Australia kicked off their FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign in emphatic fashion as they demolished Bangladesh by 7-0 at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Wednesday.
Substitute Maclaren slammed a hat-trick as Duke struck twice on their way to trounce Bangladesh by 7-0, as the Red and Green start their FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign in an embarrassing way.
It was not hard to imagine that Bangladesh would suffer a big margin defeat, but it was not expected that the margin would be this much higher.
Considering the level of Australian and Bangladeshi football, the former grabbed the deserved win.
Bangladesh coach Havier Cabrera planned not to concede so many goals, but it looked that his boys could not execute perfectly to halt Australia, as most of the time the defense line became disorganized when they were trying to deal with the attacks.
If Bangladesh could have played with an organized defense, they could have avoided humiliation when they conceded a 5-0 defeat in 2015 in the same competition.
However, Australia initiated the scoring in the fourth minute when Harry Souttar made the first breakthrough with a close-range finish assisted by Craig Goodwin.
Brendon Borello doubled the margin in the 20th minute as the hosts added another couple of goals in the opening 45 minutes, with Mitchell Duke striking twice in the 37th and 40th minutes.
The third one was an excellent goal, as the Australian forward bullied his direct opponent with body strength before slamming his header.
Duke quickfired his double and the fourth of the match when Jordi Bos was the instigator on the left. His cross was headed clear, but only as far as Borrello, who lashed a rasping volley into the post. The rebound landed fortunately at the feet of Duke, who did just enough to deflect the ball into the unguarded net. Australia continued their flow, just squeezing the weaker visiting side and making the tally 5-0 inside the fourth minute of starting the second half.
Jamie Maclaren scored the fifth goal as Jordi Bos assisted again after receiving a pass from Behich and crossing it for Maclaren to tap home from two yards from the goal line in the 49th (5-0) minute, and this time Bangladesh defenders just looked puzzled as they failed to clear the ball.
It took just 20 minutes when the Socceroos made the tally 6-0 in the 70th minute, and this time Bangladesh were just about to clear the initial delivery, but Jordi Bos burst on to the loose ball, slalomed past defenders at the edge of the box, and tapped from four yards away.
The hosts closed the sheet in the 84th minute, with Maclaren getting his hat-trick with a similar strike of his second as Miller crossed from the right side to the near post. It was a perfect and sharp run from Maclaren, and he placed the ball with a glance into the back of the net.
But it could have been 8-0 for Australia, thanks to 19-year-old custodian Mitul Marma, who saved some clear-cut goal-scoring chances.
