Cameron Burgess’s Australia confirmed qualification for the 2026 World Cup by beating Saudi Arabia 2-1 in their final qualifier in Jeddah this evening.
The Socceroos only needed to avoid defeat by five goals or more to the Saudis, who were third in the group, one place behind them, to seal their spot but in the end claimed all three points.
Burgess, who remains in talks with Town regarding new terms with his current deal up this summer, started and played the full 90 minutes as he won his 17th full cap.
Town have previously had 10 players feature at World Cup finals, Mick Mills, Paul Mariner, Terry Butcher (all England), John Wark, Alan Brazil (Scotland), Bontcho Guentchev (Bulgaria), Matt Holland (Republic of Ireland), Amir Karic (Slovenia) Tommy Smith (New Zealand) and Jonas Knudsen (Denmark), while the likes of John Elsworthy (Wales), George Burley (Scotland) and Bartosz Bialkowski (Poland) have been in squads for finals without playing and in Elsworthy’s case in 1958 without travelling.