\/a> knockout rounds for the third time, and the second in succession. Some will say this achievement is slightly less significant given the larger tournament in 2026 and additional round of 32. Behich is having none of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, you need to enjoy what we did last night because these moments don\u2019t come around often, especially at this level,\u201d said the veteran of three World Cups. \u201cIt\u2019s the pinnacle of football, you\u2019re up against the best in the world, and we did something special coming from Australia, so we really need to enjoy that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most other nations in the world treat football as their primary athletic pursuit. But the sport in Australia \u2013 while popular to play \u2013 remains more towards the periphery, at least compared to the economic giants of AFL and NRL. Moments like Friday afternoon are therefore important for football\u2019s standing, even if the entertainment value of the clash against Paraguay might have tempted some school students to go back to maths class.<\/p>\n

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Defender Milos Degenek said the Socceroos reaching the knockout rounds again has a broader significance given the world has traditionally written Australia off. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot harder for us to get into the football world with 27 million people, most of them wanting to play rugby and cricket,\u201d he said. \u201cFor us, we do all we can to play football, and I think we\u2019re putting football in the place where it should be in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The curious thing about this World Cup is that it is a tournament split in two. Australia have progressed through the 48-team group stage, and now have a week-long gap before the 32-team elimination bracket begins. That is not long enough for injured duo Mat Leckie and Jacob Italiano, who are returning home after their recovery timelines were too long for even this generous schedule.<\/p>\n

The Socceroos huddle before the Paraguay game. Photograph: Jason Henry\/AAP<\/p>\n

Behich said he was gutted for Leckie, his teammate at Melbourne City and the player who scored the goal against Denmark four years ago that sent Australia through to the last 16. \u201cWe want him to stick around because we know what he can give us as a team, and even when he\u2019s not playing his experience and presence around a lot of the players,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s all part of football, he wished us all well and he said he\u2019ll be following.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the rest of Australia, Leckie will now watch as the Socceroos attempt to do something they have never done before: win a World Cup knockout match. Jackson Irvine, the midfielder who returned to the starting lineup against Paraguay, said after clinching the knockout place the team will need to combine the best of each performance in the group stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe start [against Paraguay] and against Turkey, the defensive strength that we\u2019ve showed when we have to be deep, but also [in the last match] when we\u2019re able to play higher up and press a little bit more as well,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we can bring it all together, all the little bits that we\u2019ve shown over these three games, make sure we put in a complete performance, we\u2019re a problem for any team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behich wants to sprinkle in a bit of extra motivation into that recipe, from their last-16 defeat to Argentina in 2022. \u201cThe last one left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, so I\u2019ve got that burning fire in the belly. We\u2019ve always said we want to do something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Survive the last 32, and that extra spice might come in handy. Lionel Messi and co are the Socceroos\u2019 likeliest opponents in the following round \u2013 if both teams survive their first knockouts \u2013 replicating the fixture from Qatar. Before then, however, the team heads to Texas to play Egypt. If it\u2019s already starting to feel like peak Socceroos, hold on to your hats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was not the coverage Port Phillip Bay Council had in mind when they sent out a good-natured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-764530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}