On February 2, Beijing time, the World Preliminary Round of 12 in Asia ended the 8th round of competition, Group A South Korea defeated Syria 2-0, two rounds ahead of schedule to advance to the World Cup, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Iraq competed for the qualification of the play-offs. Group B Australia drew 2-2 with Oman and missed the initiative to qualify, Saudi Arabia and Japan led the way, and saudi arabia could ensure that it could qualify for the World Cup in the next round as long as it defeated China. China, Vietnam, Oman and Syria are already out early.
The situation in Group A is very clear, Iran qualified early, they have already qualified for the World Cup. In the 8th round, Iran continued to play well, beating the UAE 1-0, which also made the 3rd place battle in Group A more suspenseful. South Korea beat Syria 2-0 away from home, Syria scored two points to get out of the bottom, and South Korea advanced to the World Cup, which is also their 10th consecutive World Cup.
Lebanon and Iraq are tied, and judging from the current group situation, the UAE, Iraq and Lebanon are all likely to get the third place in the group. According to the schedule, in the 9th round, the Uae vs. Iraq and Lebanon vs. Syria, which became two key showdowns, and the UAE is expected to lock in the 3rd place as long as it wins. In the 10th round, the United Arab Emirates against South Korea, Lebanon against Iran, Iraq's opponent is Syria, and the competition will be fierce.
The qualifying situation in Group B is more complicated, in the 8th round, Japan beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 with 18 points, while Saudi Arabia still led by 19 points after the first defeat. The match between Australia and Oman was unpopular, Australia was tied in the case of two leads, shook hands with Oman 2-2, only 15 points, was pulled away by Japan by 3 points, Oman although he scored 1 point, but also out of the game early. In the 9th round, Australia played at home against Japan, which was also a key duel, because the World Preliminary Round first compared to the goal difference, and then the relationship between the winner and the loser, if Australia beat Japan, it could dominate in terms of goal difference and rise to 2nd place.
If Japan beats Australia, they will advance to the World Cup. At the same time, Saudi Arabia against China, as long as they win the game can ensure the promotion to the World Cup, or even lose or draw the ball, as long as Japan beats Australia, they can also qualify. In the 10th round, Saudi Arabia also has to play against Australia, Japan's opponent is Vietnam, from the current situation, the situation in the last two rounds of Group B will also be very complicated, and the match between Japan and Australia is the focus.
China has been out of the game early after losing 1-3 to Vietnam, whether it can hold the 5th position is still suspenseful, after the Vietnamese team won the first victory, the next game against Oman, they also have the possibility of consecutive wins, if Vietnam beat Oman, the national football team can not beat Saudi Arabia, the national football team still has the possibility of bottom, this is also a problem to be avoided by Li Xiaopeng, the situation of the national football team is not very ideal.