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Asia World Cup Qualifiers (R)


Soju

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Asia's 2010 qualifiers are in Round 3, group stage. Top two teams advance.

http://www.the-afc.com/eng/competitions/fixtures/index.jsp_WC-2007-464.html

Round 3

Group 1

Team GP W D L GF GA +/- Pts

AUST 6 3 1 2 7 3 4 10

QATAR 6 3 1 2 5 6 -1 10

IRAQ 6 2 1 3 4 6 -2 7

CHINA 6 1 3 2 3 4 -1 6

Group 2

Team GP W D L GF GA +/- Pts

JAPAN 6 4 1 1 12 3 9 13

BAHR 6 3 2 1 7 5 2 11

OMAN 6 2 2 2 5 7 -2 8

THAIL 6 0 1 5 5 14 -9 1

Group 3

Team GP W D L GF GA +/- Pts

KOREA 6 3 3 0 10 3 7 12

DPRK 6 3 3 0 4 0 4 12

JORDAN 6 2 1 3 6 6 0 7

TURKM 6 0 1 5 1 12 -11 1

Group 4

Team GP W D L GF GA +/- Pts

SAUDI 6 5 0 1 14 5 9 15

UZBEK 6 5 0 1 15 7 8 15

SINGA 6 2 0 4 7 13 -6 6

LEBAN 6 0 0 6 3 14 -11 0

Group 5

Team GP W D L GF GA +/- Pts

IRAN 6 3 3 0 7 2 5 12

UAE 6 2 2 2 7 7 0 8

SYRIA 6 2 2 2 7 8 -1 8

KUWAIT 6 1 1 4 8 12 -4 4

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Latest result from Group1 has China in deep, China 0 Qatar 1

http://www.the-afc.com/eng/articles/viewArticle.jsp_167116925.html

TIANJIN, CHINA – Sebastian Soria converted an early penalty as Qatar edged China 1-0 at the Olympic Sports Center Stadium on Saturday to take a giant step towards the final round of the Asian World Cup qualifiers.

Soria sent goalkeeper Song Zhenyu the wrong way from the spot after 14 minutes and the visitors hung on despite conceding the majority of possession to the home side, who lacked imagination in the final third to break down the massed Qatari defence.

The win consolidated Qatar’s second place in Group One as they moved up to seven points, four clear of the Chinese with two games remaining for both teams.

Australia, who lead the group on goal difference, meet Iraq in Dubai later on Saturday.

China nearly enjoyed a dream start as a headed clearance by Junior Marcone dropped on the edge of the Qatari box to Gao Lin, who volleyed just wide after 30 seconds.

The Chinese went even closer in the 11th minute as skipper Zheng Zhi centred from the right by-line to Zhu Ting, who flicked the ball with his right heel against the post.

The hosts were in the ascendancy but it was the Qataris who struck the decisive blow three minutes later when Lebanese referee Tallat Najm pointed to the spot after Yusef Ali was pulled down in the box by Gao Lin and Soria coolly dispatched the penalty.

China enjoyed plenty of possession in the first half but were unable to find a way past their opponents who defended in numbers, giving the home side barely a sniff on goal.

It was not until the 54th minute that the Chinese had another decent attempt on goal as Zheng Zhi’s free-kick from 20 metres curled narrowly wide of Mohamed Saqr’s right post.

Three minutes later, a deep cross from the right by Hao Junmin found Du Zhenyu at the far post. The substitute drove the ball into the six-yard box but Gao Lin was unable to control the ball which ricocheted wide off his right foot.

Cao Yang then released Zheng with an excellent through ball but Saqr came off his line quickly to smother the ball at the feet of the Chinese captain.

The Chinese continued to enjoy the majority of possession but grew increasingly frustrated by the time-wasting tactics of the Qataris which gradually squeezed the life out of the game.

Their frustration boiled over when Sun Jihai was sent off from the Chinese bench for remonstrating with the referee.

China's final effort came from Huang, who shot wide from 25 metres while Soria nearly grabbed a second for Qatar with a low drive from similar range that was well stopped by Song Zhenyu.

