AUSTRALIA: Remember when critics of FIFA’s decision to expand the World Cup to 48 teams claimed it would spell the end of the qualifying stages?
That the bloated tournament would make qualifying “easy”and remove any of the drama or jeopardy we normally associate with the marathon effort to reach football’s global showpiece?
Try telling that to fans of Asian football who, for the past six months, have endured one of the most hotly contested qualifying campaigns in recent memory.
There are just two matches remaining in June to determine which six sides will progress automatically, and which six will progress to the next round, where the final two automatic spots for Asia will be decided.
Remarkably, 17 of the 18 teams are still in contention heading into the final fixtures, with only Japan and Iran safely through to the finals next year.
After another frenzied week of action, this is what we learned.
Palestine keeps the fairytale alive
To say you could not script it would be a boringly inaccurate cliche, but if you were going to, you could not have scripted it any better.
One-nil down with 90 minutes on the clock approaching, Palestine’s campaign looked to be done and dusted. Failure to take a point off Iraq would have seen their campaign officially ended.
But this fairytale had another ending, a joyous one for a people so depraved of happiness for the last 18 months. Goals fron Wessam Abou Ali in the 88th minute and Ahmeed Mahajna in the 97th minute saw Palestine record one of their most famous victories.
To see the smiles and ecstasy on the faces of Palestinian players, coaches and fans alike was to witness something so unbridled it brought a tear to the eye of even the hardest of hearts.
After Oman’s win, they are still a long shot to qualify for the next round. But they kept the hope alive for another few months; a currency, sadly, in short supply in Palestine right now.
Kluivert’s baptism of fire
Welcome to Asian football, Patrick Kluivert. The Dutch legend with a patchy coaching record was a surprise choice to replace the popular Shin Tae-yong as Indonesia coach, but after seven crazy minutes in Australia it looked like a masterstroke.
Tim Garuda had knocked Australia around with a blistering start, and as Kevin Diks stood over the spot kick to give Indonesia an unexpected early lead, Kluivert must have been in dreamland.
The dream soon became a nightmare. Diks missed his spot kick, and in the blink of an eye Indonesia went from a chance to go 1-0 up to being 2-0 behind. It was 3-0 by the half-hour mark and Australia were out of sight.
It ended 5-1, and with the incredibly strong Indonesian crowd in Sydney chanting the name of Shin Tae-yong and booing Kluivert whenever he appeared on the big screen at Allianz Stadium.
It is hardly the environment you want heading into your first home game; no wonder the TV cameras caught the sweat pouring down his brow early in the first half. The pressure was well and truly on the former Barcelona striker.
Winning cures all, however, and a 1-0 win over Bahrain in front of almost 70,000 in Jakarta to cement fourth spot, which would see them progress to the fourth round, has Indonesian fans putting the pitchforks down for now.
Wanted: A Saudi goal scorer
To apply, please send your resume to the Saudi Arabian Football Federation marked “Attention: Herve Renard.”
We joke, but Saudi Arabia’s goalscoring woes will be no laughing matter for the Frenchman, with the Green Falcons scoring just one goal in their past six fixtures, coming in the 1-0 win over China last week.
Renard shook up his selection for this camp, hoping to find a spark to ignite their campaign and while four points from China at home and Japan away is a very healthy return, one goal is six is the opposite.
With Australia taking maximum points, Saudi Arabia’s destiny is out of their hands. All they can do is win both games and hope for the best. But to state the obvious, to win games first you must score, and that is where Saudi Arabia are falling down at the moment.
Firas Al-Buraikan is having a tough time at Al-Ahli this year. Saleh Al-Shehri was dropped from the latest squad, while the leading Saudi scorer this season, Al-Khaleej’s Abdullah Al-Salem made his debut off the bench against China and is untested at international level.
It leaves Salem Al-Dawsari as the man shouldering the goalscoring burden, unless Renard can conjure a little bit of magic, because it feels like Saudi Arabia are going to need something supernatural if they are to finish second and qualify automatically.
From champs to chumps
It has been a miserable old campaign for Qatar. They have lost half the games they have played, conceded the most goals and were humbled this week by a Kyrgyzstan side ranked 59 places lower in the FIFA rankings.
All this, let us not forget, and they are still the Asian champions. How is that even possible?
Qatar seem devoid of direction. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the World Cup in 2022 was an endpoint, not the beginning of a bright new future for Qatari football.
Four coaches in three years, all with different tactical ideals, will attest to that.
Last year’s Asian Cup success was seen as wiping the slate clean after their World Cup embarrassment; proof again that this team was good enough on the international stage, and that the World Cup was just an aberration.
But it is becoming increasingly obvious that their Asian Cup successes are the exception, not the norm. While winning a tournament is one measure of a good team, so is consistency of performance across a multi-year campaign, and Qatar has failed at that.
They will likely still make it through to the next round, largely on the back of the generational talent that is Akram Afif, but they have lost the benefit of the doubt when it comes to trusting them to perform when it matters. The World Cup next year looks a long way away.
