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Australia vs. Turkey live score, result, highlights from 2026 World Cup Group D match

Australia vs. Turkey live score, result, highlights from 2026 World Cup Group D match

Turkey will play their first World Cup match in 24 years against an Australia team determined to prove the doubters wrong.

BC Place in Vancouver will host the second match of Group D after the United States got off to the perfect start on home soil with a 4-1 win against Paraguay.

In their last World Cup in 2002, Turkey finished in third place and will be hoping to produce tournament form that has seen them recently reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2024.

The Socceroos are in their seventh consecutive World Cup and will be looking to buck against predictions of their struggles – like they did at World Cup 2022 when they reached the round of 16, only losing to eventual champions Argentina.

STREAM: Watch the 2026 World Cup live with fubo (U.S. only free trial)

Australia vs. Turkey live score

Location: BC Place, Vancouver, Canada
Referee: Jesus Valenzuela (VEN)

Starting lineups:

Australia (3-4-2-1): 18. Patrick Beach (GK) — 3. Circati, 19. Souttar (c), 21. Burgess — 5. Bos, 13. O’Neill, 24. Okon-Engstler, 4. Italiano — 17. Irankunda, 8. Metcalfe — 9. Toure,

Turkey (4-2-3-1): 23. Cakir (GK) — 20. Kadioglu, 14. Bardakci, 3. Demiral, 2. Celik — 16. Yuksek, 10. Calhanoglu (c) — 21. Yilmaz, 6. Kokcu, 8. Güler — 7. Akturkoglu

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Australia vs. Turkey live updates, highlights from 2026 World Cup

(All times ET)

Half time: AUSTRALIA 1 TURKEY 0.

Impressive stuff from the young Australian side. Turkey has had plenty of the ball, but not been allowed to do much with it against an impressively organised Socceroos defence that has really frustrated their stars and left them trying to blast the ball home from long range again and again. Turkey has lacked finesse with their finishing and were punished by Australia on the counter with the speed of the young forwards causing plenty of problems. Yilmaz has looked dangerous on the left wing for Turkey and Calhanoglu’s class is there for all to see, but Australian boss Tony Popovic will no doubt be delighted so far. Irankunda is looking especially dangerous while Patrick Beach has repaid his coach’s faith so far in the Australian goal, the 22-year-old is looking very confident indeed. Turkey have work to do here to avoid a shock loss.

45th minute: CHANCE AUSTRALIA!

Nestory Irankuna lashes a shot from the edge of the box, but Cakir makes the save. The speed of Irankunda is causing huge problems for the Turks. There will be 4 minutes of stoppage time.

44th minute: VAR OVERRULE

Yilmaz thought he’d won a corner, but it’s quickly ruled out by VAR. Goal kick Australia.

42nd minute: SHOT TURKEY

Guler tries a long range shot and yet again sends it high and left. The Real Madrid star been pretty well handled so far.

39th minute: SHOT AUSTRALIA

Jordy Bos gets time on the ball just outside the box but sends the over the woodwork.

36th minute: 

Another cross from Yilmaz on the left delivers a half chance to Kokcu in the box but again Turkey can’t get a quality shot on target.

30th minute: SHOT TURKEY!

A stunning save from Patrick Beach at full stretch sends a lighting bolt strike from Bardakci into the post. This game has come to life in a big way now.

Watch in USA:

27th Minute: GOAL AUSTRALIA!

A lighting counter and precision long ball from Okon-Engstler sets 20-year-old Nestory Irankunda free who shoots brilliantly to put the Socceroos up 1-0. Wow. Turkey are stunned!

Watch in USA:

26th min: CHANCE TURKEY 

Yilmaz delivers a deflected cross to Guler who shoots straight at the Australian keeper Beach.

22nd min: HYDRATION BREAK 0-0

The pace of the game has been reasonably slow so far with both sides showing plenty of patience and discipline. Led by their csptsain Calhanoglu Turkey seems happy probe and try to unpick the Socceroos defence. Australia is looking to counter when the opportunity presents itself. If the Socceroos can get their corners right it could provide some joy. Turkey hasn’t shown a lot of precision with their finishing just yet.

19th min: SHOT TURKEY

Calhanoglu lays the ball off for Brighton man Kadioglu who blasts the ball over the top from outside the box.

