Bitter day for St. Paulis fighters Jackson Irvine (29) in his corona quarantine.
The Australian had to watch the internet stream as his national team lost the penultimate qualifier against Japan 0-2. The knockout for the Aussies in the fight for direct World Cup qualification for Qatar (November 21 to December 18).
The team-stricken Australians would have needed a win to claim one of the top two places in their group. Driven by Frankfurt’s Ajdin Hrustic, they were unable to take advantage of the few chances they had. St. Pauli’s summer access Connor Metcalfe (22) saw a yellow card and was substituted at half-time (0-0).
It’s getting tough for Irvine and his Australians!
Their last group game (March 29) in Saudi Arabia is meaningless. Instead, in the play-offs they must first eliminate third-placed from the other Asian group (currently United Arab Emirates) and then fifth-placed South America (Uruguay, Peru, Chile or Colombia). That’s the only way they’ll make it to the World Cup.
In contrast, the Japanese – with Stuttgart’s Wataru Endo, Takuma Asano (Bochum), Ko Itakura (Schalke) and Ao Tanaka (Düsseldorf) – are going to the World Cup for the seventh time in a row. The other direct Asian starters: South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia.