The Asian qualifying round for the World Cup is in full view, and the draw ceremony will be held today (7/17) at 5:00 p.m. Taiwan is ranked in the 3rd slot, and will fight for the top two spots in the group and advance to the third round. Eldar Sports will also broadcast the draw ceremony live, so let's take a look at what kind of draw Taiwan will get.
(China v. Solomon Islands)
The second stage of the joint qualifying tournament for the 2022 Kadar World Cup & 2023 Asian Cup in China will be held today in Kuala Lumpur, with the tournament taking place between September 5, 2019 and June 9, 2020, and will be divided into eight groups of five teams each. The eight group winners and the four best-performing group seconds, totaling 12 teams, will advance to the third round of the WC Asian qualifying round, and those 12 teams will also qualify for the main round of the 2023 Asian Cup in China. The countries in each bracket are as follows, with world rankings in parentheses:
Tier 1: Iran (20), Japan (28), Korea (37), Australia (43), Qatar (55), UAE (67), Saudi Arabia (69), China (73)
Tier 2: Iraq (77), Uzbekistan (82), Syria (85), Lebanon (86), Oman (86), Kyrgyzstan (95), Viet Nam (96), Jordan (98)
Tranche 3: Palestine (100), India (101), Bahrain (110), Thailand (116), Tajikistan (120), North Korea (122), Taiwan (125), Philippines (126)
Tranche IV: Turkmenistan (135), Myanmar (138), Hong Kong (141), Yemen (144), Afghanistan (149), Maldives (151), Kuwait (156), Malaysia (159)
Tranche 5: Indonesia (160), Singapore (162), Nepal (165), Cambodia (169), Bangladesh (183), Mongolia (187), Guam (190), Sri Lanka (201)
Below is our list of several different grouping draws:
(World Cup qualification bracket table. Image source:
soccer league
1. Pilgrimage Promotion Group
Japan (28), Vietnam (96), Taiwan (125), Malaysia (159), Cambodia (169), average world ranking: 115.4
Since the top eight teams in the first slot are much stronger than Taiwan, it is very difficult to win and get points, so this side might as well draw the two neighboring powers, Japan and South Korea, which have a lot of travelers in Europe, not only is it a good learning opportunity for the players, but also for the Taiwanese fans to see the top stars of Japan and South Korea close to home. The second gear is actually very difficult to choose, eight teams are strong, and finally decided on Vietnam because of the closest distance, the other countries are in Central and West Asia, not only the long distance, jet lag problems, many team staff are also quite uncomfortable with the local food, of course, Vietnam's strength in the past few years has improved a lot, including last year's Asian Games into the quarter-finals, the Asian Cup into the last eight, the performance of the Japan are not ambiguous, Taiwan in the World Cup qualifying four years ago, also encountered Vietnam, two defeats. Taiwan also met Vietnam in the World Cup qualification four years ago and lost both matches, and at that time, Taiwan's home stadium was full of Vietnamese fans, which is impressive. In the fourth slot, Malaysia, Taiwan won the friendly match between the two teams 2-0 last year and has a good chance to win again. As for the fifth slot to choose Cambodia, naturally, the head coach Keisuke Honda, quite in line with this group pilgrimage to the promotion group.
(China vs. Solomon Islands, Shen Zigui)
2. Hard Work Group
UAE (67), Kirghizia (95), Taiwan (125), Turkmenistan (135), Mongolia (187), average world ranking: 121.8
This group is all about the long way, located in West Asia, the UAE Asian Cup beat Australia to break into the quarterfinals, the strength is not in the words. Kirghizia's performance in the Asian Cup was also very good, nearly drew the group stage with China and South Korea, and lost 2-3 to the UAE in the round of 16, which means that Kirghizia only lost by 1 goal in the Asian Cup when they encountered three of the top 8 countries in Asia. Four years ago they were fourth in the qualifying rounds, and now they've shot up to second. In the fourth slot, they chose the hated Turkmenistan. In the previous year's AFC Asian Cup qualification, Taiwan was beaten by Turkmenistan in both home and away matches, which was a great pity. If they could have won one of the matches, it would have been Taiwan who would have gone on to play in the AFC Asian Cup. Mongolia is the fifth-ranked team, which is relatively far away, and Taiwan has a chance to win, as they beat them 2-1 in the East Asian Cup last year.
(China v. Solomon Islands, Lancaster)
3. Political Topics Group
China (73), Kyrgyzstan (95), Taiwan (125), Hong Kong (141), Indonesia (160), average world ranking: 118.8
The obvious thing is the delicate political relationship between China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, which should be interesting if they are in the same group, while Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia also have moves and practices against China respectively. However, it should be noted that Indonesia is considered a fifth-ranking landmine, and they should be more than fifth-ranking, just that they have been unable to move up in the world rankings due to FIFA sanctions in the past few years, and they were fourth-ranking in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup four years ago.
(China v Hong Kong Starting XI. Photo credit: Hong Kong FA)
4. Kickball vacation group
Japan (28), Vietnam (96), Taiwan (125), Maldives (151), Guam (190), average world ranking: 118
