GROUP 1 is living up to its billing as the group of death in the the AFC World Cup qualifiers with all four teams still able to progress to the next phase.
Qatar’s 1-0 win over China, has seen them join Australia at the top of the Group 1 table with Australia having a +3 better goal difference. Iraq’s win moved them above China on the table into third position, 3 points behind Australia and Qatar.
Next week’s matches will prove pivotal, with a win by either Australia or Qatar ensuring their qualification, while either Iraq or China will drop out of contention, when they meet in Tianjin.
Groups 1 and 5 are the only groups, where all four teams have a mathematical chance of qualifying, while Uzbekistan is the only team that ensured it moves onto the next phase.
Qatar’s 1-0 win came courtesy of a penalty after 14 minutes by Sebastian Quintana, after Gao Lin brought down Yusef Ali in the penalty box.
China was unable to make many inroads into the Qatar defence and their cause for next week’s crunch match was not helped, when Sun Jihai was red carded off the bench for abusing the match officials and key defender Li Weifang got a yellow card, which means they will both miss next weeks match.
In Group 2, both matches finished in 1-1 draws, which puts Bahrain on top with 10 points and Japan second on 7 points. Oman still has mathematical chance of going through if it can win its final two games against Bahrain and Thailand. Thailand picked up its first point of the qualifiers in holding leaders Bahrain to a draw.
The Korean two sides in Group 3 went a long way to progressing, with both recording 1-0 wins. DPR Korea defeated Turkmenistan courtesy of a late goal, while Korea Republic came away from Jordan with a valuable three points. Both Korean teams are on eight points, while Jordan must win its final two games to have any hope of progressing. Turkmenistan has just the one solitary point and is out of contention.
Uzbekistan is safely through to the next phase, after they recorded a 1-0 win over Singapore in Tashkent, to make four wins from four. Saudi Arabia has all but confirmed its qualification with a 2-1 win over Lebanon, with the Saudi’s needing to lose both games heavily and Singapore, in third place, needing to win big to have any chance.
The other group of death is very tight and with the Kuwait and Syria’s game to be played today, Iran skipped to the top of the table thanks to a 1-0 win over UAE. They are a point ahead of Syria and UAE, but a Kuwait win over Syria could make it very interesting and move them to within a point of the pack.
Next week’s matches will prove pivotal, with a win by either Australia or Qatar ensuring their qualification, while either Iraq or China will drop out of contention, when they meet in Tianjin.
Groups 1 and 5 are the only groups, where all four teams have a mathematical chance of qualifying, while Uzbekistan is the only team that ensured it moves onto the next phase.
Qatar’s 1-0 win came courtesy of a penalty after 14 minutes by Sebastian Quintana, after Gao Lin brought down Yusef Ali in the penalty box.
China was unable to make many inroads into the Qatar defence and their cause for next week’s crunch match was not helped, when Sun Jihai was red carded off the bench for abusing the match officials and key defender Li Weifang got a yellow card, which means they will both miss next weeks match.
In Group 2, both matches finished in 1-1 draws, which puts Bahrain on top with 10 points and Japan second on 7 points. Oman still has mathematical chance of going through if it can win its final two games against Bahrain and Thailand. Thailand picked up its first point of the qualifiers in holding leaders Bahrain to a draw.
The Korean two sides in Group 3 went a long way to progressing, with both recording 1-0 wins. DPR Korea defeated Turkmenistan courtesy of a late goal, while Korea Republic came away from Jordan with a valuable three points. Both Korean teams are on eight points, while Jordan must win its final two games to have any hope of progressing. Turkmenistan has just the one solitary point and is out of contention.
Uzbekistan is safely through to the next phase, after they recorded a 1-0 win over Singapore in Tashkent, to make four wins from four. Saudi Arabia has all but confirmed its qualification with a 2-1 win over Lebanon, with the Saudi’s needing to lose both games heavily and Singapore, in third place, needing to win big to have any chance.
The other group of death is very tight and with the Kuwait and Syria’s game to be played today, Iran skipped to the top of the table thanks to a 1-0 win over UAE. They are a point ahead of Syria and UAE, but a Kuwait win over Syria could make it very interesting and move them to within a point of the pack.
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