Australia vs China Prediction: Both aiming for first win

Australia will welcome China at Adelaide Oval in Game Week 4 of the FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers. Both teams are aiming for their first win of the round. Who will come out on top after 90 minutes?

Australia had no luck and did not earn any points from the first two Group C games against Bahrain and Indonesia in September. Despite having higher possession rates, they failed to crack Bahrain and had to only share the spoils with Indonesia. This leaves little else to do but up the ante a notch if they are to qualify automatically for the 2026 World Cup. After a disastrous September camp, the head coach resigned. Tony Popovic now stands at the helm as they seek qualification. They had been powerful in the last World Cup and emerged as group winners, thereby proceeding into the knockout stages.

Ryan; Miller, Souttar, Burgess, Behich; Silvera, Irvine, Baccus, Goodwin; Mabil, Taggart

Kyrgyzstan and Oman, like China, will start this match still on zero after a series of matches played in the third round of the campaign. China kicked off their campaign with a series of defeats against Japan and Saudi Arabia in September, which turned out to be one of its more humiliating losses as they suffered a seven-goal thrashing at the hands of Japan where Takumi Minamino scored a double. China, though are taking the lead of Saudi Arabia in their next match, is yet to earn their first point in Group C. Australia came out with a positive victory only in one out of nine games in 2024. The Aussies are bound to be favourites when they face China on Thursday.

Wang; Gao, Browning, Zhu, Li; Abduweli, Li, Jiang, Xie; Conceicao, Wu

Popovic will look to get his men to raise their game for an Australian side so full of spirit as they seek a first win of Group C today. But China fought hard against Saudi Arabia at home and are likely to find the going much tougher at the Adelaide Oval. We expect Australia to win despite the resistance from China with Over 2.5 goals scored on the day.