Own-goal gives France win over Germany, Russia bounce back
Saudi Arabia, UAE through to WC qualifying 3rd round
Kuwait advance to Asia Cup qualifiers final round
KUWAIT CITY, June 16, (Agencies): Kuwait advanced to the final round of the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers after beating China Taipei 2-1 at Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium.
Kuwait’s Yousef Nasser double sealed the victory after China Taipei scored in the 51st minutes of the game .
Speaking at a news conference after the game, Thamer Enad, coach of Kuwait’s team, said the victory would boost the players’ morale ahead of the 2021 Arab Cup qualifiers. Kuwait will meet Bahrain in a decisive game on June 25. In a high-stakes, must-win game to have any chance of getting to Qatar in 2022, China beat group-leading Syria 3-1 to advance to the third round in Asian qualifying for the World Cup.
Syria had already confirmed their place among the final 12 as one of the eight group winners and China’s win secured progression as one of the four best-performing runners-up.
Zhang Xizhe scored two minutes before the break and second-half goals from Wu Lei and Zhang Yuning sealed China’s fourth consecutive win. China’s only World Cup appearance was in 2002, when Japan and South Korea co-hosted soccer’s marquee tournament in Asia for the first time.
The third round of qualifying starts in September. Australia and Japan had already secured their places but were the only two teams to do so by winning all eight games in the second round.
Iran beat Iraq 1-0 on Sardar Azmoun’s first-half goal to seal top spot in Group C, though both teams advanced.
The United Arab Emirates topped Group G by defeating Vietnam 3-2. Both teams progressed to the next round.
Saudi Arabia finished first in Group D with the 3-0 win over Uzbekistan, which were eliminated. Salman Al-Faraj scored twice and Ali Al-Hassan had one in the match played in Riyadh.
Oman and Lebanon confirmed their spots in the next round to join South Korea, which qualified Sunday.