2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round
International football competition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The third round[note 1] of AFC matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was played from 2 September 2021 to 29 March 2022.[1][2][3]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 2 September 2021 – 29 March 2022 |
| Teams | 12 (from 1 confederation) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 60 |
| Goals scored | 122 (2.03 per match) |
| Attendance | 639,277 (10,655 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Wu Lei  Alireza Jahanbakhsh Mehdi Taremi  Junya Itō  Saleh Al-Shehri  Son Heung-min (4 goals each) |
← 2018 2026 →
| |
Format
The twelve teams that advanced from the second round (the seven group winners excluding Qatar and the five 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 qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the two third-placed teams advanced to the fourth round. World Cup hosts Qatar won Group E in the second round (which meant they advanced to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup finals) but were not required to qualify for the World Cup.
Qualified teams
Draw and seeding
The draw for the third round was held on 1 July 2021 at 15:00 MST (UTC+8), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[4]
The seeding for the draw was based on a special release of the FIFA Men's World Rankings for Asian teams on 18 June 2021 (shown in parentheses below).[5]
Each group contained one team from each of the six pots.
Note: Bolded teams qualified directly for the World Cup. Italicised teams qualified for the fourth round.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
| |
| Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6 |
Schedule
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia, FIFA announced on 12 August 2020 that the upcoming qualifying matches originally scheduled for 2020 were moved to 2021,[6] and on 11 November, the AFC Competitions Committee also announced that the final round of the Asian qualifiers would begin in September 2021 and be finished by March 2022.[7]
| Matchday | Date | Original date |
|---|---|---|
| Matchday 1 | 2 September 2021 | 3 September 2020 |
| Matchday 2 | 7 September 2021 | 8 September 2020 |
| Matchday 3 | 7 October 2021 | 13 October 2020 |
| Matchday 4 | 12 October 2021 | 12 November 2020 |
| Matchday 5 | 11 November 2021 | 17 November 2020 |
| Matchday 6 | 16 November 2021 | 25 March 2021 |
| Matchday 7 | 27 January 2022 | 30 March 2021 |
| Matchday 8 | 1 February 2022 | 8 June 2021 |
| Matchday 9 | 24 March 2022 | 7 September 2021 |
| Matchday 10 | 29 March 2022 | 12 October 2021 |
Groups
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |
|
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iran |
10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 25 | 2022 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | South Korea |
10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 23 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | ||
| 3 | United Arab Emirates |
10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 12 | Fourth round | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | |
| 4 | Iraq |
10 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 12 | −6 | 9 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | ||
| 5 | Syria |
10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 16 | −7 | 6 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–3 | ||
| 6 | Lebanon |
10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 13 | −8 | 6 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | — |
| Iraq | 0–3 | Iran |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| South Korea | 2–1 | Syria |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Iran | 1–1 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
Jahanbakhsh  76' |
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Son Heung-min 48' |
| Lebanon | 1–2 | Iran |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Iraq | 1–1 | Syria |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Iraq | 0–3 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Syria | 0–3 | Iran |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Iran | 1–0 | Iraq |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
| Lebanon | 1–1 | Iraq |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| South Korea | 2–0 | Iran |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
| Lebanon | 0–3 | Syria |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Iran | 2–0 | Lebanon |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
| Syria | 1–1 | Iraq |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |
|
 |
 |
|
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Arabia |
10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 23 | 2022 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | |
| 2 | Japan |
10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 22 | 2–0 | — | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | ||
| 3 | Australia |
10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 15 | Fourth round | 0–0 | 0–2 | — | 3–1 | 3–0 | 4–0 | |
| 4 | Oman |
10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 14 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | — | 2–0 | 3–1 | ||
| 5 | China |
10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 19 | −10 | 6 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 3–2 | ||
| 6 | Vietnam |
10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 19 | −11 | 4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | — |
| Japan | 0–1 | Oman |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Saudi Arabia | 3–1 | Vietnam |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
| China | 0–1 | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| China | 3–2 | Vietnam |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Oman | 3–1 | Vietnam |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Saudi Arabia | 3–2 | China |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
| Vietnam | 0–1 | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| China | 1–1 | Oman |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| China | 1–1 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Oman | 0–1 | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Vietnam | 3–1 | China |
|---|---|---|
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Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Australia | 0–2 | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| Vietnam | 0–1 | Oman |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
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| China | 1–1 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
| Zhu Chenjie 82' (pen.) |
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Al-Shehri 45+1' |
| Japan | 1–1 | Vietnam |
|---|---|---|
| Yoshida 55' |
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Nguyễn Thanh Bình 19' |
Goalscorers
There were 122 goals scored in 60 matches, for an average of 2.03 goals per match.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Craig Goodwin- Rhyan Grant
- Ajdin Hrustic
- Riley McGree
- Aaron Mooy
- Tom Rogic
Aloísio- Wu Xi
- Xu Xin
- Zhang Yuning
- Zhu Chenjie
Ehsan Hajsafi- Ahmad Nourollahi
Amir Al-Ammari- Hussein Ali Al-Saedi
Takumi Minamino- Ao Tanaka
- Maya Yoshida
Maher Sabra
Arshad Al-Alawi- Rabia Al-Alawi
- Khalid Al-Hajri
- Amjad Al-Harthi
- Mohsin Al-Khaldi
- Salaah Al-Yahyaei
Yasser Al-Shahrani
Cho Gue-sung- Hwang Hee-chan
- Hwang In-beom
- Jeong Woo-yeong
- Kim Jin-su
- Kim Young-gwon
- Lee Jae-sung
Mahmoud Al Baher- Mohammad Al Marmour
- Mardik Mardikian
Harib Al-Maazmi- Yahya Al Ghassani
Nguyễn Quang Hải- Nguyễn Thanh Bình
- Phan Văn Đức
1 own goal
- Aziz Behich (against Japan)
- Mohammed Al-Attas (against Iraq)
See also
Notes
- On the AFC's official YouTube page, "The AFC Hub," it is referred to as the Final Round.
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia, the match was played behind closed doors.
- Due to the Syrian civil war, Syria played its home matches at neutral venues.
- Due to the security concerns, Iraq played its home matches at neutral venues.
- Due to the border closures in Australia because of COVID-19 pandemic, Australia played two of their home matches at neutral venues.
- Due to the quarantine restrictions in China because of COVID-19 pandemic, China played its home matches at neutral venues.