Thailand to Face Three Middle Eastern Nations in World Cup Qualifiers

[webfact]

Thailand to Face Three Middle Eastern Nations in World Cup Qualifiers
By Simon Duncan
Assistant Editor


Asian Football Confederation (AFC) General Secretary Windsor John holds the country name card of Japan in the draw for 2018 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers final round in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Photo: Vincent Thian / Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR — The draw for the the final qualifying round of the 2018 World Cup in Russia was made this afternoon at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Thailand has been drawn in Group B along with Australia, Iraq, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1460456878&typecate=06&section=


-- Khaosod English 2016-04-13

[SweatySock]

Couldn't have been given a tougher group.

[Chicog]

[mrbojangles]

Wonder if playing Saudi will go some way to healing the rift between the two countries. It would be nice but I doubt it

[Duncan Donut]

This is weird, I ended up here after I typed the following into Google "How many Countries will bribe Thailand to throw their FIFA World Cup qualifying games?"

[Chicog]

This is weird, I ended up here after I typed the following into Google "How many Countries will bribe Thailand to throw their FIFA World Cup qualifying games?"

They won't have to.

[champers]

Never mind the Middle Eastern nations; it's Japan & Australia who are the powerhouses in this group. How many to qualify?

[MrRed]

KUALA LUMPUR — The draw for the the final qualifying round of the 2018 World Cup in Russia was made this afternoon at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Thailand has been drawn in Group B along with Australia, Iraq, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The top two teams of each of the six-team groups will automatically qualify for the next football World Cup which will be hosted by Russia in 2018.

The third placed teams from the groups will play an additional game against each other. The victor then plays against the fourth-place team from the CONCACAF region for a place at the World Cup.

The other group, known as ‘Group A’ is comprised of China, Iran, Qatar, South Korea, Syria and Uzbekistan.

The first qualifying games will take place in September. Details of the forthcoming fixtures have yet to be confirmed. All teams in the group will face each other both home and away.

This means that the war elephants will need to make three trips to the middle east as well as travelling to Australia and Japan.

Thailand has never qualified for the World Cup. The only appearance by a Southeast Asian nation at the footballing event was Indonesia, playing as the Dutch East Indies, who qualified in 1938.

[nev]

Very tough group, Australia are very strong at the moment, I have watched there last two games and they cannot stop scoring.

[Chicog]

The what?

the war elephants

[Schillaci]

Top 2 qualify directly. 3rd placed go into a playoff with the 3rd placed team in group A. The winner of that goes in to an intercontinental playoff with a CONCACAF team.

Thailand and the middle eastern countries will give a good account of themselves at home but I can't see them picking up points in Australia or Japan.

Us (Australia) are better coached and have more depth than four years ago when we scraped through to Brazil. The logistics within the group will be interesting as there a few short turn around. Games in the middles east followed by a game in Japan/Australia 5 days later.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Schillaci

[Chicog]

Top 2 qualify directly. 3rd placed go into a playoff with the 3rd placed team in group A. The winner of that goes in to an intercontinental playoff with a CONCACAF team.

It really is a joke having these mickey mouse teams in it..

I'd rather have an extra European or South American team.

Mind you I'd also like to see Davis Cup style World Cup qualification so that the best 32 teams in the World are in it.

Having more minnows in it was simply a way for Blatter to get votes.