Australia reach World Cup knockouts after gritty 0-0 draw with Paraguay

The Socceroos finish second in Group D with four points and are through to the 2026 FIFA World Cup round of 32.Australia booked their place in the World Cup‘s round of 32 on Thursday ⁠with a cagey 0-0 ⁠draw against Paraguay that left the South Americans facing a nervous wait to see if they will advance.In a physical, scrappy contest at San Francisco Bay Area ⁠Stadium, Paraguay pushed late after being dominated early, but it ended with the Socceroos making the tournament’s knockout phase for a third time, four years after reaching the last 16 in Qatar.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4World Cup knockouts: Who has made it to the round of 32 stage?list 2 of 4Netherlands book knockouts date with Morocco with 3-1 win over Tunisialist 3 of 4Japan draw 1-1 with Sweden at World Cup to finish second in Group Flist 4 of 4Ivory Coast’s Fae saddened by Schweinsteiger’s ‘wild’ African football jabend of listTony ⁠Popovic’s team sealed second place in Group D behind cohosts the United States and will meet the second-placed team in Group G, which remains wide open before Egypt face Iran, and Belgium meet New Zealand on Friday.Paraguay, on four points, may have done enough to advance as one of the eight best-finishing, ‌third-placed sides, but the 2010 quarterfinalists will need to wait for other results in the final group matches in the coming days.Australia’s Harry Souttar, Aiden O’Neill and Paul Okon-Engstler celebrate after the match [Carlos Barria/Reuters]Popovic made six changes to his starting 11 in a bold shake-up, bringing back livewire Nestory Irankunda and adding Cristian Volpato to his forward line in a signal of attacking intent.With Jordan Bos switching from left back to right to cover for the injured Jacob Italiano, Australia made promising raids down the right, but the finishing ⁠touch proved stubbornly elusive.Minutes after kickoff, Volpato set up Jackson Irvine on ⁠the right of the penalty area, but he thumped an angled shot straight at Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill.