Qatar 2022: South Korea make it 10 qualifications in a row, Aussies drop points

February 2 – South Korea reached their 10th consecutive World Cup with a 2-0 win against Syria, but Australia’s hopes of automatic qualification were dented after a lacklustre 2-2 draw against Oman.

The Koreans follow in the footsteps of Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Spain as one of only five nations to participate in ten global finals consecutively.

Goals from Kim Jin-su and Kwon Chang-hoon in the second half were enough to see off the bottom team in Group A qualifying and punch a ticket for Qatar, moving 11 points clear of third-placed the United Arab Emirates, who went down 1-0 against ten-man Iran in Tehran. 

Korea’s coach Paulo Bento returns to the World Cup for the second time after his first appearance with Portugal in 2014.

The Portuguese crashed out in the first round and Bento will be hoping to do better with Korea in Qatar. At the last World Cup, South Korea didn’t survive the group stage following defeats to both Mexico and Sweden, but they did notch a 2-0 victory against Germany to eliminate the then world champions.

In Group B, Australia twice took the lead through Jamie Maclaren and Aaron Mooy in Muscat, but Abdullah Fawaz’s brace held the visitors to a 2-2 draw, leaving the Socceroos in third place and on course for the World Cup play-offs, three points behind second-placed Japan with two games to play.

The Japanese inched closer to their seventh consecutive World Cup with a 2-0 win against group leaders Saudi Arabia in Saitama. After a poor start to qualifying, Japan are now within a point of Saudi Arabia who are four points ahead of Australia with two games to play. A win away to China in March will secure their qualification.

“Very disappointing,” said Australia captain Mat Ryan after the match. “We came here, we prepared well and at the end of the day it’s not good enough to take something away from the game.”

With Australia’s two remaining matches against Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away, Graham Arnold’s team has almost certainly been condemned to the play-offs, a long and arduous route to the World Cup.

The two third-placed teams in each group from the third round of qualifying will play against each other in a single match to determine which team advances to the singe-match inter-continental play-offs in Doha against the fifth-placed team from Conmebol, which at present is Peru.

At the last World Cup, Australia’s third consecutive, the Socceroos went down 2-0 against the Peruvians in their final first-round match to finish bottom of Group C. 

Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1711692293labto1711692293ofdlr1711692293owedi1711692293sni@i1711692293tnuk.1711692293ardni1711692293mas1711692293


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