The 2026 World Cup Qualifiers Asian Round of 36 has been fully launched, due to the increase in the number of Asian qualifiers to 8.5, so Asian countries have ideas about the promotion quotas, in addition to Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia five strong teams, such as Qatar, Iraq, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates are also eyeing the promotion, even Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, these third-rate teams have also revealed their yearning for qualifying, and the pressure on the national football team is greater.
Qatar is a new first-class team in Asia, because of the successful hosting of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar is a well-known Middle Eastern country, Qatar football has also begun to rise, in the Asian Cup at the beginning of the year, Qatar took over from China, with the advantage of the host, Qatar finally won the championship all the way, achieving two consecutive Asian Cup championships, and Qatar has become the favorite team to qualify for the Asian region of the 2026 World Preliminaries.
In Group A of the World Preliminary Asian Zone 36, Qatar and former Asian Cup champions Kuwait, India and Afghanistan are in the same group, Qatar won all 4 games, scored 16 goals and conceded only 2 goals. The other qualifying spot in the group is in jeopardy, as the difference between the three teams of India, Afghanistan and Kuwait is only one point, and the three teams will compete for a place to qualify.
Kuwait was once a strong team in Asia, Kuwait football reached its peak in the 80s of the last century, in 1980, Kuwait won the Asian Cup, and won the Gulf Cup many times, but in recent years, Kuwait's football results have fallen to 139th in the world, reduced to the third-rate team in Asia, has not appeared in the final stage of the Asian preliminaries for many years.
In this World Preliminary Tournament, Kuwait sat at home against India in the first round, India's world ranking is 121st, although Kuwait occupies the advantage of the home field, but the whole game actually has 0 shots on target, and was finally killed by the Indian team, suffering a black start. In the second round, Kuwait challenged Afghanistan, the weakest team in the group, and Kuwait's form recovered, winning the first victory of this World Preliminary Tournament with a 4-0 victory.
In the two rounds of the World Preliminary Tournament in March, Kuwait back-to-back encountered the group seeded team Qatar, Kuwait first lost 0-3 away, returned to the home field after stubborn resistance, but was still killed by Qatar with a score of 1-2, so that after four rounds, Kuwait only accumulated 3 points, ranked at the bottom of the group, 1 point behind India and Afghanistan, and the group qualification situation is in jeopardy.
In the June international break, the last two rounds of the World Preliminary Asian Zone 36 will be played, Kuwait first challenged India away, and then returned to the home game against Afghanistan, and the away match with the Indian team became the battle of Kuwait to advance to the group of Tianwang Mountain, and the loss will be a round of farewell to the 2026 World Cup. Kuwait will have to win their final two rounds to overcome India and Afghanistan and advance to the round of 18.
Compared with Kuwait's qualification situation, the Chinese men's football team's promotion prospects are more optimistic, and the Chinese team is currently ranked second in the group with 7 points in Group C, 3 points ahead of the Thai team behind them, and occupies the initiative to qualify from the group. In the 5th round of the World Preliminaries, the Chinese team will sit at home to face the Thai team, and the national football team will be able to advance one round as long as it defeats the Thai team, but if the national football team draws or loses to the Thai team, then it will not be able to advance to the round of 18.
Reporting/Feedback