Australia qualified for their fourth successive World Cup !!! (video highlights)
Mile Jedinak opened the scoring with a deflected free kick in the 54th minute, bringing the 77,060 crowd at Sydney's Olympic stadium to life. Captain Mile Jedinak led the way with a second-half hat-trick as Australia brushed aside Honduras 3-1 in the second leg of their intercontinental playoff on Wednesday to secure a place at next year’s World Cup finals. The midfielder settled his compatriots’ nerves with a deflected free kick and two penalties to give Australia a comfortable aggregate victory after the 0-0 draw in the first leg last week. Honduras were bidding for a third successive World Cup appearance but barely threatened the Australia goal until winger Alberth Elis scrambled the ball over the line in stoppage time. It will be a fourth straight appearance at the World Cup finals, and fifth in total, for Asian champions Australia, who played 22 matches over 29 months to achieve their goal. “It’s unreal,” Jedinak said. “We knew it was always going to be ...