Asian football giants Japan, South Korea and Australia are eyeing winning starts when the final round of Asian qualifying for next year’s Olympics gets under way on Wednesday.The three heavyweights will be hot favourites to top their respective groups and secure qualification as 12 teams jostle for coveted slots at the London Games. Australia, fresh from routing Yemen 7-0 over two legs in the previous round, face unfancied United Arab Emirates in Adelaide, with coach Aurelio Vidmar confident his side can reach the Olympics.
“There’s good spirit, the players are super keen and what I like most is they’re a close, tight, group,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The important thing is to win your home games, which is why we need to get off to a good start.”
The other fixture in Group B is in Tashkent and sees Uzbekistan taking on Iraq, who reached the group stage by beating arch-rivals Iran. In Group A, South Korea, 4-2 aggregate winners over Jordan in the previous round, take on Oman in Changwon while Saudi Arabia and Qatar meet in Riyadh. South Korean coach Hong Myung-Bo sees the group opener as key to qualifying for London and has stressed the importance of good preparation for the away games. “Our preparations will be important against those tough teams,” Hong said after the draw, according to Yonhap news agency. “There are no easy games in the final round.”
Qatar, chosen to host the 2022 World Cup, are hoping new coach Paulo Autuori will inspire a strong campaign.
Speaking after his appointment the Brazilian said he was lured by the challenge of boosting the tiny desert nation’s footballing fortunes as it looks towards the World Cup.
For Japan, who beat Australia earlier this year in the final of the Asian Cup, the reward for beating Kuwait is a Group C home game in Tosu against Malaysia, who held out for a dogged win over Lebanon in the last round.
Malaysia’s coach Ong Kim Swee acknowledged his side are long-shots for qualification but identified home matches as the key to their chances.
“We are aiming to get full points from all three of our home matches,” he said. “If we can do that we stand an outside chance to qualify.”
Syria take on Bahrain in Group C’s other game, which has been moved to the Jordanian capital Amman following a bloody crackdown by Damascus on anti-government protests.
The teams are divided into three groups of four and play each other home and away. The winners qualify for the Olympics automatically, while runners-up in each group play a three-way round-robin.
The winner of that contest enters a play-off with a side from the African confederation to advance to next summer’s showpiece event.
Men’s football is played as an under-23 tournament at the Olympics, although the rules allow for three over-age players. The group stage wraps up in March next year.
