At 2:00 a.m. on June 14, the first match of the 2022 Qatar World Cup Qualifier Intercontinental Play-off will be played in Doha, Qatar, against Australia, 5th in Asia, and Peru in South America, where the two teams will compete for a ticket to the Qatar World Cup finals, with the winner becoming the 31st team to qualify for the Qatar World Cup and the loser missing the World Cup finals. Australia and Peru both competed in the final rounds of the last World Cup and were also in the same group, and in the end Australia lost 2-0 to Peru, and the two teams finished third and fourth respectively.
Australia was placed in Group B with Saudi Arabia, Japan, Oman, China and Vietnam in the 12 rounds of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, and finally finished 3rd in Group B with 4 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses, accumulating 15 points, and qualified for the play-offs. In the Asian zone play-offs, Australia defeated the A-footed 3rd place United Arab Emirates 2:1 to participate in the intercontinental play-offs, just one step away from qualifying for the World Cup finals.
Australia is currently ranked 42nd in the world, and the head coach is 58-year-old Australian Arnold, who has been coaching the Australian team since July 2018. There are many players in the Australian team playing in the Europa League, but most of them can only play in some small and medium-sized clubs to rotate or substitute, most of the other players play in the Australian Premier League, in addition, the foreign midfielder Moi of the Chinese Super League Shanghai SIPG is also the main candidate for the Australian midfield.
The most expensive players in the Australian team are Shanghai SIPG midfielder Mooy, 31, Stoke City defender Suta, 23, and Real Sociedad goalkeeper Ryan, 30, all worth €5 million. The team's top striker is 28-year-old Jamie McLaren, who has scored seven goals in 11 appearances. The two players who scored for the team in the last game and the UAE match were St. Pauli midfielder Jackson Owen, 29, and Frankfurt midfielder Geroustić, 25.
Peru qualified for the play-offs in the South American division of the World Cup qualifiers, finishing 5th in South America with 7 wins, 3 draws and 8 defeats with 24 points. This is also the second consecutive time that Peru has finished 5th in the World Cup South American Qualifiers, and Peru has also finished 5th in the 2018 World Cup South American Qualifiers, qualifying for the Intercontinental Play-offs. In the end, Peru defeated Oceania's new Zealand team 2:0 on aggregate in two legs and was able to compete in the world cup finals.
Peru is currently ranked 22nd in the world, headed by 64-year-old Argentine Gareca, who has been the head coach of the Peruvian team since February 2015 and is also the head coach of the Peruvian women's team. With the exception of a small number of players in the Peruvian team playing in the Europa League, most of the main players of the team play in domestic leagues or other South American teams. The team's most expensive player is 26-year-old Celta midfielder Tapia, who is worth as much as 10 million euros. This was followed by 27-year-old midfielder Pedro Aquino and 26-year-old defender Abram, both worth €6 million. Peru's top scorer in this World Cup qualifier is midfielder Cueva, 30, who has scored a total of five goals.
Peru's overall value and overall strength are slightly higher than Australia's, and the two teams have only met once, that is, the 2018 World Cup group stage, when Peru beat Australia 2-0, and the two players who scored for the team were Carrillo and Guerrero. The 30-year-old Carrillo is still in the Peruvian national team and is the main striker of the Peruvian team, while Guerrero, who contributed 1 goal and 1 assist, is 38 years old and has gradually faded out of the Peruvian national team.
Australia has no record of playing against South American teams in the last two years, and Peru has no record of playing against Asian teams, so we can only make indirect comparisons. Australia was in the World Preliminary Round of 12 in the Asian Zone and Saudi Arabia and Japan in Group B, and finally Australia ranked third in the group with 15 points, Saudi Arabia ranked first in the group with 23 points, and Japan ranked second in the group with 22 points. Australia 0:2 Japan at home, 1:2 Japan away, 0:0 Saudi Arabia at home, 0:1 Saudi Arabia away, the record is 1 draw and 3 losses. It can be seen that Australia's level is significantly inferior to That of Japan and slightly inferior to that of Saudi Arabia.
Both Saudi Arabia and Japan have recently played friendly matches against South American teams, with a 4:1 win over Paraguay, a 0:1 defeat to Brazil, a 0:1 Colombia and a 0:1 Venezuela. Peru and these four South American teams in the World Preliminary Round South American zone have a record of 2:0 at home to Paraguay, 2:2 away to Paraguay, 0:3 at home to Colombia, 1:0 away to Colombia, 2:4 at home to Brazil, 0:2 away to Brazil, 1:0 at home to Venezuela and 2:1 away to Venezuela. Brazil was ranked first with 45 points, Peru 5th with 24 points, Colombia at 6th with 23 points, Paraguay at 8th with 16 points, and Venezuela 10th with 10 points.
It is not difficult to see that if Japan's level is placed in South America, it may be able to rank between 5-8, and it can also have a war with Peru, while if Saudi Arabia goes to South America, it is estimated that it is the bottom position of 9-10, not to mention Australia, which is not as good as Saudi Arabia.
Looking at the world preliminary experience of the two teams, in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Australia also participated in the intercontinental play-offs with the 5th place in the Asian region, but in the intercontinental play-offs, the two-legged aggregate score was 3:1 against the Central and North American team Honduras to advance to the World Cup finals. In the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Australia qualified directly, and Jordan, who finished 5th in Asia, was eliminated after a 0:5 aggregate defeat to Uruguay in South America in the two legs of the intercontinental play-offs. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Australia qualified directly, and Bahrain, the 5th place in the Asian region, lost 0:1 to Oceania side New Zealand in the two legs of the intercontinental play-offs. From 2010 to 2018, the 3 World Cup qualifiers in the intercontinental play-offs, The Asian team won only 1 time, which is Australia.
Peru finished 5th in the 2018 FIFA World Cup South American qualifiers, with a two-legged aggregate victory over New Zealand in Oceania advancing to the World Cup finals with a two-legged aggregate victory over New Zealand. Peru finished 7th in the South American Qualifiers in 2014, when Uruguay, then 5th in South America, beat Jordan in Asia 5-0 on aggregate. Peru finished 10th in the South American Qualifiers in 2010, when Uruguay, then 5th in South America, advanced with a two-legged aggregate victory over Costa Rica in Central and North America. In the last 3 World Cup qualifiers intercontinental play-offs, South American teams have maintained a 100% promotion success rate.
According to the above analysis, Bao Ge believes that it is difficult for Australia to grab a ticket to the World Cup final from the Peru team that has made significant progress in recent years, but this intercontinental play-off has changed from the previous two-legged home-and-away system to a neutral victory and defeat, which also adds a certain degree of contingency to the game. In particular, the midpoint in Doha, Qatar, for Australia, is equivalent to half a home stadium, and perhaps this will be their best hope of victory.
Unfortunately, regardless of the outcome of the game, none of this has anything to do with the Chinese team.
Note: The image is from the Internet.