Latest news with #MartinBoyle
Edinburgh Reporter
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Edinburgh Reporter
Hibs duo help Socceroos to World Cup qualification
Hibs duo Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller both started for the Socceroos yesterday in their 2-1 victory over Asian powerhouse Saudi Arabia in front of 24,620 spectators at the King Abdullah Sports Complex in Jeddah. The victory ensures qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Abdulrahman Al-Aboud opened the scoring in the 19th minute before Connor Metcalfe's first goal for his country on the stroke of half-time restored parity. Three minutes after the restart Boyle sent a tremendous free-kick into the danger area and Mitch Duke headed the ball into the net. Saudi Arabia's Ali Majrashi was then shown a red card for bringing down Boyle as the last defender but after a lengthy VAR check the red card was overturned and Saudi Arabia was allowed to continue with 11 men. Saudi passed up the chance to equalise with an 82nd minute penalty but Matt Ryan, winning his 100th cap saved Salem Al-Dawsari's effort. Like this: Like Related
Scotsman
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Scottish envy as Australia clinch World Cup joy of six - and tiny nation named after Scotland could join them
Several countries already home and hosed for 2026 tournament Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The hand went up, as we have seen so many times at Hibs. And then Martin Boyle delivered a free-kick with unerring accuracy on to the head of Mitch Duke, whose neat glance put Australia in front against Saudi Arabia in Tuesday's World Cup qualifier. It was, to all intents and purposes, the clincher. The one that made it six in a row. Six World Cups. SIX. The Joy of Six. You can imagine the fun newspapers are having in Australia and the fun papers in Scotland would be having if Scotland ever managed to string together such a run of successes. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In Australia's case, it stretches back to 2006. Maybe Scotland should do what Australia did just prior to that World Cup and apply to join another confederation. Hibs winger Martin Boyle (left) celebrates Australia's win over Saudi Arabia and subsequent qualification for the 2026 World Cup with teammates Connor Metcalfe and Aiden O'Neill at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah. (Photo by) | Getty Images Scotland were one of the reasons why the Australia Football Federation petitioned Fifa to leave Oceania and move to the Asian Football Confederation. Alex Ferguson's side beat Australia in a two-legged play off for Mexico '86. The winners of the Oceania qualifying group were bound to play another team from either Europe or South America and invariably came to grief. Australia did overcome Uruguay in 2005 to punch their ticket, as Fifa like to call it, for the finals in Germany the following summer but had already been accepted into the diocese of the Asian Football Confederation. That was described by Frank Lowy, the chairman of the Australian Football Federation at the time, as 'the most significant decision ever in the history of Australia football'. It was certainly transformative. They have not missed out on a World Cup since. Even Tuesday's victory over Saudi Arabia was lacking any real jeopardy. They simply had to avoid losing by five goals, although the hosts did cause some mild panic my taking the lead in Jeddah after 19 minutes. In truth, Australia had done the hard work when beating Japan 1-0 in Perth a few days earlier with a goal from former Dundee United full back Aziz Behich. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Hibs duo Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller are front and centre as the Australia squad pose for a picture after securing qualification for the 2026 World Cup. (Photo by) | Getty Images This week's confirmation of their place at world football's top table next summer means they have exceeded Scotland's five successive World Cups between 1974 and 1990. As with Scots in that era, Australians now in their mid-twenties to early 30s will have known nothing else other than their country qualifying for World Cups. They will need to be in their 60s to remember the only other time the Socceroos qualified, in 1974. It's getting this way for Scotland – 1998, the last time the Scottish men's team qualified, is receding deeper and deeper into the past. Those now in their mid-30s might just about recall Scotland players walking about the Stade de France in kilts before taking on Brazil in the tournament's opening game. Of course, qualification for the next one in USA, Canada and Mexico remains firmly in Scotland's own hands, as it does for all of Europe's teams. The qualification path has already started for some European teams, while others, like Scotland, will begin a short, intense campaign in the Autumn. In the meantime, slots are filling up. Uzbekistan, currently ranked 57 in the world, have just qualified for the first time since independence in 1991. It's fun – up to a point - to savour the joy of others. