Australia World Cup Preview
The Socceroos come into the World Cup by winning not one, but two playoffs against the United Arab Emirates and then against Peru. Australia finished third in their World Cup qualifying group behind Saudi Arabia and Japan, but looking at the underlying numbers, they were actually on par with Saudi Arabia.'
Through their 12 matches of Third Round World Cup Qualifying, along with their two playoff matches, Australia were at a +0.27 xGD per 90 minutes, which really isn't that impressive considering the average Action Network ranking of their opponent was 76. The two matches against Japan were a good test to see if they would be able to hang with either France or Denmark in this group, and they did not pass that test whatsoever. Japan thoroughly dominated them on xG 3.96 to 2.38 over the two meetings and won both matches as well.'
| Chances To… | Action Projections | bet365 Odds |
| Win Group Stage | 1.78% | +1400 |
| Advance To Knockout Round | 10.15% | +300 |
| Win World Cup | 0.01% | +35000 |