Sports Desk :
China, Iran, South Korea, Qatar, Syria and Uzbekistan are in Group A, whilst Australia, Iraq, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and UAE feature Group B in the World Cup Football 2018: Round three of Asia Zone qualifiers to be held between August 2016 and September 2017.
But the draw of round three held in Kualalampur, Headquarters of the Asia Football Confederation, recently in presence of the representatives of the qualifying teams marked lack of farsightedness and carefulness on the part of the AFC officials. For example, two Central Asian representatives Iran and Uzbekistan have been placed in the same group. Again China and Qatar, who were in the same group in the second round, have again been penciled in the identical group.
Saudi Arabia and UAE were in the same group in second round and have again been placed in the similar group in the third round. Likewise Iraq and Thailand have again been put in the same group. All these transpire the AFC officials’ inefficiency and apathy to the fairness and development of soccer in the continent.
The AFC takes no lessons from the FIFA, who does not do it. No two Asian representatives are placed in the same group in the final round of the World Cup Football. Similar rule is applied in case of the other continents also except Europe as their number of representatives exceeds the group’s numbers. Four teams, two from each group, will cruise into the final round. In addition, the winners of the play-off match between the two third placed teams will clash with the Oceania champions for final spot. It means Asia have four or five slots in the World Cup Football final round, which will take place in Russia in 2018.
