The World Preliminary Round of 12 in Asia has reached its climax, and in the ninth round, a battle of focus is about to begin. At 17:10 Beijing time on March 24, Japan, ranked second in Group B, will face Australia, a match that will directly determine the qualifying situation of the two teams.
The current point difference between the two teams is only three points, but Japan has three fewer goals difference than Australia. That is to say, according to the rules, in the case of equal points, the Australian team can force the Japanese team to advance. Therefore, the direct clash in this round is also a six-point battle, if japan can win, then Australia will lock in the third place in the group, thus competing with the third place in the group A (most likely the United Arab Emirates) and the fifth place in South America for a double round-robin play-off, which basically sentences the Asian team to death.
But once Australia is able to pick up Japan at home, both teams will have 18 points, and Japan will slide straight to third place in the group due to the disadvantage of goal difference. For the national football team, Japan and Australia are their own mortal enemies, no matter who is out, they can bring some comfort to the wounded heart of the national football team. However, from the perspective of rational analysis, the Australian team still occupies a lot of advantages in this battle, because in the past total number of encounters, the Australian team's winning rate at home is much higher than that of the Japanese team. This also makes the Japanese team, which has been sitting in second place in the group for a long time, face the danger of dropping the chain at the last moment.
Historically, Australia and Japan have played each other 13 times, with Japan winning four games, while Australia has three and the remaining six are drawn. However, it is worth noting that all four of Japan's victories were won at home, while the away team has never beaten Australia in history. The results of the five matches are 1: 3, 1 : 2, 2 : 4, 1 : 1 and 0 : 0. It can be seen that the Japanese team has no bargain at home in Australia, which is also the biggest advantage of the Australian team against Japan.
So the hope of Australia winning this game at home is very high. That is to say, the points of the two teams after the ninth round are likely to reach the same 18 points, so that the suspense of qualifying will continue until the final round is revealed. Previously, Australia had been looking forward to the national football team to assist itself, beating Saudi Arabia in the ninth round. But now it seems that Australia can completely take the initiative into their own hands, as long as they defeat Japan, they can regain the second place in the group.
On the contrary, Japan, which is smooth sailing, is very likely to be eliminated in the last two rounds. In this World Preliminary Tournament, although the results of the Japanese team are quite stable, the lack of offensive strength is their biggest weakness. Facing fish belly like Vietnam and Oman, they also won only one goal. At present, the Japanese team is in second place in Asia, if this round is really defeated by Australia and thus falls out of the second place in the group, then with their strength, it is extremely difficult to play against the fifth place in South America, if they are really eliminated, this will be the most unexpected result of the round of 12, and the national football team will also laugh in the mansion.