CANBERRA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Australia eased past Nepal with a 5-0 victory in a second round Asian qualification match of 2022 FIFA World Cup on Thursday night.
The Melbourne City striker Jamie Maclaren, who played central forward in a starting 4-3-3 lineup, scored a brace after only 20 minutes against the team ranked 161th in the world, 117 places behind the Socceroos.
The 20-year-old central defender Harry Souttar, who played in English League One side Fleetwood Town and made his international debut tonight, enlarged the lead with two headers from each half to gift the home side a 4-0 lead with 30 minutes left.
Maclaren completed his hat-trick in the stoppage time when he made no mistake after collecting Jackson Irvine's chest pass to wrap up Australia's biggest home win since 2016.
"My proudest moment in a football jersey," Maclaren said after the lop-sided match.
"Representing my country in Canberra, scoring a hat-trick as a striker it's the best feeling."
It was the second victory in a row for the Socceroos, who visited and beat Kuwait 3-0 last month in their opening match on the road to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Australia led Group B after two wins. At this stage, a total of 40 teams will play across eight groups in the second round of Asian qualifiers.
Eight group winners and the four best runners-up will qualify for the third round.
