AFC International Week Focus (October)

We’re now a month closer to the Asian Cup in Australia, with qualified nations gearing up their preparation over October’s international break. Further to their upcoming continental commitments in January, many West Asian sides are set to finely tune their squads ahead of the Gulf Cup taking place in Saudi Arabia next month. Here’s a run-down of all 16 AC qualified nations and whether they’ve succeeded in this international window or are in need of greater improvement over the coming months.

 

Good Week

 

Qatar are gearing up impressively ahead of both the Gulf Cup and Asian Cup after three back-to -back victories this week. The achievement was even more impressive considering their opponents, either side of a comfortable 5-0 victory over Lebanon, Qatar eased past Asian Cup dark horses Uzbekistan before concluding the week with a narrow victory over January’s hosts Australia. Three goals from Meshaal Abdulla capped a brilliant week for the Qataris who have great hopes of going far in both tournaments in the coming months.

 

China PR also continued an impressive up-turn in form, as they made it four games unbeaten with a 3-0 win over Thailand and a 2-1 victory over Paraguay. Widely disregarded as also-rans, the latter result has firmly put China back on the minds of many pundits ahead of Australia. The credentials of Palestine are also improving month-by-month after they themselves collected two wins from two this week. Victories away in India and Pakistan went some way to allay fears of destabilisation after long-term manager Jamal Mahmoud resigned last month.

 

Others who had impressive weeks were Kuwait and Iran. The former overcame their 55 position ranking deficit to come away from a double header in Jordan unbeaten. Seemingly off the pace previously, Kuwait now look an appealing prospect in the Gulf Cup next month. Iran themselves, have been all over the place as usual from an organisational point of view. Two wins from two inspired by striker Sardar Azmoun on an unofficial tour of Portugal will go some way to calm the nerves of their supporters, but a stiffer test against Korea Republic next month should push them further.

 

Average Week

 

The two big guns in East Asia; Japan and Korea Republic are going through flux at present after both changed their coaches since their World Cup exits in the summer. Both recorded a win and a loss over the week which leaves them both with room to improve. Javier Aguirre continued to tinker with his Japanese squad, and despite a solid 1-0 win over Jamaica, they were thoroughly hammered by a Neymar inspired Brazil side in Singapore. Korea on the other hand picked up their first win of Uli Stielike’s tenor against Paraguay before limply falling to Costa Rica.

After a comprehensively impressive September, Uzbekistan struggled in October with back-to-back blanks away from home, losing 3-0 to Qatar, before a goalless draw with Bahrain. A return to form with a 4-0 away win over UAE suggests they merit their Asian Cup dark horse tag, but there’s still some work to be done. As there is with Gulf Cup hosts’ Saudi Arabia who clinched two home draws during the window. An eye-catching 1-1 draw with Uruguay wasn’t followed up sufficiently with a disappointing draw with Lebanon by the same score line.

 

Another two to feel slightly deflated are Bahrain and Iraq, after they shared the spoils with a goalless draw in Ar Rifa to finish the week. Bahrain’s solidity hasn’t been in question, but scoring goals continues to be a problem. A 0-0 draw against Uzbekistan in Dubai was a good result, but draws can only go so far when the Gulf Cup kicks off. Iraq, had promised to threaten at both tournaments but have gone off the boil of late. A 1-1 draw with Yemen that preluded the Bahrain draw won’t have gone down too well back at home.

 

Bad Week

 

Ange Postecoglou celebrated 10 matches in charge of Australia this window, but failed to clinch another victory to his portfolio over the week. A solid but far from spectacular 0-0 draw away in UAE was followed up with a 1-0 defeat to Qatar. While their squad and general play up until and during the World Cup impressed many, Postecoglou can’t get away from a miserable record of winning only two of his first 10 matches in charge.

 

Despite their draw with the Socceroos, UAE finished their week miserably with a home hammering by Uzbekistan. Up until then, the Emirati’s had drawn their last four, with goal scoring becoming a real headache for them ahead of the Gulf Cup. No such problem for Oman who scored 3 against World Cup overachievers Costa Rica. However, going down 4-3 in the end to the Central Americans, plus a 3-0 home defeat to Uruguay isn’t great news for their leaky defence.

 

From one struggling side to another as Ray Wilkins’ term as manager of the Jordan national side started poorly. In back-to-back home matches against Kuwait, Jordan were regularly second best and ended up picking up only one draw. Despite their high FIFA rank, Jordan have been in disarray of late after numerous managerial changes, something Wilkins will hope to change next month as they take on Korea Republic.

 

The other Korean nation travelling to Australia in January, Korea DPR continued not to play any official public friendlies this international break, an inactive period that now stretches back 8 months. This will come to an end in November, after organising four friendly matches against Qatar, Hong Kong, Guam and Chinese Taipei.