16th min: CORNER AUSTRALIA

Australia playing patiently at the the back, before a quality long ball sees Mo Toure earn another corner. Harry Souttar gets to this one but can’t get any pace or accuracy on the ball. Goal kick.

11th min: 

Calhanoglu is controlling the midfield here for Turkey, but the young Australians are staying calm and holding their own. Already clear they’re going to spend most of this game without the ball.

8th min: CORNER AUSTRALIA

Connor Metcalf delivers to the back post but it’s too deep and Cakir takes it comfortably.

3rd min: SHOT TURKEY

Calhanoglu shoots from long range, ball is deflected for a corner. The Australian defence puts it out for another corner and this time Circati clears. Turkey stringing together some good early possession. 

Kickoff

The crowd roars and we’re underway at BC Place! Australia kicks off. Who will come out on top?

Prematch

3 mins to kickoff: Rousing renditions of the Australian national anthem followed by the Turkey national anthem inside this stunning stadium. We’re almost set.

Watch in USA:

7 mins to kickoff: The two teams emerge from the tunnel, walking on to the pitch at BC Place, side by side. Huge amounts of tension and excitement in equal measure.

20 mins to kickoff: Players are out on the pitch warming up at BC Place. Fans are pumped.

30 mins to kickoff (11:30 p.m. ET): Australian coach Tony Popovic has just spoken to the media on his decision to leave out captain Mathew Ryan and start with 22-year-old Patrick Beach. “I just wanted to play Patrick (Beach),” he said bluntly. “It’s a youthful lineup, a lot of excitement, lot of exuberance, I have a lot of faith in these young players.” So there you go. Time will tell if it’s the right call.

35 mins to kickoff (11:25 p.m. ET): Tonight’s referee is 42-year-old Jesús Valenzuela Sáez from Venezuela, this will be his third time in charge of a FIFA World Cup match, having overseen two matches in Qatar in 2022.

45 mins to kickoff  (11:15 p.m. ET): The crowd continues to build and so does the energy for this critical Group D opener. Conditions are warm with the roof closed.

1 hour to kickoff  (11:00 p.m. ET): Not long now, both teams are in the house. Still processing some of those selection calls by Tony Popovic. 10 World Cup debutants for the Aussies tonight. Then again, Turkey will have 11!

1 hour 15 mins to kickoff (10:45 p.m. ET): The two starting XI’s have been confirmed and some HUGE surprises from Australia in particular. 

Key players for Turkey include veteran Inter Milan midfielder Hakan Çalhanoğlu, 21-year-old Real Madrid sensation Arda Güler and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Ferdi Kadioglu. As expected Juventus star Kenan Yıldız has not been named.

Meanwhile Australia has left captain and La Liga goalkeeper Mathew Ryan on the bench, opting to start with Patrick Beach in goal and Harry Souttar to captain the side. No Jackson Irvine either.

Norwich striker Mo Toure has been named up front alongside Nestory Irankunda despite being under a fitness cloud during the week. He was in sensational goalscoring form last season in England and the Socceroos will need his attacking prowess tonight.

1 hour 20 mins to kickoff (10:40 p.m. ET): Turkey will be wearing their red strip tonight, with Australia in their traditional gold jerseys. Perfect. 

1 hour 30 mins to kick off: Turkey fans are on the march. Awesome scenes, this is so good.

1 hour 40 mins to kickoff (10:20 p.m. ET): Under FIFA guidelines the retractable roof at BC Place will be kept closed tonight and for all matches here during the 2026 World Cup. The three other venues with retractable roof systems (Dallas, Houston and Atlanta) will be doing the same.

1 hour 50 mins to kickoff (10:10 p.m. ET): Unconfirmed reports that Kenan Yıldız will not start for Turkey tonight and the Juventus midfielder may not feature at all. He’s been managing a calf injury so this isn’t a huge surprise. We’ll find out more in the next hour when the starting XI’s are announced.

2 hours to kickoff (10 p.m. ET): Turkey captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu has said he expects his side to dominate the Aussies in tonight’s match. “We have more qualities and a more talented team, so we will see tomorrow what happens,” Çalhanoğlu declared. Fighting words from the Inter Milan veteran.

