UAE Look To Bounce Back In World Cup Qualifier Against North Korea

The UAE will be eager to earn three points when they face North Korea in their crucial Asian World Cup qualifier at Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh on Tuesday.

The Whites have an outside chance of sealing an automatic qualifying spot while North Korea need three points if they are to stand a chance of advancing to the playoffs, where another two additional berths will be at stake.

Thursday's 2-0 defeat to Iran all was a body blow to the UAE's hopes of winning one of the two automatic qualifying spots but Paulo Bento will urge his players to remain focused despite the setback.

Victory for the UAE and defeat for Uzbekistan - who face Iran in Tehran - will reignite their hopes for a second appearance at the Fifa World Cup and the Portuguese tactician will remind his players that all they can do now is keep winning.

Thursday's 5-1 defeat to Qatar means North Korea have no chance of a top two finish, with the loss leaving them rooted at the bottom of the standings with two points.

The East Asian side, however, still have an outside chance of making the playoffs and will be determined to respond after Thursday's heavy defeat.

Meanwhile, Iran will expect maximum points when they host Uzbekistan in another Group A match on Tuesday.

Team Melli only need a point to confirm a fourth consecutive appearance at the World Cup while victory for Uzbekistan will see them drawing level on 19 points with Iran.

Amir Ghalenoei's charges have hardly put a foot wrong in what has been a serene qualifying campaign with Iran only dropping points in a goalless draw with Uzbekistan when the sides met in October.

The head coach, speaking after Thursday's 2-0 win against the UAE, said he was proud with how Iran have performed since suffering a semifinal exit at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar and urged them to complete the job of qualifying for next year's global showpiece with matches to spare.

Uzbekistan, however, will be equally fired as victory will almost surely confirm them a first ever appearance at the World Cup.

They will have to control their nerves at the imposing Azadi Stadium as they showed signs of emotion getting the better of them in the 1-0 win against 10-man Kyrgyz Republic on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Luis Garcia will expect another three points when Qatar travel to face Kyrgyz Republic in the third match of Group A on Tuesday.

It is a match both sides have to win with Qatar still having a chance of bagging an automatic qualifying spot while Kyrgyz Republic need to finish a minimum fourth to advance to the playoffs.

Qatar were phenomenal against North Korea on Thursday, with Garcia's side showing the form that saw them winning back-to-back Asian Cup titles.

The win was Garcia's first in the AFC Asian Qualifiers since taking over as head coach and the Spaniard has urged his players to keep pushing, despite Qatar only having an outside chance of qualifying automatically.

"We need to focus on the upcoming encounter against Kyrgyz Republic, which will be extremely important. We have no choice but to win to keep our hopes of qualifying automatically for the World Cup," said Garcia.

Kyrgyz Republic's debut at this stage of the AFC Asian Qualifiers has been a valuable learning experience with the Central Asian side holding their own despite only having three points to their name.

Sitting seven points behind the UAE and Qatar, Kyrgyz Republic have to win their remaining three matches if they are to stand a chance of advancing to the playoffs.

Asia has eight direct slots for the next Fifa World Cup which will be a 48-team tournament.

Eighteen teams have been divided into three groups of six each in the third round of the Asian qualifiers.

The UAE have been drawn in Group A with Qatar, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea.

South Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine and Kuwait are competing in Group B while Group C features Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China and Indonesia.

The top two teams from each group will qualify directly for the World Cup. The third and fourth-placed teams in each group will then compete in the six-team fourth round of qualifiers.

The six teams in the fourth round will be divided into two groups of three teams. The winners of each group will earn the last two direct slots for the World Cup, while the two runners-up teams will be locked in a playoff battle.

The winner of the Asian playoff will then advance to an inter-confederation playoff tournament featuring five other teams for the final two slots in the World Cup.

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