In Asia, the top two teams of the three groups in the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup will qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup. Meanwhile, the two third and fourth-placed teams will continue their journey to the 4th qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.
Here is the situation of the 3 groups before the 7th and 8th matches taking place on March 20 and 25.
Group A
Iran (16 points) will be closer to making their fourth consecutive and seventh appearance in the FIFA World Cup Finals if they win against the UAE.
With a 3-point advantage over Uzbekistan and a 6-point advantage over the UAE, Iran is unlikely to lose a direct ticket to the World Cup if they do not lose in the remaining matches.
The Uzbekistan team is also getting closer to the goal of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time if they defeat the Kyrgyzstan team. The Central Asian team will be led by Timur Kapadze, a former Uzbek national team player who replaced Srecko Katanec, who resigned due to health reasons.
The Qatari team, which has just changed coaches, will try to maintain hope of attending the World Cup by hosting the DPRK. With 7 points, Qatar's fate is no longer in their hands, but the team that won the AFC Asian Cup twice will not give up without fighting.
Group B
The Korean team is also a team in good position to ensure a ticket to the FIFA World Cup when coach Hong Myung-bo's team got 14 points, 3 points more than the second-placed team, Iraq, and 5 points more than the Jordan team.
In the upcoming 2 matches, the Korean team will meet Oman and Jordan at home. If Son Heung-min and his teammates win, they will have their 11th consecutive World Cup appearance.
The Iranian team, aiming to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the second time in history, will also be confident of winning 6 points in 2 matches in March, when they host Kuwait and Palestine respectively.
Jordan will aim to regain the form that helped them become runners-up of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, with the goal of defeating Palestine and South Korea. If they can do this, they will open up the opportunity to compete for 2 direct tickets to the 2026 World Cup.
While the top two positions look within reach of Oman (6 points), Kuwait (4 points) and Palestine (3 points), winning the next two matches will give them a chance to advance to the 4th qualifying round.
Group C
Japan is leading Group C with 16 points, 9 points ahead of Australia. They will qualify for the 2026 World Cup if they defeat Bahrain at home. This possibility is very likely to happen because in the first leg, Japan beat their opponent 5-0.
For the remaining teams, all points are valuable when entering the final match. Australia is in second place with 7 points, just 1 point ahead of Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and China.
Australia, with the goal of participating in the FIFA World Cup for the 5th consecutive time, will host Indonesia at home on March 20.
Saudi Arabia, with the goal of winning a ticket to the World Cup for the third consecutive time to welcome China, is looking for an opportunity to return to the world's No. 1 tournament since 2002.
