2023-11-14 13:20:18
Japan’s coach warns against underestimating the 2026 World Cup qualifiers
The teams of Japan, South Korea and Australia, which reached the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar late last year, will begin their journey in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup finals, scheduled for the United States, Mexico and Canada, on Thursday, in the second round. Palestine will also be among 36 teams that will begin their campaign.
The second round includes 36 teams divided into 9 groups, each of which includes 4 teams competing in a divided league system of two stages, between November 2023 and June 2024.
According to Agence France-Presse, the top two teams from each group qualify for the third round of the World Cup qualifiers, and at the same time those teams reserve their places in the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.
The 2026 World Cup is decided in the United States, Mexico and Canada (FIFA)
The draw for the third round of World Cup qualifiers will be held in 2024. The 18 qualified teams are divided into 3 groups of 6 teams. The top two teams from each group qualify directly to the World Cup, while the remaining two direct seats for the Asian continent will be determined through the fourth round in a continental playoff, while there will be an opportunity for an additional seat through a fifth round in the global playoff.
The Japanese team is expected to reserve its ticket to the finals for the eighth time in a row, after a series of wonderful performances that followed its brilliance in the World Cup in Qatar late last year, when it defeated Germany and Spain 2-1 in the group stage.
“The Samurai” also won the last 6 matches, scoring 24 goals, and conceding only 5 goals. On his European tour last September, he achieved two remarkable results, defeating Germany 4-1 at home, then Turkey 4-2, two results that cost the dismissal of the coaches of the losing teams.
Coach Hajime Moriyasu’s squad will begin its campaign against Myanmar in Osaka on Thursday, as part of Group Two, which also includes North Korea and Syria.
The Japanese coach warned his players against underestimating the group’s teams, saying: “No team can be underestimated. We must always aspire to provide the best.”
As for South Korea, which reached the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup when it hosted it with Japan, it suffered at the beginning of the era of its new coach, the German Jurgen Klinsmann, who took office last February, succeeding the Portuguese Paulo Bento. He failed to win in his first five matches, before regaining the winning tone in his last three matches, during which he scored 11 goals without conceding any.
South Korea is entering the qualifiers relying on big names playing in European clubs (FIFA)
South Korea is entering the qualifiers relying on big names playing in the most prominent European clubs, led by Tottenham’s English captain Heung-Min Son, Bayern Munich’s German defender Min-Jae Kim, and Paris Saint-Germain’s French attacking midfielder Kang-In Lee.
South Korea begins its journey by hosting Singapore on Thursday, before traveling to face China five days later. The group also includes the Thailand national team.
Klinsmann said that he traveled to Singapore to scout the first competitor, and warned his players to be “serious,” adding: “You must have a very professional mentality in order to be able to compete in the World Cup qualifiers, even if you have more seats available.”
As for Australia, it begins its journey with an easy match against Bangladesh in Melbourne in the tenth group competitions, which also includes Lebanon and Palestine.
Australia coach Graham Arnold stressed that the time for “experiments is over,” and said in this regard: “It is now a matter of setting the right tactic and having the players give good performances, and winning these matches at any cost.”
The Australian national team has qualified six times for the FIFA World Cup Finals.
The Australian national team has qualified for the World Cup finals 6 times, including the last 5 editions in a row. The two teams have met in two matches before in the continental qualifiers, during which Australia won in the second round of qualifiers for the 2018 edition.
In the same group, the Lebanese national team begins its qualifying campaign against Palestine at Khalid bin Mohammed Stadium, in Sharjah, UAE, due to its stadiums not complying with the standards of the Continental Confederation, while Palestine will play its first home match against Australia, next Tuesday in Kuwait, due to the war between Israel and the Hamas movement. ».
Reaching the decisive qualifying round in the 2014 and 2022 qualifiers is the furthest the Lebanese national team has reached, while the Palestine national team has reached the second round on 4 previous occasions.
The Lebanese national team will participate in the qualifiers for the ninth time (X Platform)
The Lebanese national team is participating in the qualifiers for the ninth time, while this is the seventh participation for Palestine. This will be the sixth confrontation between the two teams, knowing that they tied in their last match in August 2019 in the West Asian Football Federation Championship.
As for the other most prominent teams nominated to be present in the next football tournament, there is Saudi Arabia, which will host Pakistan in the first round.
Saudi Arabia achieved a huge surprise in the World Cup in Qatar, with its resounding victory over Argentina 2-1 in the group stage. But it was unable to build on it and did not succeed in qualifying to the next round.
The Saudi national team is led by expert Italian coach Roberto Mancini, who led his country to win the European Cup in the summer of 2021.
While Iran receives Hong Kong, Qatar and Afghanistan.
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