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Uzbekistan are the first team from central Asia to qualify for a World Cup, where they will be joined by Jordan, Japan, South Korea and Iran as well as old staples Brazil, who secured qualification under the Ancelottis - Carlo and his recently Rangers-linked son Davide are now in charge of the Selecao - with a 1-0 win over Paraguay. Ecuador have also qualified from South America, as have holders Argentina. New Caledonia players pose before the 2026 World Cup Oceania qualifiers group final match against New Zealand at Eden Park Stadium in Auckland on March 24, 2025. (Photo by DAVID ROWLAND/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images New Zealand have already qualified from the Oceania Confederation having been the beneficiaries of Fifa's decision to finally grant an automatic place to the top team from this region. The All Whites won a third-round play-off against New Caledonia earlier this year. Intriguingly, New Caledonia have a second chance at qualification through the Fifa Play-Off tournament in Spring next year, when six teams will fight it out for two places at the World Cup. The group of islands in the south-western Pacific Ocean, with a population of just 270,000, could become the smallest and lowest ranked nation to ever qualify for the tournament. What a dull one that would be if a country named after Scotland by explorer Captain Cook, who thought the mountains of Grande Terre, one of the islands, reminded him of the Scottish Highlands, made it to the biggest sporting party on earth while the actual original Scotland remained at home. Steve Clarke will be ensuring his team strain every sinew in an effort to get there over the course of six games later this year.
Scotsman
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Hibs duo heading to 2026 World Cup as qualification secured with help of returning Celtic star
Current and former SPFL players qualify for tournament in USA, Canada and Mexico Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Hibs duo Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller have helped Australia qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The Socceroos pair both started the 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night that secured a spot at the tournament being jointly hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico next summer. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad After last week's notable 1-0 away win over Japan, Australia needed only avoid defeat by less than five goals in Jeddah to seal a place in their sixth successive World Cup. Hibs winger Martin Boyle (left) celebrates Australia's win over Saudi Arabia and subsequent qualification for the 2026 World Cup with teammates Connor Metcalfe and Aiden O'Neill at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah. (Photo by) | Getty Images Things started to get tense for Tony Popovic's side when they fell behind to an Abdulrahman Al-Aboud effot in the 19th minute at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium. However, Australia responded with an equaliser from Connor Metcalfe three minutes before half-time. The away side then took the lead straight after the interval when Boyle whipped in a free kick and Mitch Duke rose to glance home. The victory ensured Australia finished second in their World Cup group section behind Japan to to secure automatic qualification and avoid the play-offs for the first time since 2014. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It represents a significant achievement for unbeaten head coach Popovic, with qualification prospects appearing bleak when he took over from Graham Arnold, who resigned in September after claiming only one point from the opening two qualifying games, including a shock 1-0 defeat to Bahrain. Qualification is particularly poignant for Boyle who helped Australia make the 2022 World Cup in Qatar only to suffer a serious knee injury which ruled him out of the tournament, although the Aberdonian, who qualifies for the Socceroos through his father, still travelled as a non-playing member of the squad. Hibs defender Lewis Miller walks out onto the field at King Abdullah Sports City ahead of Australia's 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia which secured qualification for the 2026 World Cup. (Photo by) | Getty Images Miller, meanwhile, will be hoping to take part in his first World Cup after both he and Boyle recently signed one-year contract extensions to remain with Hibs until the end next season. Celtic winger Marco Tilio, who is due to return to the Parkhead club this summer having spent the past season on loan with Melbourne City, is also part of the Socceroos squad. The 23-year-old's form Down Under earned him a recall to the national side after netting five goals in 15 appearances in the A-League. Tilio replaced Boyle in the 77th minute against Saudi Arabia to help close out the victory.
