The fourth round of AFC matches for the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

consisted of a single match that determined the AFC representative in the intercontinental play-offs against the

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

representative. This round was originally scheduled as a

two-legged tie In sports (especially association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum ...

for 11 and 16 November 2021, but the dates and format were changed in November 2020 in response to impacts from the

COVID-19 pandemic in Asia The COVID-19 pandemic began in Asia in Wuhan, Hubei, China, and has spread widely through the continent. As of , at least one case of COVID-19 had been reported in every country in Asia except Turkmenistan. The Asian countries with the high ...

. The match featured the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It was played at

Ahmad bin Ali Stadium The new Ahmad bin Ali Stadium (), popularly known as Al-Rayyan Stadium, is an association football stadium located in the district of Rawdat Al Jahhaniya, Qatar, around northwest from the centre of Al Rayyan. It is currently used mostly for f ...

Al Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipalities of Qatar, municipality in Qatar. Its primary settlement is the Al Rayyan (city), city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and is a part of the Do ...

, Qatar (one of the host cities of the World Cup) on 7 June 2022.

Background

Since the

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation, AFC (Asia), Confederation of African Football, CAF (Afr ...

, the last round of the Asian qualifiers (in this case, the fourth round) had consisted of a matchup between two teams coming from a previous round, and the winning team would represent AFC in the intercontinental play-offs (except the 1998 campaign, in which the play-off winners qualified directly for the FIFA World Cup, while the losers advanced to the intercontinental play-off). The United Arab Emirates had previously played once at this stage; they faced

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

in the 2002 play-off and lost 0–4 on aggregate. Australia had also previously played at this stage once; it was the previous 2018 edition, where they defeated

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

3–2 on aggregate. This was the third match between the United Arab Emirates and Australia in AFC World Cup qualifying, with the previous two meetings being Australian victories (both in the 2018 qualifiers).

Format

In the fourth round, the two third-placed teams from the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

competed in a single-match play-off. Since the fourth round format was changed from two-legged tie to a single-match at a neutral venue, the game was played under the single-leg play-off rules from the preliminary competition, with

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

of two periods of 15 minutes would be played if the match was tied after the regular time of 90 minutes, followed by a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

to decide the winner if the match still tied after extra time (Regulations Article 20.11). The winner advanced to the intercontinental play-offs that was held on six days later also in Qatar.

Qualified teams

The United Arab Emirates qualified for the fourth round after finishing third of

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

in the

. Previously, they had won their group in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

, winning six and losing two of their eight matches, leaving

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

(by only 1 point),

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

behind. In the third round, the UAE were part of Group A, alongside

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. They finished third with 12 points and a record of 3 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses, behind Iran and South Korea who qualified directly for the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Australia also qualified by finishing third in the third round (

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for Grand tourer, grand touring (GT) cars used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World S ...

). Previously, they had won their group in the second round, winning all eight of their matches and taking a 10-point lead over

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

in second and third place respectively, with

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

and

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

far behind. In the third round, Australia were part of Group B, alongside

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

China PR China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India, representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans the e ...

and

. They finished third with 15 points and a record of 4 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses, behind Saudi Arabia and Japan who qualified directly for the final tournament. The United Arab Emirates started the qualification process with Dutchman

Bert van Marwijk Lambertus van Marwijk (; born 19 May 1952) is a Dutch Association football, football manager who is a member of the supervisory board for MVV Maastricht. As a player, he played for the Go Ahead Eagles, AZ Alkmaar, AZ, MVV Maastricht, MVV and For ...

. However, he was sacked on 12 February 2022 after the team ran out of direct qualification options as Iran and South Korea had secured the first two places of Group A in the third round. Argentine

Rodolfo Arruabarrena Rodolfo Martín Arruabarrena (born 20 July 1975) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player, who was recently the manager of the Saudi Pro League club Al-Taawoun. A left-back, he spent most of his career with Boca Juniors, ...

was announced as the UAE's new coach one day later, while Australia kept

Graham Arnold Graham James Arnold (born 3 August 1963) is an Australian association football, professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the Iraq national football team, Iraq national team. Arnold was first appointed ...

as their coach throughout the process.

Venue

Match

Goalscorers

Notes

References

External links

*
Qualifiers – Asia Matches: Round 4
FIFA.com

the-AFC.com
FIFA World Cup 2022
stats.the-AFC.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2022 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC fourth round 4 2022 in Asian football Australia men's national soccer team matches United Arab Emirates national football team matches FIFA World Cup qualification, AFC Round 4 International association football competitions hosted by Qatar Sport in Al Rayyan Association football events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Australia at the 2022 FIFA World Cup