June 8, GMT Qatar 2022
World Cup
The second phase of the Asian qualifiers, also known as the 40-team tournament, has come to an end with a number of fierce matches. Following the success of Japan, our team's group rival Syria has also locked up the top spot in the group ahead of schedule, becoming the second team to advance to the Top 12 after Japan; while host Qatar has also become the leader of Group E after the second stage. In this way, the five second-place teams with the best results in the eight groups will enter the third stage. As of now, our team is temporarily ranked sixth in the second-place team standings; in this round, Japan, Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and our team have all won.
In Group A, our team defeated the Philippines 2-0, while Syria beat Guam 3-0. With the win, Syria won all seven games and locked up the top spot in Group A ahead of schedule, becoming the second team after Japan to advance to the third stage and the Round of 12. Our team, on the other hand, relied on second-half goals from Wu Lei and Wu Xinghan to beat the Philippines 2-0. In the standings of the eight second-place teams in the group, China's team temporarily ranked sixth with seven points after four games, two wins, one draw and one loss, scoring eight goals and conceding two.
In Group B, Australia thrashed our Taipei team 5-1 while Nepal went down 0-3 to Jordan. In the 12th minute of the match, Australia took a 1-0 lead through a corner kick when Soutar leapt to head in a goal from the edge of the penalty area. McLaren then won a penalty kick and scored himself to make the score 2-0.At the end of the first half, Australia led 3-0. Less than 30 seconds into the second half, Duke scored on a header to make it 4-0, then Tu Shaojie pulled a goal back, but Duke scored twice to make the final score 5-1.
Prior to this round, Australia had won all six matches, scored 24 goals and conceded two, and had almost one foot in the Round of 12. Jordan were second with 13 points from 6 matches and Kuwait were third with 10 points from 6 matches. Nepal and our Taipei team both completed 7 matches with 6 and 0 points respectively.
Australia starting lineup (4-2-3-1): 18 Vukovic; 23 Goode, 20 Sainsbury, 19 Souttar, 4 Grant; 13 Duggal, 5 Jean Rowe, 21 McGrory, 15 Duke, 14 Borello; 9 McLaren
In Group C, Iran defeated Bahrain 3-0 while Iraq beat Cambodia 4-1. Iran's Taremi and Aramon scored goals, while Iraq won 4-1 thanks to Taremi's goal and Norolahi's assist. Currently, Iraq leads Group C with 14 points after going undefeated with four wins and two draws, while Iran is in third place with 12 points from four wins and two losses, tied with Bahrain but with a better goal difference.
Iran starting lineup (4-4-2): 1-Beiranvand; 13-Kanani, 4-Khalilzadeh, 5-Mohammadi, 2-Moharrami; 18-Grizadeh, 15-Nororollahi, 3-Hajisafi, 9-Taremi; 11-Amiri, 20-Azmoun
In Group D, Saudi Arabia beat Yemen 3-0, while Uzbekistan thrashed Singapore 5-0. Saudi Arabia, unbeaten in six matches, lead Group D with 14 points, while Uzbekistan are second with 12.
In Group E, Oman 0-1 Qatar and Bangladesh 0-2 India. Qatar confirmed top spot in Group E with a narrow 1-0 win over Oman thanks to a penalty stroke. Oman finished second with 12 losses from six matches, while India won 2-0 to finish third with six points.
In Group F, Japan beat Tajikistan 4-1, while Kyrgyzstan lost 0-1 to Mongolia. Japan advanced with a clean sheet despite hiding their starters.
In Group G, the UAE beat Thailand 3-1, while Vietnam thrashed Indonesia 4-0. Vietnam leads Group G with 14 points from four wins and two draws, while the UAE is in second place with 12 points.
