The fourth round of the World Preliminary Asian Round of 36 is all over, and there are still 2 rounds left to start in June, and many teams are currently determined to qualify and exit in advance, for those teams that are on the verge of elimination, there can be no room for mistakes in the last 2 rounds, and they will be out of the tournament if they lose one more game, and they will miss the 2026 World Cup finals in advance, including the former Asian Cup champion Kuwait men's football team.
This time in the round of 36, Kuwait participated in the draw as a team in the third pot, and finally joined Qatar, India, and Afghanistan in Group A.
In the last century, Kuwaiti football has a certain status in Asian football, winning the 1980 Asian Cup, also winning the 2010 West Asian Football Championship, and is still a frequent participant in the top 10 matches. However, after entering this century, it gradually sank, and the world ranking has been outside 120 for a long time.
In the round of 36, Kuwait faced India at home in the first round, and finally lost 0-1, suffering a black start, and then defeated Afghanistan in the fourth pot 4-0 in the second round, scoring 3 points and surpassing India to rise to second in the group.
After 4 months, the round of 36 is back, Kuwait needs to face Qatar back-to-back, and India and Afghanistan back-to-back matches, if they can get 1 point on Qatar, it will be very beneficial for Kuwait's qualifying situation, and in the end the team did not do it. First lost 0-3 away to Qatar, then lost 1-2 at home, lost 2 in a row and scored 1 goal and conceded 5 goals, and was beaten.
Due to India's 0-0 draw with Afghanistan away, and then returned to the home stadium but was reversed by Afghanistan 1-2, so India and Afghanistan have 4 points, ranking second and third in the group, Kuwait has 3 points and fell to the bottom of the group, and the qualification is in a hurry, and the performance is far inferior to the national football team with 7 points in 4 rounds.
If you don't compare points, Kuwait has a minus 1 goal difference, India minus 3, and Afghanistan minus 10, which means that Kuwait has 1 point on Qatar, so that 4 points in 4 rounds can be ranked second in the group, and now only 3 points become very dangerous. According to the schedule, Kuwait will challenge India away in the next round, and if it loses, it will be 4 points behind India, and it will be out of the World Cup one round ahead of schedule.
For India, if it loses to Kuwait in the next round, it will basically face out, because the opponent in the final round is Qatar, which also gives Afghanistan a chance to counterattack and qualify.
It can be said that this group has become more chaotic, Qatar went ashore early, allowing India, Afghanistan, and Kuwait to compete for another qualification, and Kuwait is currently the most difficult to qualify.