Australia booked their spot in the 2018 World Cup in front of over 77,000 people with the home side opening their account in the 53rd-minute.

Ryan has come a long way in his career, starting off as a youngster with Central Coast Mariners before embarking on stints in Belgium, Spain and his current side Brighton & Hove Albion.

The Socceroos doubled the lead on the 72nd minute through a Mile Jedinak penalty.

Mariners had their 2011 A-League trophy stolen from them after they blew a two-goal lead to Brisbane Roar in extra-time and eventually lost 4-2 on penalties​.

Ryan was wary of complacency and reminded his former Mariners teammate of their 2011 A-League heartbreak.

“Maybe celebrations began a little bit early,” Ryan admitted.

“When it was 2-0 I actually said to Sains - ‘don’t forget about that grand final where we went 2-0 up in extra-time’.

“We were celebrating a little bit and then that memory popped into my mind and I was like ‘Sains, man, let’s just close this game out because football is a funny game sometimes’.

“We’ve learnt that the hard way in the past, so I was saying ‘let’s get it’. When we got that third one I was pretty confident we’d finish the job from there.

“I think we thoroughly deserved this result, the scoreline probably doesn’t reflect how dominant we were to be honest, but now we’ve got our ticket to Russia and that’s the plan.”

An ecstatic Ryan said there was no better night in sport than when Australians unite to support the national team.

Coach Ange Postecoglou’s future with the national team is still uncertain, however, Ryan refused to enter the debate.

“There’s no need to comment, he’s still here until someone informs me otherwise, him himself or someone from the FFA, there’s no point making comment about it because he’s our manager,” he said.

“I find it pretty hard to believe he’s someone that wouldn’t want to come to a World Cup or give up that opportunity. Until something like that happens, I don’t feel the need to comment.”