The UAE will face Asian heavyweights Australia and Japan in the final round of qualification for the 2018 World Cup after the draw was made Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur.
Mahdi Ali’s side, who progressed last month as one of the four best runners-up from the penultimate stage, have been placed in Group B alongside Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Thailand. The match against Japan on September 1 kick-starts the road to Russia.
The route promises to be an arduous one, since the UAE play current Asian champions Australia, five-time World Cup finalists Japan and also Saudi Arabia, their chief Gulf rivals. The Emirates, who have appeared at the World Cup only once before, in 1990, qualified for the final phase by finishing second to the Saudis in Round Two’s Group A.
The teams will play each other home and away in a round-robin format, with the top two in each pool booking a spot at the World Cup, while the third-placed teams contest a play-off.
That winner then faces the team that finishes fourth in the fifth round of the Concacaf qualifiers across two legs for one of the final spots in Russia.
Group A
Iran
South Korea
Uzbekistan
China
Qatar
Syria
Group B
Australia
Japan
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Iraq
Thailand
[ jmcauley@thenational.ae ]
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