Dick Advocaat and Bert van Marwijk seem to be able to forget about direct qualification for the World Cup in Qatar with Iraq and the United Arab Emirates respectively. The national coaches of both countries again failed to win on Thursday and are engaged in a rearguard action. However, there is still a shortcut for Advocaat and Van Marwijk.
On Thursday, the United Arab Emirates visited South Korea. Van Marwijk’s team was not involved at all and Heung-Min Son, the star player of the Koreans, had several huge opportunities. The Tottenham Hotspur attacker was unable to cash in, but South Korea eventually won thanks to a penalty from Hwang Hee-Chan: 1-0.
Advocaat’s Iraq was the parent against Syria on Thursday evening, but fell behind in the eightieth minute by a goal from Omar Al Somah. The striker took a cross out of the air on the slipper and hit the intersection. Iraq saved a point in the absolute final phase thanks to Amir Al Ammari, who used a penalty kick: 1-1.
Advocaat and Van Marwijk have still not won a single match in Group A and can probably forget the first two places, which entitle them to direct qualification: Iran (13 points) and South Korea (11 points) have a huge after five matches. ahead of the rest. However, Iraq (4 points) and the United Arab Emirates (3 points) are still fully involved for third place, which entitles them to play-offs. The gap with Lebanon (5 points), the country that has to be traced for this, is minimal. Syria is bottom with two points.
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