Australia beat the Solomon Islands 2-1 in the second leg of the Oceania final in Honiara on Tuesday to reach a play off against the fifth-placed South American team in November.

The Australians finished 9-1 ahead on aggregate after winning the opening leg 7-0 in Sydney on Saturday.

Archie Thompson and Brett Emerton scored for Australia on Tuesday, while Henry Fa’Arodo scored for the Solomon Islands when he converted a second half penalty.

Australia, guided by PSV coach Guus Hiddink, started the qualifying stages as huge favourites to win the Oceania title. They have won the Oceania title the last four times only to be beaten in playoffs by Scotland (1990), Argentina (1994), Iran (1998) and Uruguay (2002).

Earlier this year, Australia announced they were ditching Oceania to join Asia in the hope of securing an easier route to the World Cup.