Saudi Arabia sailed to a victory over Uzbekistan on a final, decisive day of the Asia region’s Round 2 qualifying matches to march on to Round 3 in hopes of qualifying for the World Cup in 2022.
Saudi Arabia cruised past nearest challengers Uzbekistan 3-0 on June 15 to win Group D.
Saudi footballers on the Kingdom’s World Cup team.
Australia, Japan, Korea Republic and Syria had already won their groups, but eight more nations, including Saudi Arabia, joined them after a packed day of matches to close out Round 2.
Iran edged Iraq to win Group C, the United Arab Emirates held off Vietnam to leapfrog their opponents and win Group G, according to a roundup from Fifa.com.
14 matches were played yesterday. Iraq, Oman, China, Vietnam and Lebanon also made it through after finishing among the five best second-placed teams.
Last month, Saudi Arabia’s football federation formally asked FIFA to look at staging biennial World Cups for men and women.
The World Cup in 2022 will be played in Qatar, the first time the event has been played in the Middle East region. Saudi Arabia and Qatar recently put behind them a diplomatic spat that lead to a several years-long severance of diplomatic ties.
Saudi Arabia reportedly has hired Boston Consulting Group to analyze how it could follow Qatar to host the World Cup in 2030.
Saudi Arabia’s team has also secured a trip to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo this year.
