On the evening of November 19, Indonesia caused a surprise when they defeated Saudi Arabia with a score of 2-0 in the 6th match, the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup. Thanks to that, they temporarily rose to 3rd place on the rankings with 6 points.
Thus, Shin Tae-yong and his team became the Southeast Asian team with the best record in the 3rd qualifying round of the World Cup. This achievement was previously held by the Vietnam team when they had 4 points after 10 matches in the 3rd qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup. Thailand also tried their hand at this round and only got 2 points in 2018.
At the moment, Japan is still leading the group and is very close to a place in the 2026 World Cup when it is 10 points ahead of the teams behind.
In Group A, the situation is very attractive as Iran and Uzbekistan have not been able to separate the group with 16 and 13 points respectively. UAE and Qatar are chasing behind with 7 points, but have played 1 match less.
This can be considered the most unpredictable and balanced group in the 3rd qualifying round of the Asian region.
In Group B, Korea is far ahead of the remaining group with 14 points after 6 rounds. The three teams behind are Jordan, Iraq and Oman, competing closely for the top 2. Korea has a lot of experience in these playgrounds, so the race in Group B will probably mainly focus on the group of 3 teams from the Middle East.
According to the format of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Asia will be awarded more than 8 places, of which: The first 6 official places will be awarded to the 6 teams that finish first and second in the group in the 3rd qualifying round.
The 6 teams ranked 3rd and 4th continue to participate in the 4th qualifying round to compete for 2 official tickets.
