HexagonalBlog

Bahrain to the playoff

Bahrain advanced to the AFC/CONCACAF playoff after drawing 0-0 with Uzbekistan in Manama today.  They win the series on the away goals rule (drawn 1-1 on aggregate) and will travel to either Guatemala or Trinidad & Tobago for the first leg of the playoff next month.

I think the Uzbeks will be talking about and stewing over this series for the next four years, and perhaps a lot longer than that.

The Asian playoff, redux

They finally replayed the first leg of the Asian playoff between the third-placed teams in the final round.  Last Saturday, Bahrain and Uzbekistan drew 1-1 in Tashkent, a result that strongly favors Bahrain heading into Wednesday's return match in Manama.  Both coaches sounded realistic and at the same time optimistic about their team's chances after the first leg.  I think Bahrain has the edge, especially if Ala'a Hubail (leading scorer at the Asian Cup) is able to play a full 90.

While We're Talking About Asia

The FIFA ruling on the Uzbekistan-Bahrain playoff continues to create reprecussions.  The Uzbek website UzReport.com has several articles on reaction to the decision.  I do find it interesting  that not even the Bahrain coach was pleased with the ruling, because he would not be able to keep the team together during the next four weeks as he did during the summer.  But I had read an article several days before that expressed his satisfaction at the result because a couple of his injured players had more time to recover, so you just don't know.

In response to a commenter of my previous post on the subject, I don't think there anything untoward happened that influenced the decision at FIFA House, but I don't remember hearing about an international match that had to be replayed because of a referee's mistake.  I do recall hearing about a Bundesliga match in '94 (Bayern Munich-Nürnberg) that was ordered to be replayed because of a referee's mistake, so perhaps the Organizing Bureau were using that precedent (two members of the Bureau are European).  If it were up to me, I would have let the result stand and suspend the referee from all international matches.

FIFA will do the latter, and that's the only decision that will make everyone happy.

Dates for AFC/CONCACAF Playoff

On Saturday, FIFA announced the schedule for the two intercontinental playoff matches for the World Cup.  The AFC/CONCACAF matches will be November 12 and 16, with the first match hosted by the CONCACAF team.

My initial take on the playoff dates is that the order benefits the Asian team.  My back-of-the-envelope estimate from a brief survey of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines is that a flight to either Bahrain or Tashkent will take at least 20 hours with 3-4 connecting points, and the players may not arrive in Asia until Monday or Tuesday.  So the players might have 24-36 hours to recover from the jet lag, get a practice session in, and prepare the nerves for the biggest soccer match in their country's history.

Man am I glad the US team won't have to deal with this.

The Asian playoff, Leg 1

Uzbekistan and Bahrain played the first leg of the Asian Zone playoff on Saturday in Tashkent.  Uzbekistan won 1-0 on a goal by their long-standing captain Mirdjalal Kasimov after 12 minutes.  They will seek to maintain their advantage in Manama on Wednesday -- the winner will play the fourth-placed CONCACAF team in November.

But hold everything!!  FIFA just declared the results from that match to be invalid and have ordered that the match be replayed!  The controversy came when Uzbekistan were given a penalty by Japanese referee Toshimitsu Yoshida in the first half.  The penalty was successful, but a Uzbek player entered the area before the shot was taken.  Instead of ordering the kick to be retaken per FIFA regulations, Yoshida awarded an indirect free kick to Bahrain.  I had not heard of that change to the rules, and neither did FIFA, so they asked that the match be replayed.

The new dates of the playoff will be October 8 and 12.   October 12 will be a very dramatic day, as the final round of the Hexagonal will be played that day.

The Asian playoff

While the CONCACAF qualifiers were going on, the Asian qualifying matches were wrapping up.  The only match that mattered was the Uzbekistan-Kuwait match in Tashkent.  Despite trailing 2-0 in the first half, the Uzbeks (under former Switzerland coach Bobby Houghton) scored on a penalty before the break, then took control of the match and completed the comeback with two goals in the last half hour. 

So it's Uzbekistan against Bahrain on September 3/7 for the right to play the CONCACAF 4th place team.  I still think that the AFC/CONCACAF playoff will pair some weak teams, but the road trips are going to be interesting indeed, especially if Uzbekistan can cause an upset.

CORRECTION (10/10): I confused one English manager with another; it was actually Roy Hodgson who managed the '94 Swiss team.  Bobby Houghton has yet to take a national team to the World Cup.  I've corrected the text above.

A glance at Asia

We're halfway through qualifiers in this region, and Asia is almost done with theirs, so perhaps it's worth it to cast a glance on the possible opponents in the CONCACAF/AFC playoff.  Oh my goodness...I've said that whoever advances out of the playoff will get trounced at the World Cup, but I didn't realize just how weak the remaining Asian sides really are.  Bahrain is sure to enter the 3rd place playoff.   All of their losses have been by the minimum, along with the home draw against Iran and the away win against North Korea.  As a matter of fact, all of their goals in the final round were in that match in Pyongyang.  In the other group, Kuwait has also managed to score just two goals (all in their 2-1 win over Uzbekistan) but has let in 10 goals in five matches.  What is more amazing is that Uzbekistan (W0 D2 L3 GF4 GA 9) can still catch them in the standings if they beat the Kuwaitis in Tashkent on the 17th!

Right now I think that Bahrain will advance to the playoff against the CONCACAF 4th place team, but I'd love to see the Uzbeks win their final match and then pull off a big surprise in the playoff with Bahrain.  Now THAT would be a road trip!