Three match days have come and gone in the qualifiers and now we are in the midst of a 3 month hiatus; Asian World Cup qualifiers will resume in September. Until then we will leave you with a slightly different take on the match day round up series. This post will also double up as a review of the groups so far. You can find the second match day round up here.
Teymourian & Kasola vie for the ball- Iran Vs Qatar
Three out of the ten scheduled match days are done, and so we take stock with 30% of the football played. First, though, a quick run through of the match day 3 results.
The day’s big match and Asia’s glamour tie was the first to kick off, Australia hosting Asian champions Japan in Brisbane (a replay of the Asian Cup 2011 final). A packed stadium saw out a 1-1 draw that stood out as much for its refereeing blunders as it did for its football, Kurihara scoring for Japan & Wilkshire equalising for Australia, both teams had a man sent off and Australia’s home record continues; their last defeat at home came in 2009-over three years ago now. Group B’s second game saw Iraq and Oman play out a dire game of football to a 1-1 draw, the result left a lot to be desired for Iraqi football fans, Oman counting the game as away (played in Neutral Doha, the venue of Iraq’s “home”games) will be content with two points from two difficult games in a row. Group A had two matches, the first of which was a formality, South Korea putting 3 past underdogs Lebanon in Goyang. While the second game saw Iran entertain Qatar in Tehran, only not much entertainment took place and the game saw no goals.
