Although "Gulf Messi" Omar returned to the UAE national team after 2 and a half years, he only got 1 minute of "firefighting time". Uae new coach AruaBarena still trusts naturalized players more: Brazilian goalscorers Canedo and Mabuhut start, with Egyptian-American Ramadan behind him. Although Australia lacks centre-backs Suchar, McGovern, Wilkinson, Grant, midfielders Rokic, Jego, Holland, striker Nabut and many other main or standing internationals, relying on the 5 starting lineups playing in the Asian League, only half of the main players are enough to eliminate the West Asian rival uae, which shows that although Australia's strength has declined significantly in recent years, it is still a first-class team in Asia alongside Japan, South Korea and Iran.
Australia had a fantastic start to a three-game winning streak in the Round of 12, but unfortunately won just one of its seven games, losing back-to-back defeats to Japan and Saudi Arabia in March and having to commit to the play-offs.
This is the second consecutive time since Australia joined the AFC after the 2006 World Cup that it has participated in the World Cup qualifier play-offs. In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Australia was also in the same group as Japan and Saudi Arabia, and the result was only suppressed by Saudi Arabia with a goal difference disadvantage. The Asian Zone play-offs relied on extra time to beat Syria in two legs, followed by a 3–1 aggregate victory over Central and North America's 4th-place Honduras in the Intercontinental Play-offs to qualify for the Fourth Consecutive World Cup Finals.
This play-off is a decisive victory for Lai Yang in the middle of the world, and the UAE, which was also in the Middle East, should have a better position. However, due to the new crown epidemic, Australia has played 10 of the 15 official matches in the past year in the Middle East, is very familiar with the local climate and environment, and only has a small loss in Jeddah to qualify direct rival Saudi Arabia, and the remaining 9 wins, 7 wins and 2 draws are unbeaten. Among them, Qatar has won all three previous battles, defeating China, Oman and Jordan respectively.
The campaign was no exception, although Australia only played half of their main teams and neither team created an absolute scoring chance in the first half. But Australia's vast experience came into play in the second half, with winger Boyle, who had just moved from the Soviet Premier League Irish to the Saudi League this year, shrugging off a two-man defensive cross on the right and midfielder Ervin, who played for Bundesliga promoted Ma San Pauli, grabbed a point in front of goal to break the deadlock.
Although the UAE relied on Brazilian naturalized player Carneto to equalize four minutes later, Australia had better luck. In the 84th minute, the EMI defender released a set-piece from Australia, and Gerustić, who played for Frankfurt, volleyed in the air and the ball bounced into the net on the legs of Balochi midfielder Salman, who was defending in front of goal. In the final moments, the UAE sent Omar and Argentine naturalized player Tagliabue in a row, regrettably to no avail.
Australia will take the "lucky middle position" Laijan on June 14 to face the 5th place Peruvian team in South America. This is Australia's 10th play-off since the 1966 World Cup. In the previous nine play-off matches, Australia has won only three times: in the 1974 World Cup, Australia and South Korea drew two legs, and the third game was won 1-0 in Hong Kong. The 2006 Fifa World Cup defeated Rekoba's South American powerhouse Uruguay 2-1 in two legs, and that was Australia's last appearance for The Oceania Football Confederation.
Of the remaining six defeats, 1966 was originally a play-off tournament for four countries from three continents, South Africa was banned by FIFA due to apartheid, South Korea was withdrawn from the tournament against the game being held in Cambodia, and finally Australia lost 2-9 overall in two legs to North Korea. Losing to Israel in the 1970 World Cup, Scotland in 1986, Argentina in 1994 to Maradona's comeback, losing to Iran in 1998 due to a low away goal, And now Australian coach Alexander-Arnold plays in the 1994 and 1998 World Cup play-offs. In 2002, the Kangaroo Legion, which owned Cowell and Viduca, lost to Uruguay, but fortunately succeeded in revenge four years later.
After successfully eliminating the UAE, the eyes of the Australians have set on Peru. The two teams have met only once before, when they lost 2-0 to Peru in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup. In the previous intercontinental play-offs, Australia won 1 and lost 2 against South American teams, only to win Uruguay in 2006. However, Australia won the 4th place Honduras in Central and North America four years ago and still has some confidence in beating peru, which is not in good form. When it comes to the experience of the intercontinental play-offs, Peruvians who have never played in the intercontinental play-offs before are clearly no richer than Australia, and are almost unfamiliar with the climate and venue environment of the Middle East.