SOCCER/ Japanese to face Saudi Arabia,persik vs persib bandung Australia in third phase of World Cup qualifiers REUTERS June 27, 2024 at 17:00 JST Yokohama F Marinos' Kouta Watanabe scores in an Asian Champions League match against Al Ain at Yokohama International Stadium, Yokohama, May 11, 2024. (REUTERS) KUALA LUMPU--Four-times Asian champions Japan have been drawn to take on Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China and Indonesia in Group C of the third round of Asia’s qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. South Korea will meet Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine and Kuwait in Group B while Iran take on Qatar, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea in Group A. The preliminaries begin on Sept. 5 and run until June 10, with the winners and runners-up in each group qualifying automatically for the finals in Mexico, the United States and Canada. The third and fourth place finishers in each group will advance to a fourth round, which will determine the continent’s two remaining guaranteed qualifiers. |