The Socceroos suffered a 3-0 defeat against Colombia in a highly-anticipated international friendly in New York City on Wednesday AEDT, ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup in North America.
Australia — ranked 25th in the world — was coming off a disappointing loss against 50th-ranked Venezuela and needed to improve greatly to overcome Colombia, who are ranked 13th.
The Socceroos have just nine wins against South American teams from 49 attempts and have never beaten Colombia, recording two draws and two defeats.
A 76th-minute penalty from Colombia's James Rodríguez, followed by an 89th-minute tap-in from fellow star Luis Díaz and then a Jefferson Lerma header from a corner in the third minute of added time meant that Colombia's undefeated streak against Australia continued.
The teams were deadlocked at half-time with Australia putting up a good fight against Colombia, who had most of the ball and for whom Bayern Munich's Díaz proved a constant threat.
Australia made five changes from their last starting XI against Venezuela.
Socceroos coach Tony Popovic fielded an experimental line-up in the 1-0 loss to Venezuela on Saturday, with four players debuting, including three starters.
He conceded the performance against Venezuela was "disjointed" and for the middle hour "there wasn't much good from us with and without the ball," and added that the World Cup would be where he'd want to beat a South American side.
Popovic blames 'soft penalty', virus after loss
Popovic lamented what he termed the "softest penalty you can see", also revealing the entire squad had been bedridden with a virus and been unable to train on Sunday ahead of the game on Tuesday (local time).
"We kept that quiet, because the players wanted to keep that quiet. So that's a credit to them," he said.
"I was happy to mention that, but the players wanted to keep that quiet. We had a virus through the whole squad, including the staff, so we were unable to train Sunday. So the entire day, everyone was in bed.
"We flew three hours on Monday, came here and put up a really good, brave performance.
"I'm actually surprised at how well they did, because physically, they were clearly nowhere near it."
Australia and Colombia have both secured their spots in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Australia qualified for a sixth consecutive World Cup in June after beating Saudi Arabia 2-1, thanks to goals from striker Mitch Duke and midfielder Connor Metcalfe.
Colombia beat Bolivia 3-0 in September to secure automatic qualification from the CONMEBOL confederation headlined by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
Meanwhile, the tiny Carribean island nation of Curaçao, population 156,000, qualified for the World Cup for the first time on Wednesday with a 0-0 draw against Jamaica. They become the smallest country ever to qualify for a World Cup.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July.
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