World Soccer - UK (2021-10)

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Familiaritymaynotbreedcontempt

inthe finalroundofqualificationfor

the 2022 WorldCup in Asia,butit

hasleft fansandjournalistsaround

thecontinentdesperatelysearching

forsomethingnew.

The 12 teamsthatprogressed

throughtothisstagewere, onJuly1,

dividedinto twogroupsofsix,with

thetoptwo from each going to

Qatar andthetwothird-placed

teams entering theplay-offs.

Ofthe fourtopseeds, Iran and

South Koreawereplacedtogether

forthefourthconsecutive campaign,

whichmeant,over in GroupB,Japan

andAustraliaare also together, as they

havebeeneversincequalificationfor

2010. There’snotmuch newtobesaid

aboutthesebigrivalsmeetingonce–

well, twice– more as theyknoweach

othersowell.Of thisquartet,whoall

appearedatthe last twoWorldCups,

theSocceroosmay be themost

vulnerable,though,ofcourse, the

pandemicislikelytohavea hugepart

toplayandcouldlevel theplayingfield.

GroupB lookstobethemost

interestingonpaper, notleastdueto

thepresenceofVietnaminthisstage

forthefirsttime.TheGoldenStarshave

beenthe most improvedteaminAsian

footballinthe past fewyears.Under

the“KoreanHiddink”ParkHang-seo

(amemberoftheDutchman’s coaching

staff at the 2002 WorldCup),Vietnam

Vietnam add intrigue

to familiar line-up

SoutheastAsiannationinfinalgroupstageforthefirsttime,

whilecontinent’sleadingpowerspreparetofaceoffagain

AFCWorldCupQualifiers

JOHNDUERDEN