WC Qualifying Review (Round 3 MD3 & 4)

We’re edging closer to the half way point of the final stage in World Cup qualification, and the landscape remains pretty open for those still hoping to keep their chances of reaching Russia in 2018 alive. The big matches of the last week concerned those at the top of the leader board, with Australia hosting Japan (in a 1-1 draw) and Korea Republic travelling to Iran (to lose 1-0). Outside of this there was a first win for new Qatar boss Jorge Fossati, while Syria and Iraq also collected their first wins of the stage. Looking back on the last week, here is my key player, team and talking point of the international window.

The Player

The Japan national team is going through somewhat of a slump at present, so it’s worth wondering where they would actually be now if they weren’t spurred along by Genki Haraguchi. The Hertha Berlin midfielder who returned to national team duty last summer after a few years away, has been a revolution in this final stage of qualification, scoring in the last three qualifiers, while eclipsing the effect of under-pressure playmaker Shinji Kagawa. Assuming Japan return to playing a typical striker next month, when they return home, Haraguchi again is firm favourite to take the spot of Kagawa on the left hand side; a great swing in preference from coach Halilhodzic that has occurred only recently.

Haraguchi’s involvement over the last year has been of the less spectacular kind; an all action midfielder that fills in the gaps, while the likes of Kagawa are given room to create. His recent performances however have combined both his functional aspects with the more attractive, adding goals to his work he conducts across the pitch for the team. Equally effective on the left or right, Haraguchi has gone from being on the fringes of the squad to a firm favourite in the line-up.

His first goal this week, the opener against Iraq came through a perfectly timed run to the front post before back heeling it past Mohammed Hameed. Controversy may have ensued as Hiroshi Kiyotake was clearly offside in the build-up, but Haraguchi didn’t wait around for the flag. His second, the Tuesday after showed again his expertly timed running skills, dissecting the Australian back line before coolly slotting past Matt Ryan for another game opening goal. You may point out that Haraguchi was the unfortunate party to concede the second half penalty later on, but we’ll put that down to an occupational hazard of a midfielder who makes an impact in both boxes, unlike that of the under-performing Kagawa. 

The Team

Despite recording back-to-back victories in the first two matches of the stage, Saudi Arabia were very fortunate to have anything more than 1 point, after some debatable penalty awarding and generally some sub-standard finishing by their opponents. The challenge was expected to be considerably upped when they faced Australia and UAE this week, but the Green Falcons soared to collect another 4 points to surprisingly lead the way in Group B after 4 matches.

From the first minute in Jeddah against Australia, Saudi Arabia’s game plan had demonstrably improved from September. Pressing high up the pitch immediately against Asia’s inform team, they not only rushed the Socceroos’ attacking plays, but they spurred their own opportunities, through the ever improving Nawaf Al-Abed and Yehya Al Shehri on either flank. The Saudis may have lost the lead, going down 2-1 into the second period, but rebounded impressively through substitute Nasser Al-Shamrani, and could’ve easily found a winner late on.

The same organisation was shown against UAE after the weekend, but this time after they took the lead there was no looking back, comfortably putting their Emirati neighbours to the sword 3-0, including a potential goal of the year contender from Fahad Al-Muhwallad to open the rout. While Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk continues to generally look disinterested in Saudi football off the pitch, on it - he’s honed the wealth of talents at his disposal into a team now looking to upset the balance and qualify for the World Cup. Up next the real test to their development, an away trip to Japan.

The Talking Point

Chinese football continues to hog the headlines, with mainly western media outlets choosing to jump on any piece of negative news coming out of the country’s development since the well-publicised government injection of cash into the Chinese Super League. It’s hardly breaking news that the national team is still a way behind the elite in Asia, with little chance of qualifying for the World Cup, and so it ran according to trend that they recorded back to back defeats this week seeing coach Gao Hongbo resign from his post minutes after their 2-0 defeat in Uzbekistan.

The worthy discussion however surrounds their future direction. For a country starting at the bottom of the ladder with an ambition of competing for the World Cup trophy itself in the next 40 years, you’d assume some sort of foundations will have been established. However the complete opposite seems to be in place, with Gao’s last four games as coach of the national team seeing more short term decisions and plenty of grasping of straws in hope of picking up WCQ points rather than prioritising any worthwhile long term development experience.

Changes galore were made ahead of the Syria defeat last Thursday, before 7 more were made ahead of Uzbekistan. None seemed to be calculated, none seemed to be looking further afield than the present, and none seemed to be considering the fledgling talent they have. The worry is that China may be trying to run before they can walk, were they realistically thinking they could qualify for Russia? 

Whoever replaces Gao in the coming weeks or month, will need a long term plan spelt out. This team needs an identity, but it needs to be realistic with the quality it already has. To expect within a few years of spending big on overseas talent and academies, to then qualify for a World Cup at the first attempt would’ve been sadly amiss. The fact they are pretty much out already may at least force them to reconsider their position in Asia let alone the world and look to the long term.