The Halfway Stage: Asia's map to the 2026 World Cup
Basra, Melbourne, Muscat and Al-Rayyan are just some of the cities where dreams could be built or dashed as the 18 teams in the third round play game five out of 10
Game five! The halfway stage of the third round of World Cup qualification takes place on Thursday. Some teams can put themselves within touching distance of the 2026 tournament while others are in desperate need of points to keep North American dreams alive.
Remember — the top two from each of the three groups are in automatically while there is a fourth stage for those teams who finish third and fourth.
Group A:
Al-Rayyan: Qatar vs Uzbekistan
Tintin and his dog snowy were iconic figures in the western world in the 20th century, getting into and out of scrapes on a regular basis.
Football coach “Tintin” Marquez Lopez no longer has the quiff that earned him the nickname, is Spanish rather than Belgian and lacks the sidekick but has delivered plenty of happiness to the nation of Qatar.
Now, however, he is in a pickle.
The hosts struggled at the 2022 World Cup and are desperate to qualify for the first time. After successfully defending their Asian Cup triumph earlier this year, it was expected that they would finish in the top two in Group A.
It has not turned out that way with four points from the first four games. A mediocre start looks worse as Iran and Uzbekistan are riding high on ten points. The only relative piece of good news of late was Akram Afif being named the 2023 AFC Player of the Year for his performances at the Asian Cup in January and February 2024. Whatever the year, the Maroons need similar inspiration on home soil.
Coach Tintin built a team that conceded just five goals in seven games in the Asian Cup but now that reads ten in four in World Cup qualification. If Qatar lose to Uzbekistan and Iran defeat North Korea, as expected, then the Maroons will be nine points off the automatic places with five games to go –in short, top two dreams will all be over.
It remains to be seen how Uzbekistan approach the game. A win would put the Central Asians so close to a first World Cup, the ultimate dreamland for a team that has become infamous for ‘choking’ when the pressure is on and the big prizes are within reach. That may play on the minds of the players and a draw would not be a bad result. Slovenian coach Srecko Katanec is a tactically adept leader and is not one to take unnecessary risks.
Group B
Basra: Iraq vs Jordan
In Group B as many expected, Iraq and Jordan both have seven points and are likely to be fighting for second with leaders South Korea three points clear and expected to win in Kuwait.
The two meet in Basra in what should be quite an atmosphere in the southern port city. Iraq haven’t qualified since 1986 and Jordan have never managed to do so.
This is a re-run of the quarter-final of the Asian Cup from January. Then Jordan came back from behind to win 3-2 with two goals deep into added time. That was dramatic enough but there was more to the story.
After 76 minutes, it was looking good for the Lions of Mesopotamia. Aymen Hussein had just put Iraq 2-1 up with his sixth goal of the tournament. After celebrating, the Asian Cup top scorer then sat down and mimed the act of eating which copied Jordan’s ceremony from the first-half.
After already being booked, the striker was then shown a second yellow from Iranian referee Alireza Faghani, Then Jordan poured forward to really take advantage of their man advantage and knock Iraq out.
It did not go down well. An online petition gathered over 800,000 signatures calling for an investigation into the what they say is inconsistent and biased officiating and the suspension of the referee.
This is what the AFC said at the time.
“Aymen Hussein excessively delayed the restart of the game after scoring a goal in the 75th minute. During the player's celebrations, the Referee strongly warned Aymen Hussein three times before finally showing him the second yellow card. In this regard, the second caution issued to Aymen Hussein was the correct decision by the Referee, as per the Laws of the Game.
Hussein has been in fine form in this round of qualification so far with three goals from four. In fact, the only player to score more is Yazan Al-Naimat of Jordan. It should be quite a game and the winner, should there be one, will be in a healthy position at the halfway stage.
Muscat: Oman vs Palestine
While the top two from each group go through automatically, the six teams that finish third and fourth will advance to the fourth stage. This is the only realistic option for Oman and Palestine and has been from the start.
Just three points separate the bottom three in the group. Oman are feeling much better after a 4-0 win over Kuwait that followed three successive losses. One very optimistic OFA official told me before that first victory that there was still a path into the top two.
“Just imagine. We beat Kuwait and Palestine and then have six points. We can beat Iraq and Jordan in Muscat and we can get points against Kuwait and Palestine away and we have a chance.”
There are still those in Oman who feel they are a better team now than they were on the road to 2022 when they finished just a point behind Australia.
It was almost over for Palestine as the fourth official signalled added time last month as they were a goal down and a man down against Kuwait but Zaid Qunbar struck in the 93rd minute to earn a 2-2 draw.
After two draws and two defeats, it’s time to win.
Group C
Melbourne: Australia vs Saudi Arabia.
Not exactly a must-win for the two teams but a defeat will really get the tension levels rising –especially in Saudi Arabia. Assuming that Japan win the group then the rest are battling for second and these two titans are level on five points.
Neither will be happy at how things have gone so far but the West Asians will be slightly more concerned. That is because they have played three of the four at home, have not scored in the past two games in Jeddah and no striker has scored in the third round. Star player Salem Al-Dawsari is injured.
The cause for optimism is the return of Herve Renard. The Frenchman, as mentioned before, has come back to replace his replacement, Roberto Mancini. Bosses in Riyadh are hoping that they have the same ‘new coach bounce’ that Australia enjoyed last month after Tony Popovic came in for Graham Arnold to beat China and then get a point in Japan.
“I believe we can qualify; otherwise, I wouldn’t be here,” Renard, who left Riyadh in March 2023 to take over the French women's national team, said. “I know the players well. We’re not in an ideal situation, but it’s far from hopeless. We still have six games remaining, four of them away.”
In qualification for 2022, Renard took the Green Falcons to first place ahead of Japan and Australia which included a fighting 0-0 draw in Sydney. Something similar in Melbourne will go down well. He is getting the band from 2022 back together and it could be quite a night.