Australia qualifies for 2026 World Cup with 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia

Connor Metcalfe scored his first goal for Australia and Mitchell Duke iced the 2-1 victory in Saudi Arabia that ensured the Socceroos qualified for a sixth straight World Cup.

Needing just to avoid a five-goal defeat to secure direct entry to the 2026 tournament, the Socceroos rallied with Metcalfe equalizing just before halftime with a left-foot strike and Duke putting them ahead with a 48th-minute header. Abdulrahman Al Oboud had opened for the Saudis after 19 minutes.

Goalkeeper Mat Ryan made five saves, including a late penalty, in his 100th international for Australia. The Socceroos had to qualify through playoffs in 2018 and 2022 and so earning the direct entry took some pressure off.

“We've done the first part — qualifying automatically,” Socceroos coach Tony Popovic said. “Now the next part is to be bigger and better for the World Cup.”

Popovic was part of the Socceroos squad that qualified for 2006, ending a long World Cup drought for Australia, and then reached the second round. Now he has guided another generation of players to the marquee global tournament.

“We've built a good foundation now (but) we want to get better, kick on and try and do something special in the World Cup," he said.

Earlier, Japan and South Korea ended successful campaigns on a high with emphatic home victories over Indonesia and Kuwait, respectively.

In Osaka, Daichi Kamada scored after 15 minutes to set Japan, preparing for an eighth consecutive World Cup, on its way to a 6-0 victory.

Takefusa Kubo added a second five minutes later and Kamada extended the lead just before the break. Soon after the restart, Ryoya Morishita and Shuto Machino piled on and Mao Hosoya made it six.

The Palestinian team was eliminated from contention after conceding a goal seven minutes into stoppage time in a 1-1 draw with Oman, giving the Oman team the last spot in the next round of continental qualifying.

Australia joins already-qualified Japan, Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Jordan i n reaching the expanded 48-team tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Asia’s two other automatic places will be settled between the six third- and fourth-place teams. That round takes place in October. The teams will be Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

Earlier, South Korea, which has qualified for an 11th straight World Cup, sealed the top spot in Group B after beating Kuwait 4-0.

Jeon Jin-woo scored after 33 minutes at Seoul World Cup Stadium and Lee Kang-in added a second soon after the restart. Oh Hyeon-gyu and Lee Jae-sung also got on the scoresheet.

Elsewhere, China finished off another disappointing campaign with a 1-0 win over Bahrain in a game between teams already eliminated from contention.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Australia's Martin Boyle, left, an dAustralia's goalkeeper Paul David Izzo celebrate after winning a World Cup 2026 Group C qualifying soccer match against Saudi Arabia at King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo)

Australia players celebrate after winning a World Cup 2026 Group C qualifying soccer match against Saudi Arabia at King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo)

Japan's Shunsuke Mito, right, and Indonesia's Yakob Sayuri, left, compete the ball during the World Cup 2026 group C qualifying soccer match in Suita, west Japan, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Yu Matsuda/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Daichi Kamada, center, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the World Cup 2026 group C qualifying soccer match between Japan and Indonesia in Suita, Japan, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Shohei Miyano/Kyodo News via AP)

Saudi Arabia's Feras Albrikan, center, is challenged by Australia's Milos Degenek, right, during the World Cup 2026 Group C qualifying soccer match between Saudi Arabia and Australia at King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo)

Australia's Mitchell Duke, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the World Cup 2026 Group C qualifying soccer match between Saudi Arabia and Australia at King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo)

Australia players celebrate after teammate Mitchell Duke scored his side's second goal during a World Cup 2026 Group C qualifying soccer match between Saudi Arabia and Australia at King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is rising toward records Tuesday after an easing of oil prices let Wall Street turn its focus back to the big profits that companies keep producing.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and was on track to top its all-time high set at the end of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 248 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was heading toward its own record after climbing 0.7%.

Stocks got a boost after oil prices gave back some of their big jumps from Monday. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.3% to $110.70 after briefly topping $115 on Monday, though it’s still well above its roughly $70 price from before the war with Iran.

A ceasefire in the war appears to be holding, even after the United Arab Emirates said Monday that Iran fired missiles and drones at it. The U.S. military is trying to force open a path in the Strait of Hormuz, which would allow oil tankers to resume shipments from the Persian Gulf and hopefully bring down the price of crude.

Iran’s powerful parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, accused the United States of undermining regional security with the effort to end Iran’s stranglehold on the strait and warned that Tehran will respond.

Even with the war ongoing, the U.S. stock market has remained remarkably resilient on its record-setting run. That’s in large part due to the strong profits that U.S. companies have reported for the start of 2026 despite the rise in oil prices since the end of February.

“This has been a ‘why ask why’ market,'” according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “You just have to go with it.”

Even though many risks are still weighing on the market, “investors are looking at earnings” and how much companies are spending on AI data centers and other investments, he said.

DuPont’s stock rallied 8.7% Tuesday after the chemical giant led another cavalcade of companies reporting better-than-expected profits for the latest quarter.

DuPont said its water technologies business felt some impact because of the war with Iran due to logistics disruptions in the Middle East. But it nevertheless raised its forecasts for financial results over the full year due in part to its strong start to 2026.

Other winners included American Electric Power Co., which rose 1.8%, and Cummins, which added 1.7%, after they likewise made more money during the first three months of the year than analysts expected.

Pinterest soared 14% after the online bulletin board topped Wall Street’s first-quarter sales and profit targets as its number of active monthly users jumped 11% to 631 million.

AB InBev likewise topped analysts’ profit forecasts, and it credited growth for its Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra brands outside of their home markets. “Cheers to beer,” CEO Michel Doukeris said, as the company’s stock that trades in the United States jumped 9.2%.

They helped offset a drop for Palantir Technologies, which fell 4.3% even though it reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock has struggled this year with worries about increased competition, like many software companies have. Its stock is also coming off a huge run where it more than doubled in each of the last three years.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe. The CAC 40 rose 0.6% in Paris, but the FTSE 100 fell 1.7% in London. Many Asian markets were closed for holidays, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.8%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2% after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 4.35%, saying conflict in the Middle East had sharply increased fuel and commodity prices that were already adding to inflation.

In the U.S. bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices gave back some of Monday’s gains and reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed.

One report said growth for U.S. services businesses unexpectedly decelerated last month, with some companies saying the war is slowing spending. A separate report said U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of March than economists expected, an encouraging signal for the job market.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.42% from 4.45% late Monday.

That’s still well above its 3.97% level from just before the war began. That rise has made mortgages and other kinds of loans for U.S. households and businesses more expensive.

AP Writers Chan Ho-him, Matt Ott and Rod McGuirk contributed.

Specialist Patrick King works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Options trader Anthony Spina, foreground, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

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