Epic day on Asia's road to the World Cup

Hours of football fun --for the neutral at least -- from east to west as 18 teams still fighting for eight automatic spots in North America

"Crazy game," said Australia coach Tony Popovic. He could have been talking about the entire Matchday Six.

Tuesday was one of those epic World Cup qualification days that happens from time to time in Asia, helped by the fact that there are so many time zones across the giant continent. 

Marselino Ferdinan celebrates his second for Indonesia, from Bola Okezone

The action, drama and excitement swept westwards over an eight hour period, starting in Jakarta and Xiamen, then passing through Vientiane and Bishkek and gathering pace as it approached Abu Dhabi, Amman, Kuwait City, Muscat and then, certainly last but not least, Riffa.

It’s all helped by the fact that there are eight World Cup places up for grabs for Asia. The top two from each of the three groups go to North America automatically but there is hope for the rest. The six teams that finish third and fourth advance to the next stage to fight it out for two more berths. Nothing is over.

Group C goes wild

Japan started the day with a 3-1 win over China in Xiamen, a result that was almost satisfactory for the hosts who were competitive enough after losing 7-0 in September. 

The Samurai Blue are nine points clear at the top of the group and even if they lose all four of their remaining games will be going to an eighth successive World Cup. That is because the other five teams are taking points off each other with glorious abandon. Australia are second with seven with the rest all on six.

Indonesia beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 in Jakarta to pick up their first win. Two very well-taken goals from Oxford United’s talented Marselino Ferdinan made the difference in what was a deserved victory in a delighted Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

"By winning tonight's match, it seems like we can achieve our goal of positioning ourselves in third or fourth place," Indonesia’s coach Shin Tae-yong said, downplaying expectations of a top two finish for Asia’s most improved team.

"There are still two more matches at home, and we have a chance to make it into the top four. The players feel it, and we definitely can. Tonight’s victory is great motivation for the players to qualify for the next round.”

Saudi boss Herve Renard admitted that his team was second-best in his second game in charge since returning to take over from Roberto Mancini. 

“Indonesia deserved to win this game,” the Frenchman said. “We now have four games and it will be tough and it will be tough for everybody. I accept the challenge to take Saudi Arabia to the World Cup, it doesn’t matter which way but we have to go to the World Cup.”

Now there are no goals in the last four for the Green Falcons and without star player Salem Al-Dawsari, there were few chances created.  There was a decent performance and result last week, a 0-0 draw against Australia in Melbourne but losing to Indonesia for the first time was not part of the plan. Now, fans are nervous. 

The same can be said in Australia, also searching for a seventh World Cup appearance. The Socceroos have only won once and just can’t get going. In Bahrain Kusini Yengi gave them a perfect start with a first minute goal as the visitors looked set for revenge after losing to the Reds in the opening game in September.

Just when they seemed set to go three points clear in second space, two goals in three second half minutes from Mahdi Abduljabbar blew a major hole in those hopes.

Bahrain were set for second but then Yengi struck deep into injury time, 95 minutes after his first strike, to make it 2-2.

"We would have liked to have won the game against Saudi or here tonight, which would have put us in a much better position," said Popovic.

"Apart from Japan everyone is taking points off each other and tonight was evidence of that again. We put ourselves in a very good position at half time to win the match but missed a very good opportunity before their goal to go 2-0 up, and this is the story of the group."

Indeed.

Group A:

Iran are six points clear of third place and are as good as there even if they made hard work of a 3-2 win in Kyrgyzstan, throwing away a 2-0 lead. Eventually, Team Melli got the points with Sardar Azmoun getting the decisive goal.

All eyes are now on the battle for second. Uzbekistan are in the driving seat thanks to a narrow victory over North Korea. Abbosbek Fayzullaev scored his third goal in two games to put his team ahead but it wouldn’t be Uzbekistan if they didn’t make hard work of it. They were thankful that Jong Il Kwon, like Fayzullaev is now, once one of Asia’s brightest prospects, missed a late penalty.

Especially as the United Arab Emirates are looking dangerous and stunned Qatar with a 5-0 victory in Abu Dhabi. The Whites blew the Maroons away with Fabio Lima getting all but one. Qatar’s defence, which has been looked dodgy for some time, fell apart and has now conceded 17 in six games, not the form of a team that lifted the Asian Cup in February.

Now, a first qualification for the 2022 World Cup hosts is looking difficult, at least through the automatic route. Pressure is mounting on boss Tintin Marquez.

Group B

Despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Palestine in Amman, South Korea are still clear at the top and looking odds-on for an 11th successive appearance. Kim Min-jae’s under-hit back-pass gave the West Asian team an early lead but Son Heung-min then scored the kind of goal seen countless times by Tottenham Hotspur fans.

The Taeguk Warriors couldn’t go on and win against a solid Palestine team that still have faint hopes of taking fourth.

While it was a fine performance from the team ranked 100 in the world, it was a blow for the one ranked 78 places above. It has been a roller-coaster year for Korea, though obviously Palestine have had it much tougher, but four wins a row seemed to have them turning a corner. Tuesday, however, saw familiar problems on display.

"Over a short period of time, we have developed several options to create scoring opportunities," coach Hong Myung-bo said. "However, we have had trouble finishing our chances whenever opponents set up a low block like Palestine did today. We have to be better in that area."

That is because Oman lost 1-0 to Iraq in Muscat, a result that puts Iraq two points in second. Youssef Amyn got the all important goal to keep the Lions of Mesopotamia ahead of Jordan who let slip a lead in Kuwait City to draw 1-1.

It means there is all to play for but that is the case across the entire continent.