Tuesday, June 15, 2021 at 23:35• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 23:47

Bert van Marwijk reached the next phase of the World Cup qualifying cycle for the final tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States with the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday. Van Marwijk’s team won 3-2 against direct competitor Vietnam and is therefore group winner in a group that also includes Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

The Emirates were two points behind Vietnam prior to the mutual game and therefore needed a win. Van Marwijk’s men fulfilled their favorite role by quickly taking a 3-0 lead. Vietnam came back to 3-2 in the final phase, but could not take any result from the visit to Dubai, where the match was played. Vietnam eventually got away with the defeat, as the country narrowly qualified as one of the best numbers two after all.

With the win, Van Marwijk reaches the final phase of the Asian World Cup qualification. There are eight group winners and four runners-up who are now divided into two groups of six. The two winners from those groups qualify directly for the World Cup in 2026, while the numbers three still have a play-off round as a way out. The other countries that are still in the race besides the United Arab Emirates are Syria, Australia, Iran, Qatar, Japan, South Korea, China, Oman, Iraq and Vietnam.

Johan Derksen congratulates Van Marwijk in the talk show The the Dutch Summer. “Clever of Bert”, says Derksen. “Yet he is not happy with it. After the World Cup in South Africa, Bert hoped for a real top club. This is only a consolation prize, only for the money. He does not feel happy there at all. That is the frustration he has with him.” because he has delivered a fantastic performance with the Dutch national team in South Africa. I think he has always done very well as a national coach, although he got angry when he got a bit of criticism after the European Championship went wrong.”