AAP Soccer

Socceroos won't press handbrake in qualification bid

Jun 24, 2026

geria — Jason Geria says Australia's defenders with possible bans hanging over their heads won't hold back. -EPA

Socceroos defenders on yellow card suspensions hanging over their heads won't be putting the handbrake on in their crucial World Cup game against Paraguay.

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And none of the players are thinking about settling for a draw, even though that could be enough to send both teams through, says defender Jason Geria.

The 33-year-old, who was good off the bench against the United States, could be called upon to start the Group D decider on Thursday (Friday AEST) in Santa Clara, especially with several defenders walking a fine line.

Harry Souttar, Alessandro Circati, Jacob Italiano and Jordan Bos are all on a yellow card after Australia's 2-0 loss to the US - and if they are booked again, they would be suspended for the round of 32.

"It's difficult in a sense, but I think you can't really play the game like that. You can't really play with the handbrake sort of up," Geria said.

"You have a yellow card, OK, you've got it in the back of your mind, but you still need to go out there and play to the maximum.

"I mean, you have to be smart as well, but yeah, I mean, these guys are professionals, they know what they're doing.

"So it's not going to be a big problem for any of them, I think."

Win or draw and Australia will finish second and head to Dallas to face one of Egypt, Iran, Belgium or New Zealand.

Lose to Paraguay, and the Socceroos face a nervous wait to ensure they are one of the eight best third-place finishers - which would likely mean facing Germany in Boston or France or Norway in New York.

A draw will mean both Australia and Paraguay will finish on four points and likely go through to the knockouts.

But Geria wasn't buying into the idea both teams would settle for a draw if the scores were level late.

"I think you're cheating the game in a way if you're looking to just call a truce with 10 minutes to go. That doesn't seem right in my opinion," Geria said.

"Yeah, we could both progress with a point, that's evident, but I don't think it's in us to just concede or just take the foot off the gas.

"We want to win every game, regardless of who the opponent is or what the situation is.

"I don't think if it is 1-1 or 0-0 with five minutes left, or 50 seconds left, it's going to be us taking our foot off the pedal.

"We want to win this game so that's how we're going into it."