Asian Qualifying – Round 1 Group A
We’ve had 5 episodes of this series so far, and already 35 teams have been eliminated, as we’ve completed the opening rounds of qualifying in North America, Africa and Oceania. Today, we start with a new continent as we begin qualifying in Asia. The 48 nations are split into six groups of eight, and this is the draw:
We’ve had 5 episodes of this series so far, and already 35 teams have been eliminated, as we’ve completed the opening rounds of qualifying in North America, Africa and Oceania. Today, we start with a new continent as we begin qualifying in Asia. The 48 nations are split into six groups of eight, and this is the draw:
Each group will have two sides progress to Round 2, with the other six being knocked out. Today, we follow the progress of Group A, which contains Australia, Uzbekistan, Japan, Mongolia, Yemen, Turkmenistan, Laos and Pakistan.
Australia start as group top seeds, and they have a number of recognisable names, such as Rhys Williams (formerly of Middlesbrough) and the immortal Tim Cahill. No Thomas Sorensen this time, after his stint in goal in last year’s qualification campaign. In 2017 Australia looked set to qualify for the play-offs, but a final-round defeat to Former Yugoslavia cost them dear.
Uzbekistan contributed players to the successful Central Asia side of 2017, who qualified in controversial circumstances for the finals, and they did themselves proud with three draws in their group, although it wasn’t enough to progress with. Japan and Mongolia, meanwhile, contributed a few players to the East Asia side that fell to last place in their qualification group, below Iceland. I suspect there are some licensing laws that prevent Football Manager to have the best Japan-based players in the game. The other four sides in the group didn’t take part in the 2017 DWC. So based on all this, I would suspect Australia and Uzbekistan start as favourites to progress.
My two group tips face each other in a tasty first match. Australia opened the scoring in the 3rd minute, and scored again in the 29th. The problem is that Uzbekistan had scored four times in between those efforts, and added two more for a comprehensive 6-2 win. Turkmenistan have a particularly difficult challenge, as their 23-man squad contains 14 strikers and 1 defender (thanks to the players in the database based there). So they include a ST at centre-back in a 4-3-3 formation. Therefore, it’s not a big surprise when they went down 4-3 away to the group’s bottom seeds Pakistan, although it will be galling for Turkmenistan that they led 3-2 with 5 minutes remaining. Elsewhere, Yemen beat Laos 5-2 and Mongolia won the East Asia battle with a 3-2 win over Japan thanks to a late screamer from Diego.
Australia start as group top seeds, and they have a number of recognisable names, such as Rhys Williams (formerly of Middlesbrough) and the immortal Tim Cahill. No Thomas Sorensen this time, after his stint in goal in last year’s qualification campaign. In 2017 Australia looked set to qualify for the play-offs, but a final-round defeat to Former Yugoslavia cost them dear.
Uzbekistan contributed players to the successful Central Asia side of 2017, who qualified in controversial circumstances for the finals, and they did themselves proud with three draws in their group, although it wasn’t enough to progress with. Japan and Mongolia, meanwhile, contributed a few players to the East Asia side that fell to last place in their qualification group, below Iceland. I suspect there are some licensing laws that prevent Football Manager to have the best Japan-based players in the game. The other four sides in the group didn’t take part in the 2017 DWC. So based on all this, I would suspect Australia and Uzbekistan start as favourites to progress.
My two group tips face each other in a tasty first match. Australia opened the scoring in the 3rd minute, and scored again in the 29th. The problem is that Uzbekistan had scored four times in between those efforts, and added two more for a comprehensive 6-2 win. Turkmenistan have a particularly difficult challenge, as their 23-man squad contains 14 strikers and 1 defender (thanks to the players in the database based there). So they include a ST at centre-back in a 4-3-3 formation. Therefore, it’s not a big surprise when they went down 4-3 away to the group’s bottom seeds Pakistan, although it will be galling for Turkmenistan that they led 3-2 with 5 minutes remaining. Elsewhere, Yemen beat Laos 5-2 and Mongolia won the East Asia battle with a 3-2 win over Japan thanks to a late screamer from Diego.
Australia got their campaign belatedly underway as a brace from Cahill led them to a 5-1 win over Mongolia. Uzbekistan record a 5-0 thumping of Laos to confirm their status as the new group favourites. Yemen continued their impressive start by knocking eight past Turkmenistan’s makeshift defence in an 8-3 victory, whilst Japan got off the mark with a 4-2 win over Pakistan.
Australia will have been 11/1 against Pakistan before – in cricket – but probably not in football. But that is where they found themselves after Cahill grabbed five goals in an utter mauling. The most ridiculous part of the match was five Australian goals in six second-half minutes. Mongolia suffered their second 5-0 defeat, this time to Uzbekistan, whilst Turkmenistan this time shipped 7 in losing 7-2 to Laos, leaving them as the only side without a point. Arguably the biggest surprise of the round was that there was a low scoring game, as Japan claimed a 1-0 win away to Yemen.
