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Thursday was the end of the Second Round of Asia’s 2014 World Cup Qualifiers, which saw thirty nations battling to keep their 2014 World Cup aspirations alive. But only 20 nations including the top five could keep their Brazil aspirations alive while the rest were left to nurse their dreams of making it to Russia in 2018.
In the second leg of the Second Round World Cup Qualifier on Thursday, almost all the favorites make it through to the third round with no major upsets. China, Thailand, Lebanon, Indonesia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Qatar, Iran, Singapore, Uzbekistan, UAE, Jordan and Oman joined Japan, Australia, Bahrain, South and North Korea in the third round of the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers.
These twenty teams of the third round will be divided into five groups of four teams each. They will play in a round-robin format at home and away and the top two teams from each group will make it to the fourth round. The draws for the third round will take place on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro.
The fourth round will see ten teams divided into two groups of five playing in a round robin format at home and away. The group winners and runners-up can book their tickets to Brazil while the two third placed teams will still have to play two more rounds to confirm their ticket.
In the fifth round, the two third-placed teams will face off against each other before the winner takes on a side from another confederation in the inter-confederation face-off.
Japan, Australia and South Korea are the favorites to make it to the finals in Brazil while the rest of the 17 countries will have to fight a tough battle to realize their dreams. However no country can guarantee themselves a spot as the level of football in Asia has grown and the difference in expertise and talent between nations has minimized in a short span of time.
Japan’s international Goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima echoes the same feeling saying “There are so many different playing styles in Asia that it’s really not easy to qualify, even if we have managed to qualify with greater ease in recent years.”
Overall Second Leg and Aggregate Results
Laos vs China PR (1-6): China wins 13-3 on aggregatePalestine vs Thailand (2-2): Thailand wins 3-2 on aggregateBangladesh vs Lebanon (2-0): Lebanon wins 4-2 on aggregateIndonesia vs Turkmenistan (4-3): Indonesia wins 5-4 on aggregatePhilippines vs Kuwait (1-2): Kuwait wins 5-1 on aggregateHong Kong vs Saudia Arabia (0-5): Saudi Arabia wins 8-0 on aggregateMaldives vs Iran (0-1): Iran wins 5-0 on aggregateTajikistan vs Syria (0-4): Syria wins 6-1 on aggregateVietnam vs Qatar (2-1): Qatar wins 2-2 on aggregateYemen vs Iraq (0-0): Iran wins 2-0 on aggregateMalaysia vs Singapore (1-1): Singapore wins 6-4 on aggregateKyrgyzatan vs Uzbekistan (0-3): Uzbekistan wins 7-0 on aggregateIndia vs UAE (2-2): UAE wins 5-2 on aggregateNepal vs Jordan (1-1): Jordan wins 10-1 on aggregateMyanmar vs Oman (Match Abandoned): Oman
