Saudi Arabia Vs Japan: Live Score, Preview, Lineup, Telecast Details

FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers
MATCH INFO
MATCH :	Saudi Arabia V/s Japan
COMPETITION :	Round 3
DATE:	10-10-2024
TIME:	11:30 PM IST (UTC +5:30)
STADIUM:	King Abdullah Sports City

Saudi Arabia	Lineup
Possible XI: Owais (GK); Tambakti, Lajami, Kadesh; Abdulhamid, Kanno, Malki, Dawsari; Hamdan, Salem; Buraikan.
Japan	Lineup
Possible XI: Suzuki (GK); Itakura, Machida, Taniguchi; Endo, Morita, Kamada, Doan; Mitoma, Minamino, Ueda.

Preview: Saudi Arabia Vs Japan

The highly anticipated international break is all set to unfold a series of end-to-end games with guaranteed drama and action. Asian heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Japan will lock horns against each other in the third round of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian qualifiers. The Green Falcons played out a 1-1 draw against Indonesia before defeating China in their last outing. They are currently placed second in their group with four points in hand.

Japan, on the other hand, sit at the top of the table with two wins in two games. The Samurai Blue started their campaign with a 7-0 triumph over China before scoring five past Bahrain in the last match. But the test against Saudi Arabia will be the toughest they have faced till now. They have won their last six games and will be keen to continue the momentum..

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About FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers:

History

The Asian section of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will act as qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup for national teams of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). AFC teams have been allocated eight direct qualifying slots and one inter-confederation play-off slot.

The qualification process involves five rounds; the first two also serving as qualification for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.

All FIFA-affiliated nations entered the joint qualification process for both the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup; Northern Mariana Islands, who is not a FIFA member, would have entered through the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification play-off round. However, the AFC excluded Northern Mariana Islands from the draw for the play-off round.

The qualification format was announced on 1 August 2022, having been revamped to fit the increased finals allocation of eight direct qualifiers and one play-off qualifier:

First round: 20 teams (ranked 27–46) played home-and-away over two legs. The ten winners advanced to the second round. The best loser qualified for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification third round, while the remaining teams qualified for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification – play-off round.

Second round: 36 teams (ranked 1–26 and ten first-round winners) are divided into nine groups of four teams. The teams will play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The nine group winners and group runners-up advance to the third round and automatically qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. The remaining teams qualified for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification third round.

Third round: 18 teams which advance from the second round are divided into three groups of six teams. The teams will play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The top two teams of each group qualify directly for the FIFA World Cup, the third and fourth-placed teams advance to the fourth round.

Fourth round: Six third and fourth-placed teams from the third round are divided into two groups of three teams each. The teams will play against each other once in a centralized venue. The winners of each group qualify for the World Cup, and the runners-up of each group advance to the fifth round.

Fifth round: The group runners-up in the fourth round will compete home-and-away over two legs to determine the Asian representation at the inter-confederation play-offs.

The draw for the first and second rounds of joint qualification took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 27 July 2023. The top 26 ranked teams were given byes to the second round, while the 20 teams entering the first round were seeded into two pots of 10 teams each and drawn alternately from pot 1 then pot 2 to form a pairing. The team from pot 1 hosted the first leg and the team from pot 2 hosted the second leg. Pots 1, 2 and 3 for the second round draw contained the teams ranked 1–9, 10–18, and 19–26, respectively, while pot 4 contained placeholders for the ten first round ties. Nine teams were drawn from pot 4 first and placed in position 4 of each group. The tenth team from pot 4 was moved to Pot 3, and subsequently drawn at random from Pot 3. Teams were then drawn into each group sequentially from pots 3, 2, and 1.