Australia will have been 11/1 against Pakistan before – in cricket – but probably not in football. But that is where they found themselves after Cahill grabbed five goals in an utter mauling. The most ridiculous part of the match was five Australian goals in six second-half minutes. Mongolia suffered their second 5-0 defeat, this time to Uzbekistan, whilst Turkmenistan this time shipped 7 in losing 7-2 to Laos, leaving them as the only side without a point. Arguably the biggest surprise of the round was that there was a low scoring game, as Japan claimed a 1-0 win away to Yemen.
Kohei Tanaka had scored Japan’s only goal in the previous match, and he was the main man again with six goals as Japan took their chance to give Turkmenistan their ritual thumping, 8-2 the score. Uzbekistan went one better as they walloped Pakistan 9-2, four goals for Sardor Rashidov and an incredible volley by Server Djeparov. Amazingly, there were even more goals as Laos beat Mongolia 9-4, and in the round’s boring game Australia beat Yemen 5-0.
Pakistan claimed their second tight win, beating Mongolia 3-2. This was the lowest-scoring match of the round, as the goals continued in berserk fashion. Japan continued their hot form with a 7-2 thrashing of Laos, as they emerged as the most likely challengers to Australia and Uzbekistan. However, the signs were ominous as the big two both reached 10 goals in their games, as Australia beat Turkmenistan 10-2 and Uzbekistan beat Yemen 10-0.
Japan had their chance to close the gap to Australia when they visited Melbourne, but a brace from Mitch Nichols put Australia on the way to a 4-1 win. There was another relatively low-scoring match as Yemen won 3-0 away to Mongolia. The other two games were more typical goal-crazy for this group as Laos overcame Pakistan 5-3 and Uzbekistan recorded a 7-0 win over Turkmenistan.
This meant Uzbekistan had the chance to reach halfway with a perfect record, and they achieved it with a surprisingly tight 3-1 win over Japan, thanks to two Rashidov strikes. Australia kept up their pursuit of the leaders with a 9-2 beating up of Laos, hat-tricks for Cahill and Nichols. Yemen claimed a 3-1 win over Pakistan, whilst there was heartbreak for Turkmenistan, who were minutes away from claiming their first point with the score against Mongolia 4-4, until two late strikes completed Nicholas Vandelli’s hat-trick and won the game 6-4 for Mongolia. This meant that at the halfway point the table looks like this:
Japan had their chance to close the gap to Australia when they visited Melbourne, but a brace from Mitch Nichols put Australia on the way to a 4-1 win. There was another relatively low-scoring match as Yemen won 3-0 away to Mongolia. The other two games were more typical goal-crazy for this group as Laos overcame Pakistan 5-3 and Uzbekistan recorded a 7-0 win over Turkmenistan.
This meant Uzbekistan had the chance to reach halfway with a perfect record, and they achieved it with a surprisingly tight 3-1 win over Japan, thanks to two Rashidov strikes. Australia kept up their pursuit of the leaders with a 9-2 beating up of Laos, hat-tricks for Cahill and Nichols. Yemen claimed a 3-1 win over Pakistan, whilst there was heartbreak for Turkmenistan, who were minutes away from claiming their first point with the score against Mongolia 4-4, until two late strikes completed Nicholas Vandelli’s hat-trick and won the game 6-4 for Mongolia. This meant that at the halfway point the table looks like this:
Will the second half of the campaign keep up the same crazy goalscoring rate? Yes is the answer after the eighth round of games, as the lowest-scoring game featured Japan winning 5-0 over Mongolia, including a hat-trick for Atsushi Yoshimoto who had just been brought in to the starting XI. Yemen kept up the pace with Japan with a 5-1 win over Laos, including a scintillating strike from Ibrahim Saleh. There were scenes of disbelief as Turkmenistan acquired their first points by beating Pakistan. Turkmenistan had switched to a defensive mindset, but with three STs to lump the ball to, and it worked a treat as they won by an unbelievable 11-2. The big match was in Melbourne, as Australia represented Uzbekistan’s main hurdle to a perfect performance in the group. Two Uzbek goals in the opening 5 minutes paved the way for a 4-2 win that suddenly had Australia looking over their shoulders at Japan and Yemen.
There was little drama in the 9th round of fixtures as the top four each thumped a member of the bottom four. Australia and Japan each won 6-0, against Mongolia and Pakistan (respectively) thanks to hat-tricks from Diego Castro and Takana (respectively). Rashidov also got a hat-trick as Uzbekistan beat Laos 6-1, whilst Turkmenistan actually were 2-0 up in 7 minutes against Yemen, but eventually lost 5-2.
Yemen visited Japan knowing the loser would be almost-certainly out of the qualification race, and it was the hosts who were victorious, 2-0 the score. This win didn’t bring Japan any closer to Australia, who hit seven unanswered goals past Pakistan, despite losing Nichols to a red card, with Cahill hitting five goals. Uzbekistan continued their relentless march with a 6-0 win over Mongolia. Turkmenistan looked set for their second win as they led Laos 4-2 with 6 minutes left, partly thanks to two Samyradow goals within 40 seconds, but a Laos fight-back culminated with Kazuo Honma’s mishit shot squirming in for an epic 5-4 Laos victory.
