World Cup qualification: Asia

[tee rex]

World Cup qualification: Asia

S. Korea beat China 3-2 in Seoul, with a huge away following apparently.

ROK squad: all foreign-based bar one. Whereas China squad: all home-based bar one.

[trimster]

World Cup qualification: Asia

Australia beat UAE 1-0 in Abu Dhabi.. Tim Cahill the goal scorer.

[tee rex]

World Cup qualification: Asia

China lost to Syria. Forget 48, the sponsors will be demanding a 64 team World Cup.

[Mumpo]

World Cup qualification: Asia

After the Mexican Wave - the Iranian Wake?

[Mumpo]

World Cup qualification: Asia

And Iran score the opener. Have to find some footage of this.

[Kevin S]

World Cup qualification: Asia

Thailand 2-2 Australia. hmm.

[CY_Boaby]

World Cup qualification: Asia

That was Thailand’s first point and they looked good. Quick, skillful, created loads of chances and were very unlucky the ref awarded Australia a soft 2nd penalty. In the closing stages it was great to see Thailand really going for the win rather than just settle for a point against the Asian champions. As for Australia, they were rotten in possession, couldn’t handle the Thai wingers and never convinced when they got into the final 3rd of the pitch. Bloody lucky to come away with a point.

Elsewhere in Group B, Japan beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 to go level at the top on 10 points, with the Saudis just ahead on goal difference. Both Australia and UAE are on 9 points, with the Aussies shading 3rd place on goal difference. UAE had a 2-0 win over Iraq.

In Group A, Iran out in front on 11 points after a 0-0 draw in Syria. South Korea moved into 2nd place and now have 10 points after a vital 2-1 over Uzbekistan, who stay on 9 points and slip down to 3rd.

[Satchmo Distel]

World Cup qualification: Asia

Syria v Uzbekistan report: Syria are playing their home games in Malaysia and still have a chance to make the play-offs. Panenka pen wins this:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/39363248

Japan have just gone 2-0 up in UAE; game supposedly live on ESPN 3 but can't get it to work. Australia are drawing lots of away games; will that be enough to avoid the play-offs?

[jwdd27]

World Cup qualification: Asia

In the other group, China beat South Korea 1-0, and Iran win 1-0 in Qatar, which happily means Qatar are bottom of the pile. They'll have to spend big to qualify from here.

[Mumpo]

Iran got their qualification in early this time, being the second side after Brazil to do so.

[ursus arctos]

[CY_Boaby]

Bit of an upset last night in Group B as UAE beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 with two stunning goals:

Japan V Australia tomorrow, with the Aussies knowing a win will gain them automatic qualification. A draw will mean they just have to beat bottom-placed Thailand in Melbourne in their final fixture, and if they can't beat Thailand at home then they don't deserve to qualify.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Partridgesque "BANG!" from the commentator in that game. Good work.

[ursus arctos]

Japan defeat Australia 2-0 in Saitama and become the first team to have qualified for the Finals in Russia.

[Wouter D]

I've been entertaining my Chinese PhD students with the notion that their country still had a better chance of qualifying for the World Cup than the Netherlands. It's not as if the Netherlands are going to find their way past either France or Sweden, and China only needed to win their last two games followed by two playoffs, all against complete loser teams.

China 1-0 Uzbekistan is going to ensure that I will have a hilarious lunch with them tomorrow.

The last round needs to end with something like:
Iran 3-0 Syria
Uzbekistan 0-1 South Korea
Qatar 0-2 China,
which is far from impossible. Then it's smooth sailing into playoffs with Australia, the winner of which will qualify for playoffs with Panama or whoever else ends fourth in CONCACAF.

[Southport Zeb]

Japan defeat Australia 2-0 in Saitama and become the first team to have qualified for the Finals in Russia.

After Brazil and Iran

[Furtho]

Tidy couple of goals for the Samurai Blue. Takuma Asano got the first, he's 22 and loaned out to Stuttgart from Arsenal, after having started his career at Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Yosuke Ideguchi got the second, he's only 21 but has been in and out of the team at Gamba Osaka for several seasons. 2017 is the first year he's really been a proper first choice.

[Uncle Ethan]

Another loss prompted by a team playing possession football whilst incapable of keeping possession.

Result overshadowed by the sad news that Mike Cockerill, journo and commentator, died of cancer yesterday at just 56. His colleagues at Fox Sports heard the news while on air and it was hard to watch.

Like Les Murray, Mike was reporting on football when it was the a pretty thankless task in Australia. He loved the game with a passion and was a great advocate for change when it was most needed.

Mike and I argued furiously back in the day about WA's case for having a team in the NSL and about his views on English football. He was a great bloke and we shared beer or two over the years. He'll be missed.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

A Saudi Arabia - Syria playoff would raise some issues wouldn't it?

[Wouter D]

A Saudi Arabia - Syria playoff would raise some issues wouldn't it?

Instead, Australia gets the honor of playing there. That'll teach them to beat Thailand by only one measly goal.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Oof. A potential further playoff against the USA would be big too. If the tiebreak in the AFC groups had been results between the tied sides, Australia would already have qualified.

[Wouter D]

Another reason to be in favor of goal difference as a tie breaker. It's just much more fun.

I still maintain that China now have as good a chance to reach the World Cup as the Netherlands do. The former requires two nations to be disqualified and two playoff rounds to be survived. The latter requires a miracle.

[CY_Boaby]

The Aussies huffed & puffed, but the quality once they got the ball forward was pretty average. Sure they hit the post a few times, had shots cleared off the line and the Thai keeper played well, but when you have Matthew Leckie on the right wing constantly failing to beat his man and then when he is in space, just hits it straight to the Thai defender then you get what you deserve. Thailand should have had a penalty and looked really dangerous when they attacked, and I did laugh when they smashed the ball in the Aussie net to equalise with only 9 minutes remaining, especially after all the effort it had taken the Aussies to score.

Australia needed to win by 4 or 5 to make it difficult for the Saudis, and you could tell they'd lost the plot when deep into injury time they were pouring forward to get another goal when it would have made zero difference. But they almost conceded again which would have had a far greater impact.

So Syria awaits, who've been playing their home games in Malaysia.

[CY_Boaby]

They came, they saw and got a draw.

A good first half for the Socceroos saw them take a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time, and when Tomi Juric hit the same post twice in as many seconds early on in the 2nd half, they appeared to be in control. But that's as good as it got as they reverted to type, gave the ball away, created nothing and started to defend deep. Syria dominated for the rest of the half and looked dangerous, and 5 mins from time the ref gave them a dodgy penalty, which they scored from. Overall a fair result, but once again the Socceroos far from impressive.

The return leg in Sydney this Tuesday - this is going to be a nervy one.

[Satchmo Distel]

Does the away goals rule operate in this play off?