2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Third Round
The third round of AFC matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification is being played from 1 September 2016 to 5 September 2017.[1]
Format
A total of 12 teams which advanced from the second round (the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up) were divided into two groups of six teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of each group will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the two third-placed teams will advance to the fourth round.
Qualified teams
| Group (2nd round) |
Winners | Runners-up (Best 4) |
|---|---|---|
| A |  Saudi Arabia |
 United Arab Emirates |
| B |  Australia |
— |
| C |  Qatar |
 China PR |
| D |  Iran |
— |
| E |  Japan |
 Syria |
| F |  Thailand |
 Iraq |
| G |  South Korea |
— |
| H |  Uzbekistan |
— |
Seeding
The draw for the third round was held on 12 April 2016, at 16:30 MST (UTC+8), at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[2][3]
The seeding are based on the FIFA World Rankings of April 2016 (shown in parentheses below).[4] The 12 teams are seeded into six pots:[5]
- Pot 1 contained the teams ranked 1–2.
- Pot 2 contained the teams ranked 3–4.
- Pot 3 contained the teams ranked 5–6.
- Pot 4 contained the teams ranked 7–8.
- Pot 5 contained the teams ranked 9–10.
- Pot 6 contained the teams ranked 11–12.
Each group contained one team from each of the six pots. The fixtures of each group were automatically decided based on the respective pot of each team.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
| Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
|
Groups
| 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tiebreakers |
|---|
In league format, the ranking of teams in each group is based on the following criteria (regulations Articles 20.6 and 20.7):[6]
|
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |
|
|
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iran |
5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 11 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 13 Jun '17 | 5 Sep '17 | 2–0 | 28 Mar '17 | |
| 2 | South Korea |
5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 10 | 31 Aug '17 | — | 2–1 | 28 Mar '17 | 3–2 | 3–2 | ||
| 3 | Uzbekistan |
5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 9 | Advance to fourth round | 0–1 | 5 Sep '17 | — | 1–0 | 28 Mar '17 | 2–0 | |
| 4 | Syria |
5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 5 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 23 Mar '17 | — | 31 Aug '17 | 13 Jun '17 | ||
| 5 | Qatar |
5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 4 | 23 Mar '17 | 13 Jun '17 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 5 Sep '17 | ||
| 6 | China PR |
5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 2 | 0–0 | 23 Mar '17 | 31 Aug '17 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — |
Updated to match(es) played on 15 November 2016. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
| South Korea |
3–2 | China PR |
|---|---|---|
Zheng Zhi  21' (o.g.)Lee Chung-yong 63'Koo Ja-cheol 66' |
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Yu Hai 74' Hao Junmin 77' |
Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul Attendance: 51,238 Referee: Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed (United Arab Emirates) |
| Syria |
0–0 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, Seremban (Malaysia)[note 1] Attendance: 4,350 Referee: Chris Beath (Australia) |
| South Korea |
3–2 | Qatar |
|---|---|---|
| Ki Sung-yueng 11' Ji Dong-won 56'Son Heung-min 58' |
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Al-Haidos 16' (pen.) Soria 45' |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |
|
|
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Arabia |
5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 10 | Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup | — | 5 Sep '17 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 28 Mar '17 | 1–0 | |
| 2 | Japan |
5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 10 | 2–1 | — | 31 Aug '17 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 28 Mar '17 | ||
| 3 | Australia |
5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 9 | Advance to fourth round | 8 Jun '17 | 1–1 | — | 28 Mar '17 | 2–0 | 5 Sep '17 | |
| 4 | United Arab Emirates |
5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 9 | 31 Aug '17 | 23 Mar '17 | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | 3–1 | ||
| 5 | Iraq |
5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 3 | 1–2 | 13 Jun '17 | 23 Mar '17 | 5 Sep '17 | — | 4–0 | ||
| 6 | Thailand |
5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 | −9 | 1 | 23 Mar '17 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 13 Jun '17 | 31 Aug '17 | — |
Updated to match(es) played on 15 November 2016. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
| Saudi Arabia |
2–2 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Jassim 5' Al-Shamrani 79' |
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Sainsbury 45' Juric 71' |
| Saudi Arabia |
3–0 | United Arab Emirates |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Muwallad 73' Al Abed 79'Al-Shehri 90+2' |
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
| Thailand |
2–2 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Teerasil 20', 57' (pen.) |
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Jedinak 9' (pen.), 65' (pen.) |
Goalscorers
There have been 64 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 2.13 goals per match.
- 5 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
- Tim Cahill
- Massimo Luongo
- Trent Sainsbury
- Hao Junmin
- Yu Hai
- Sardar Azmoun
- Reza Ghoochannejhad
- Jalal Hosseini
- Alireza Jahanbakhsh
- Saad Abdul-Amir
- Takuma Asano
- Keisuke Honda
- Hiroshi Kiyotake
- Hotaru Yamaguchi
- Sebastián Soria
- Taisir Al-Jassim
- Fahad Al-Muwallad
- Nasser Al-Shamrani
- Yahya Al-Shehri
- Omar Hawsawi
- Ji Dong-won
- Ki Sung-yueng
- Lee Chung-yong
- Nam Tae-hee
- Son Heung-min
- Mahmoud Al-Mawas
- Tana Chanabut
- Ismail Matar
- Alexander Geynrikh
- Egor Krimets
- Otabek Shukurov
- 1 own goal
- Zheng Zhi (playing against South Korea)
Notes
- 1 2 3 4 5 Syria play their home matches outside Syria due to security concerns from the Syrian Civil War.
- ↑ The kickoff of the Syria v Iran match was originally at 20:00 local time but was delayed by 45 minutes due to heavy rain.[7]
- 1 2 3 4 5 Iraq play their home matches in Iran due to security concerns from the Iraqi Civil War. However, due to Saudi Arabia's refusal to play in Iran after the attack on their diplomatic missions in Iran, the first match was played in Malaysia.[8]
- ↑ Australia will play their Matchday 8 game on 8 June 2017 because of their involvement in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.[9]
References
- ↑ "ExCo approves expanded AFC Asian Cup finals". AFC. 16 April 2014.
- ↑ "2018 FIFA World Cup: Asian Qualifying Round 3 line up complete". Asian Football Confederation. 30 March 2016.
- ↑ "Stage set for Russia 2018 Asian Qualifiers Final Round draw". Asian Football Confederation. 10 April 2016.
- ↑ "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking – April 2016 (AFC)". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
- ↑ "Iran remain No. 1 in Asia, Australia the big movers". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
- ↑ "Regulations – 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia" (PDF). FIFA.com.
- ↑ "Iran hold by Syria in FIFA World Cup qualifier". Tehran Times. 15 November 2015.
- ↑ "AFC deny Iraq's demand to play Saudi Arabia in Iran". Goal.com. 29 April 2016.
- ↑ "Australia, Japan to go head-to-head following Asian draw". FIFA.com. 12 April 2016.
- ↑ "Australia v Saudi Arabia - Socceroos Match Centre". socceroos.com.au.
External links
- Official FIFA World Cup website
- Qualifiers – Asia: Round 3, FIFA.com
- FIFA World Cup, the-AFC.com
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