Yemen visited Japan knowing the loser would be almost-certainly out of the qualification race, and it was the hosts who were victorious, 2-0 the score. This win didn’t bring Japan any closer to Australia, who hit seven unanswered goals past Pakistan, despite losing Nichols to a red card, with Cahill hitting five goals. Uzbekistan continued their relentless march with a 6-0 win over Mongolia. Turkmenistan looked set for their second win as they led Laos 4-2 with 6 minutes left, partly thanks to two Samyradow goals within 40 seconds, but a Laos fight-back culminated with Kazuo Honma’s mishit shot squirming in for an epic 5-4 Laos victory.
You may have noticed from the earlier league table that Japan were a long way behind in terms of goal difference. Well, after they had savaged Turkmenistan 12-1 that column was looking a lot rosier. Japan desperately needed Australia to slip up against Yemen, but two Castro penalties were the only goals as Australia won 2-0. Uzbekistan earned another relatively low-key win, beating Pakistan 5-0, whilst Laos overcame Mongolia 4-2.
Uzbekistan’s 4-0 win over Yemen secured their place in the second round of qualifying. The battle for the second spot was getting more tense, and the pressure appeared to be getting to Australia as they toiled hard against Turkmenistan. Andrija Kaluderovic’s 68th-minute tap-in was enough to earn Australia an astonishingly tight 2-1 win. If the pressure was getting to Australia, it will have been significantly lightened when Japan suffered a shock 2-0 defeat to Laos, who now had three consecutive wins. Elsewhere, Mongolia thrashed Pakistan 6-1.
That last set of results meant Australia needed a point against Japan to be the second team to qualify, but Japan were clinical in taking their chances, their 5-2 win belying the evenness of the contest. Yemen saw off a spirited Mongolian fight-back to win 5-3, whilst Turkmenistan couldn’t match their previous performance as Uzbekistan saw them off 7-0. Laos’ late resurgence continued with a 4-2 win over Pakistan.
Going into the final round of games, Japan were 3 points behind Australia, but had to overcome Uzbekistan whilst hoping Australia lost to Laos. Unfortunately for Japan, they couldn’t recover after conceding two penalties, and eventually lost 3-1. Australia didn’t celebrate their qualification in impressive style, however, Laos held them to a 2-2 draw, Castro missing a penalty that could have won it. Incredibly, this was the first draw of the group, and you know the saying about buses... well, Pakistan and Yemen also drew 2-2. I’ve mentioned before how makeshift Turkmenistan’s side is – and it got worse in their final game as they received three (!) red cards against Mongolia, ending the game with a 4-3-0 formation, and a back four made up of two strikers, a winger and a central midfielder. Total football? They lost 9-2.
That last set of results meant Australia needed a point against Japan to be the second team to qualify, but Japan were clinical in taking their chances, their 5-2 win belying the evenness of the contest. Yemen saw off a spirited Mongolian fight-back to win 5-3, whilst Turkmenistan couldn’t match their previous performance as Uzbekistan saw them off 7-0. Laos’ late resurgence continued with a 4-2 win over Pakistan.
Going into the final round of games, Japan were 3 points behind Australia, but had to overcome Uzbekistan whilst hoping Australia lost to Laos. Unfortunately for Japan, they couldn’t recover after conceding two penalties, and eventually lost 3-1. Australia didn’t celebrate their qualification in impressive style, however, Laos held them to a 2-2 draw, Castro missing a penalty that could have won it. Incredibly, this was the first draw of the group, and you know the saying about buses... well, Pakistan and Yemen also drew 2-2. I’ve mentioned before how makeshift Turkmenistan’s side is – and it got worse in their final game as they received three (!) red cards against Mongolia, ending the game with a 4-3-0 formation, and a back four made up of two strikers, a winger and a central midfielder. Total football? They lost 9-2.
Final standings
Top scorers: Sardor Rashidov (UZB) 24 goals; Tanaka (JPN) 21 goals; Cahill (AUS) 20 goals
Highest average ratings: Sardor Rashidov (UZB) 9.04; Simic (UZB) 8.88; Kanuk (UZK) 8.76
Next time
I can’t stress how mad that group was. There were 382 goals scored, at an average of 6.8/game. It’s a shame for Japan, who ran Australia close, but defeats to Laos and Mongolia made the difference. Our next episode will be particularly interesting, because we start qualification in Europe, and we will see our first side qualify for the finals! It should be a very good group, too, with France and Russia the favourites.
Highest average ratings: Sardor Rashidov (UZB) 9.04; Simic (UZB) 8.88; Kanuk (UZK) 8.76
Next time
I can’t stress how mad that group was. There were 382 goals scored, at an average of 6.8/game. It’s a shame for Japan, who ran Australia close, but defeats to Laos and Mongolia made the difference. Our next episode will be particularly interesting, because we start qualification in Europe, and we will see our first side qualify for the finals! It should be a very good group, too, with France and Russia the favourites.