3rd qualifying round in Asia... Which team will be heading to the finals and the 4th qualifying round?

3rd qualifying round in Asia... Which team will be heading to the finals and the 4th qualifying round?

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The third qualifying round for the Asian region, which lasted for 10 months, is about to end.

With the 2026 North Korea-China World Cup finals just a year away, the third Asian qualifying round, which began in September last year, is set to end in Asia. A total of 18 teams have been engaged in a fierce battle for the berth to directly advance to the World Cup finals, and several countries have been born with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow.

"Early" competition ended in Group A

First of all, in Group A, the direction of qualification for the World Cup finals was divided early. Iran, which was expected to advance to the finals early with overwhelming power, confirmed its trip to North Korea, China and the U.S. in two consecutive games in March as expected. Under coach Galenoei's thorough leadership, he succeeded in advancing to the World Cup easily by recording six wins and two draws in eight games held after the start of the third qualifying round.
Uzbekistan, which had to suffer setbacks on the threshold after Iran, has also succeeded in advancing to the World Cup finals for the first time. Having built strong forces centering on Fusanov (Man City), Shomudorov (Roma), and Faizulaev (Moscow), who are called the golden generation, Uzbekistan allowed only one loss in six matches since the opening of the third round of the preliminary round, showing the trend of following Iran.

In the end, Uzbekistan, which managed the points steadily, secured a 0-0 draw with the UAE on the 6th and secured the second place in the group, fulfilling its dream of advancing to the World Cup finals. President Mirziyoyev presented the Chinese electric car brand BYD to the team for this historic advancement, and he also expressed his joy by presenting honor titles, national medals and medals to some players and coaches.

Qatar and the UAE will head to the fourth preliminary round, while they are enjoying the joy of going straight to the finals. Qatar, the host country of the previous tournament, had high expectations by easily advancing to the third preliminary round, but was sluggish as it only won two of the six matches that took place in the beginning. Since then, the team has shown sluggish performance as it was hampered by Kyrgyzstan in two consecutive matches in March, and ended up losing the right to go straight to the finals.

The UAE also cruised under Paulo Bento's leadership in third place, but the possibility of going straight to the finals was lowered due to a lackluster performance of one win and one loss in the two consecutive games in March. Eventually, he replaced Bento and appointed Ollaroiru to throw the game, but the UAE went to the fourth preliminary round on the 6th, drawing with Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile, North Korea did not win a single game, confirming the bottom, while Kyrgyzstan fought hard with two wins, but failed to avoid the fate of elimination.

Group B fighting over the possibility of the 'fourth preliminary round' and Group C remaining with a 'rare possibility'

With Group A's fate all decided, Group B is foreshadowing a battle of fate in the final match over the possibility of the fourth qualifying round. While Hong Myung-bo has succeeded in advancing to the World Cup for the 11th consecutive time with five wins and four draws so far, Jordan, an ambush in the Middle East, has also confirmed its first advance to the finals in history through thorough point management.
In Group B, Oman and Palestine need to win the final match in order to advance to the fourth preliminary round, while the number of cases for advancing to the final round has disappeared completely. Third-ranked Iraq lost to the Korean national team 0-2 in the previous ninth round, 먹튀검증 reducing its chances of advancing to the final round to 0%, but it has confirmed its advance to the fourth preliminary round. As a result, Oman (10 points) and the fifth-ranked Palestine (9 points), which will face off in the final round, will be able to advance to the fourth gateway only if they cross each other.