MLS Stars Confident in Boosting Australia at the 2026 World Cup
Three Australian footballers playing in MLS are confident that the league’s rising level will strengthen their aspirations to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Australia secured its place in next year’s tournament, which will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with the help of three MLS representatives on its team: Patrick Yazbek from Nashville SC, Kye Rowles from D.C. United, and Aiden O’Neill from New York City FC. O’Neill, former captain of Standard Liège of the Belgian Pro League, joined MLS in April, moving from Belgium to the United States. He joined Rowles, Yazbek, Ariath Piol, Giuseppe Bovalina, Lachlan Brook and Jake Girdwood-Reich, in a large group of Australians who have joined MLS in the last two years.The Socceroos coach, Tony Popovic, fielded O’Neill and Yazbek, both MLS players, in the key 2-1 victory against Saudi Arabia last week.It was something that came up suddenly, but I’m very excited to be a part of this. The quality has surprised me, it has been very good.
Aiden O’Neill
Yazbek highlighted the league’s competitiveness, mentioning the presence of world-class players such as Messi, Suárez, Emil Forsberg, Eric Choupo-Moting, Wilfried Zaha, Federico Bernardeschi, and Liel Abada.It’s a growing league, it’s huge. I think it doesn’t receive the recognition it deserves at the moment. In a few years, it will be one of the biggest leagues in the world.
Patrick Yazbek
Despite the perception of MLS as a “retirement league”, Yazbek, 23, reflects the type of players that Australia has contributed to the league in recent years, players in their prime like O’Neill (26) and Rowles (26), or yet to enter it like Yazbek, Piol (20) and Girdwood-Reich (21).
According to the CIES Football Observatory, the average age of an MLS player is 27.2 years old, similar to that of Spain’s LaLiga, and is situated between Japan’s J1 League (28) and Germany’s Bundesliga (27). The sale of players like Jhon Durán, Thiago Almada, and Djordje Petrovic has generated significant transfer revenue for MLS clubs in recent years, and the league introduced cash transfers between its teams in 2025.With the Socceroos qualifying for the World Cup a year in advance, Australian players will spend the next 12 months proving their worth to be selected for Popovic’s final squad. Rowles is confident that the MLS environment is conducive to this.There is an old perception that MLS is a retirement league when, in fact, it is completely the opposite. There are many young players coming out of there, many young players going there and being sold, and some even play their careers there. It is a league with world-class resources, world-class facilities, great fan participation, and it is very competitive.
Patrick Yazbek
Rowles believes that MLS offers a great opportunity to face great players every week, which allows him to improve his level of play.From the outside, many people think it might just be a bit of fun, but it’s physically demanding, for sure. The lads do a lot of work in each match and push their bodies to the limit every week.
Kye Rowles