2 hours 20 mins to kickoff (9:40 p.m. ET): Australian fans on the move towards BC Place in high spirits. This is going to be fun!

2 hours 30 mins to kick off (9:30 p.m. ET): Also known as the ‘Crescent Stars’ Turkey had to qualify for the FIFA 2026 World Cup the hard way coming through a tense final stage of European play-offs where they edged both Romania (1-0) and Kosovo (1-0 ) to earn the final place in Group D. Australia qualified directly after finishing second behind Japan in their final AFC qualifying group.

2 hours 45 mins to kick off (9:15 p.m. ET): More support for the Socceroos, this time from Australia’s other national football team, the Matildas.

3 hours to kick off (9:00 p.m. ET): Australia could have their hands full today dealing with the threat of attacking midfielder Arda Guler. Real Madrid signed Guler as an 18-year-old from Fenerbahce back in 2023 and the young star featured in 32 matches in the most recent La Liga season playing alongside superstars Kylian Mbappe, Vinícius Júnior and Thibaut Courtois.

3 hours 15 mins to kick off (8:45 p.m. ET): After their 4-1 demolition of Paraguay yesterday the USA is already in the box seat to progress from this group, although there are some concerns about the fitness of star man Christian Pulisic who failed to return after half time in the opener. Australia will play the USA next Friday while Turkey will face the co-hosts in the final round of the group stage.

3 hours 30 mins to kick off (8:30 p.m. ET): Turkey has set up its World Cup camp in Mesa, Arizona while Australia is basing its 2026 campaign out of Oakland in California. 

4 hours to kick off (8:00 p.m. ET): Australia and Turkey have never met in a major tournament at senior men’s level. In fact, they’ve only met twice (ever) with Turkey winning both friendly matches way back in May 2004. 

Going into tonight’s match 22nd-ranked Turkey sits five places higher on the FIFA World Rankings than Australia (27th) and will start as warm favourites, but that’s sure to mean very little when the action gets underway.

4 hours 30 mins to kick off (7:30 p.m. ET): Fair to say the Aussies are pumped up for this one as well, expect plenty of green and gold in the stands.

4 hours 50 mins to kick off (7:10 p.m. ET): Tonight’s match marks Turkey’s first appearance at a FIFA World Cup finals in 24 years. Will it be a winning return?

5 hours to kick off (7 p.m ET): Welcome to BC Place in Vancouver, Canada for tonight’s Group D match between Australia and Turkey. Kickoff is at 9 p.m local time (12:00 am ET) as the last match on day three of the tournament. We’re following the match live so stick around.

Where to watch Australia vs. Turkey in World Cup

Australia vs. Turkey start time

  • Date: Sunday, June 14, 2026 (ET, AEST), Saturday June 13 (local)
  • Kickoff: 9 p.m PT (local)/12 a.m. ET/2 p.m. AEST

The match between Australia and Turkey will begin at 9 p.m. local time in Vancouver, Canada.

What channel is Australia vs. Turkey on today?

Here is where the World Cup match between the Australia and Turkey can be found televised around in some major territories around the world, as well as streaming online.

  Time TV Channel Streaming
USA 12 a.m. ET Fox, Telemundo fubo, Peacock
Canada 12 a.m. ET TSN 1, RDS (French) TSN site/app,
RDS app
UK 5 a.m. BST BBC One BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website
Australia 2 p.m. AEST SBS SBS On Demand
India 9:30 a.m. IST Sports 18 Voot, JioTV

MORE WORLD CUP NEWS:

Australia World Cup schedule 2026

Date Time (AEST) Match Location
Sun, Jun. 14 2 p.m. Australia vs. Turkey BC Place (Vancouver, CAN)
Sat Jun. 20 5 a.m. United States vs. Australia Lumen Field (Seattle, WA)
Fri, Jun. 26 12 p.m. Paraguay vs. Australia Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, CA)

Turkey World Cup schedule 2026

Date Time (ET) Match Location
Sun, Jun. 14 12 a.m. Australia vs. Turkey BC Place (Vancouver, CAN)
Sat, Jun. 20 12 a.m. Turkey vs. Paraguay Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, CA)
Thu, Jun. 25 10 p.m. Turkey vs. United States SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, CA)

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