On January 27, local time, the 7th round of the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian Qualifier Round of 12 ended.
After japan defeated the Chinese men's football team 2-0, it overcame Australia by 1 point and ranked second in Group B, still in danger of participating in the play-offs;
Australia won 4:0 in this round against Vietnam and rose to third place in the points; Saudi Arabia continued to sit at the top of the group with an unbeaten record after a small victory over Oman in this round.
In Group A, Iran became the first Asian team to qualify for the World Cup after a 1-0 small victory over Iraq; South Korea won 1-0 away to Lebanon in the absence of Son Heung-min in this round, and the qualification was imminent.
At present, the situation of Qualifying group A in the Asian region of the World Preliminary Tournament is clear.
After Iran took the lead in obtaining World Cup tickets, South Korea followed with a huge advantage of 17 points, and the qualification was in sight.
The UAE team won 2-0 at home to Syria in this round, accumulating 9 points, and is likely to participate in the Asian zone play-offs as the third in the group, most likely against Australia or Japan.
In contrast, the Group B exit situation is chaotic.
After the Chinese men's football team and the Vietnamese team took the lead, oman lost to the Saudi arabia team in this round, suffering the same fate as the Chinese men's football team, only the possibility of theoretical qualification, basically missing the World Cup.
Saudi Arabia is currently unbeaten in Group B, topping the table with 19 points. With the last three rounds of the World Preliminary Tournament remaining, Saudi Arabia's three opponents are Japan, China and Australia, and as long as the Saudi team does not make mistakes, it basically ensures a qualifying seat.
Another qualifying spot in Group B will be decided between Japan and Australia, with the loser playing in the Asian Play-offs and the Intercontinental Play-offs against the winner of the South American Play-offs.
In contrast, the pressure is greater in Australia.
In this round, the Australian team with no way back must defeat the Vietnamese team in order to occupy the qualifying initiative. To this end, facing the Vietnamese team, the Australian team attacked wildly, and finally won 4:0 against Vietnam, but the points still did not surpass Japan, ranking third in Group A.
After the 2-0 victory over China in this round, the Japanese men's football team ranked second in Group A with 15 points, just one point more than Australia.
In the final three rounds, Japan will face Saudi Arabia at home, Australia away and Vietnam at home.
Among them, the away match against Australia will have a decisive impact on the trend of Group B qualifying, whether it is Japan or Australia, once there is a mistake, it will lose the opportunity to directly qualify, as the third in the group to participate in the Asian play-offs, and even the cruel intercontinental play-offs.