Bangladesh suffered its second worst defeat in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers ever, getting thrashed 7-0 at the hands of Australia in their opening Group I match at the AAMI Park Stadium in Melbourne today.

Australia, who are 156 places ahead of Bangladesh in the FIFA rankings, dominated from the first minute to the final whistle.

They took a 4-0 lead in the first half before adding three more goals to the scoresheet against a helpless Bangladesh, thanks to a second half hattrick from substitute forward Jamie Maclaren.  

The charges of Spanish coach Javier Cabrera could neither show their improvements they wanted to demonstrate against superior Australia, nor salvage the respectability in the margin of defeat despite parking the bus inside the box from the outset. 

They were one goal away from equaling their worst ever result in a FIFA World Cup Qualifying match, the 8-0 drubbing against Jordan in the 2018 Qualifiers.

This is Bangladesh's joint worst result in the Qualifers, as they had earlier lost by the same margin in the 1994 Qualifiers against the UAE.

The men in red and green had suffered 5-0 and 4-0 defeats against Australia in 2015 in the Russia World Cup Qualifiers.

Cabrera's charges displayed some good shows in recent past but looked like fish out of water against a much superior Australia team, who took full advantage of their physical superiority over the Bangladesh players.

Harry Souttar, a defender of 6.6' feet, gave Australia a lead with an effortless header in the very fourth minute before Brandon Borrello doubled the margin by tapping in from close range in the 20th minute.

Michell Duke widened the margin with another effortless header in the 37th minute and struck his second goal with a rebounder in the 49th minute.

Duke was replaced in the second half by Jamie Maclaren, who then slotted a hat-trick by scoring in the 49th, 70th and 84th minutes respectively.