ABC News
10-06-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Five quick hits: Mitch Duke's goal, Mat Ryan's save, and the red card that wasn't as Australia beat Saudi Arabia
The Socceroos have done it, beating Saudi Arabia 2-1 in Jeddah to confirm their spot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals. Only needing to avoid a massive defeat, the Socceroos went behind early, but fought back to win a wild game played out in 31-degree temperatures in the Middle East. Here are the five quick hits from the King Abdullah Sports City stadium. The Socceroos were always going to be under pressure in Jeddah, meaning that they would need to take any chance that came their way. That first chance came in the 18th minute, when Martin Boyle was played in on the edge of the penalty area after Hassan Kadesh gave the ball away cheaply. Boyle, who has scored 11 Premiership goals for Hibernian this season, should have done better, flashing his shot wide of the far post. Less than a minute later, Saudi Arabia had the lead. Salem Al-Dawsari worked his way into the box with a scything run and then his low cross was spun into the net by Abdulrahman Al-Obud on the line. The Socceroos appealed in vain for offside but the goal stood and the pressure mounted. There is never a bad time to score your first goal for your country, but there sure is a great time. With Saudi Arabia pressing, the counterattack was always going to be the Socceroos' best chance of breaking the shackles, and so it proved when a long ball was gathered by Mitch Duke out on the left touchline. He held the ball up brilliantly before flicking it back inside perfectly into the path of the rampaging St Pauli midfielder Connor Metcalfe, who hammered the ball into the ground and over the despairing, flailing arms of the Saudi keeper to score his first goal in green and gold. Given injury has limited the 25-year-old to just 10 Bundesliga appearances this season, he may have felt a moment like this would be a long way away. But his composure under pressure allowed the Socceroos to extinguish any hope the Saudis had of the dramatic goal-fest victory they so desperately needed. Mitch Duke probably wasn't going to be in this squad, only being brought in when Mat Leckie went down with an injury. But now he's here, boy did he make his moment count. The assist for the Socceroos' first goal was special, but the header for the winner was much more in his wheelhouse. A perfect delivery, a perfect leap, and the perfect sound of silence as the ball bulged the back of the net and the Jeddah crowd felt their dreams of direct World Cup progression evaporate. Duke's goal makes him just the sixth Socceroo to score a goal and provide an assist in a match outside of Australia since 2015. Once again it was the Socceroos counterattack that paid off, leaving Saudi Arabia desperately exposed at the back. Duke and Boyle combined up top to latch onto a through ball only for Boyle to hit the deck. Ali Majrashi was the closest player and referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim did not hesitate in reaching for the red card. Except, that wasn't quite it. Al Jassim was called over to the monitor after a lengthy VAR check and saw that there was barely any contact on Boyle and so the red card was rescinded. Boyle, by the way, was already on a yellow card and may have momentarily been worried that he could have been sent off for simulation. However, VAR cannot rule on yellow card incidents so he remained on the pitch, albeit a little miffed that he had not been fouled. Mat Ryan admitted that he felt his career in green and gold may have been over after he was overlooked for Tony Popovic's first couple of matches in charge. A torrid time in club-land meant that Ryan, despite his experience and expertise, was no certainty to regain his spot. But however temporary form is, class remains permanent and by pulling on the gloves in Jeddah, the ex-Brighton man made his 100th appearance for the Socceroos. Qualifying for the World Cup may be enough to remember such a milestone match, but that was not going to be enough for the scriptwriters. When Salem Al-Dawsari hit the deck under Jason Geria's challenge, Ryan was to be called upon to preserve his country's lead. He did not disappoint. A good penalty, struck low to Ryan's left, was brilliantly saved by the Socceroos veteran to compound the Saudi's woes and enshrine Ryan into legend.
BBC News
10-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Boyle and Miller help Australia qualify for World Cup
Hibernian duo Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller have helped Australia qualify for a sixth consecutive World Cup finals after a 2-1 win away to Saudi Boyle set up Machida Zelvia forward Mitch Duke for the winning goal at Al Inma Bank Stadium at King Abdullah Sport Miller played the full 90 minutes in the Socceroos' finish second in their qualifying group behind Japan, six points clear of their hosts.
