Baghdad – IA
Saudi Arabia aspires to rise from its decline when it hosts Bahrain, today, Tuesday, in Jeddah in the fourth round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in football, while the Qatar national team faces a difficult challenge against Iran.
The Saudi national team began the third round with a disappointing draw with its guest, Indonesia (1-1), then won in the last breath in China (2-1), before losing at home to Japan (0-2), which increased the pressure on its Italian coach, Roberto Mancini. The green is level with Australia and five points away from leaders Japan.
The last meeting between the two teams was in the Gulf Cup final (2019) and ended with Bahrain winning (1-0), while the last visit of the Bahraini to Saudi Arabia witnessed Al-Akhdar winning 3-0 in the Gulf Cup (2014).
For its part, Bahrain is looking for the first qualification in its history, as its results declined after its shocking victory on the soil of Australia, with a loss to Japan (0 – 5) and a draw with Indonesia, which is fighting with China for the bottom places in the third group.
In a match between two teams that reached the eighth final of the World Cup (2022), Australia hopes to achieve its first victory on Japanese soil and its first overall since (2009) in Melbourne (2-0).
In the first group, Qatar faces a difficult challenge when it meets Iran in Dubai, after the match was moved from Mashhad due to the security situation.
Qatar defeated Kyrgyzstan (3-1), recovering from a humble start with a loss at home to the UAE (1-3) and a draw with North Korea (2-2).
The champion of the last two editions of the Asian Cup raised his score to four points, on goal difference from the third UAE, while Iran shares the lead with Uzbekistan.
The confrontation will be revenge for Iran, which lost to Qatar (2-3) in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.
After wasting victory in the last minutes against North Korea, the UAE embarks on a difficult trip to the land of Uzbekistan.
In a second group, in which at least one Arab team will be guaranteed to reach the finals, Kuwait will be the guest of Palestine in Doha. Due to the security situation, while Jordan plays third with (4) points with Amman fourth with (3) and South Korea leads with (7) with Iraq second with (7) in an awaited summit.