World Cup Corner

Congratulations to Iraq for winning the 2007 Asian Cup. This great fairy tale was completed when the Iraqis sneaked a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia.

With all the war issues and social problems currently besetting Iraq, the new Asian champions have brought a rare glimpse of joy and hope to the country.

‘This is not just about football… this is more important than that,’ Iraq’s Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira said.

‘This has brought great happiness to a whole country. This is not about a team, this is about human beings.’
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Qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany is almost over.

There are just five more places for the finals in Germany which will start on June 9. Play-offs will be played on 12 and 16 November.

EUROPE
Read our previous post.

SOUTH AMERICA
Uruguay go into a two-legged play-off with Australia.

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FIFA overturned last month’s Uzbekistan’s 1-0 victory over Bahrain after a bizarre refereeing error from Japanese official Toshimitsu Yoshida.

Replay of the controversial Asian World Cup play off qualifier will be played on Saturday in Tashkent - Uzbekistan. The second leg will be played in Manama on Wednesday. The winners will face the team that finishes fourth in the CONCACAF zone final group in a two-legged playoff in November to decide who qualifies for the World Cup finals in Germany next year.

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On August 17 there are 4 matches played in the Asian zone:

Update, August 18:
Seoul: Korea Republic - Saudi Arabia 0:1
Manama: Bahrain - Korea 2:3
Yokohama: Japan - Iran 2:1
Taskhet: Uzbekistan - Kuwait 3:2

Wednesday brings the the final round of Germany 2006 qualifying matches in the Asian Zone with the focus on the Group A showdown between Uzbekistan and Kuwait.

With four teams qualified already (Japan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and South Korea), the match in Tashkent is the only one with something at stake – namely third place in the group and the right to advance to a play-off against Bahrain, the third-placed side in Group B, the winners of which will then meet the fourth-placed team from CONCACAF in a concluding play-off.

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Four teams from Asian preliminaries, did join the German team to play at Fifa World Cup 2006. Japan became the first team to qualify for the finals on June 8. They were quickly followed that day by Iran, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.