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quote:Originally posted by CanadianSoccerFan

Interesting how they play 4 qualifiers in June. This would be a good solution in CONCACAF for adding games to the HEX or at least avoiding having qualifiers on midweek friendly dates

But there are only two international dates, and the leagues in Mexico and central America are into vital matches, as well as the MSL schedule.

What is the matterwith midwek friendlies? And they are on international dates, not particularly friendly dates.

The key would be to get MSL and other leagues such as Argentina's to get in line with interntational dates set by FIFA. And, having an international date fro WCQs in the middle of the Olympic footbal tourny is just plain stupid, which is why it is good we did not qualify.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Updated the group results above.

ROUND 3 RESULTS

Group 1: AUSTRALIA/QATAR through. IRAQ/CHINA out.

Group 2: JAPAN/BAHRAIN through. OMAN/THAILAND out.

Group 3: SOUTH KOREA/NORTH KOREA through. JORDAN/TURKMENISTAN out.

Group 4: SAUDI ARABIA/UZBEKISTAN through. SINGAPORE/LEBANON out.

Group 5: IRAN/UAE through. SYRIA/KUWAIT out.

Few if any surprises from this round. Thailand and Singapore, the finalists of the South East Asian King's Cup, both showed once more that SEA is miles behind the rest of Asia. I thought Iraq would've gone through at Qatar's expense but Qatar are playing some of the best football in the region at the moment and could upset some teams next round. China were predictably failures and will sack another coach for it. I'm not sure what the coach was supposed to do with that roster of cynical underachievers but someone's gotta pay. Autralia should have Viduka and Cahill back for the next round and be at full strength. Japan are worried about lack of firepower after only finishing off plucky Bahrain 1-0 in their last match. Iran has the fewest goals against (2) from the third round. The Koreas did enough in their group but never really impressed. Bring on round 4!

On June 27th The AFC will conduct a draw in Kuala Lumpur to determine the two groups of 5 teams who will compete in the final round of qualifications. The top two from each group qualify. The third place teams from each group have a two leg play off series, winner takes on the Oceania champion. I think we're going to see some new flags at the next World Cup...

For a look at the pots/seeding process click here and scroll down: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_%28AFC%29

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quote:Originally posted by Soju

On June 27th The AFC will conduct a draw in Kuala Lumpur to determine the two groups of 5 teams who will compete in the final round of qualifications. The top two from each group qualify. The third place teams from each group have a two leg play off series, winner takes on the Oceania champion. I think we're going to see some new flags at the next World Cup...

So, with this, there is no reason why CONCACAF could not redraw teams after the two-leg second round that we just had. This is frustrating!

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CONCACAF's seeding "system" seems so obviously corrupt I can't believe it's not getting more attention. Jason deVos in the commentary for the last St. Vincent game referenced it as one for the conspiracy theorists. Cute.

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brutal groups - to some less familiar with asian football this may look like concacaf where you would pull Japan and Korea and maybe Iran and Australia and say they are sure picks and let the rest fight over the last half-spot, but I actually think you are looking at incredibly tight matches and probably a couple of big upsets. dont be surprised if japan or korea go out this time or have to qualify through the half-spot. To me either of these groups remind me of the number 3 through number 7 ranked teams in south america in a normal year - take argentina and brazil out and it can be a real brutal dogfight

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Time for some early predictions.

I'll pick Iran to disappoint and North Korea to succeed. Australia and Japan to do enough to take Group A, but leave some major question marks re: their finishing and general creativity.

Group A: Australia, Japan, Qatar

Group B: Korea Republic, Korea DPR, Saudi Arabia

Playoff: Qatar to beat Saudi Arabia and Oceania champ to qualify.

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quote:Originally posted by squizz

Kind of a shame that Iraq went out in the previous round - would have been interesting to see if the entire Axis of Evil could have qualified.

I think NK is out of the axis of evil and I'm not sure Irak is in as well...

I don't know much about Asian football but those groups looks quite tough. Should be an interesting competition!

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