DUBAI — A 1-1 draw with the United Arab Emirates was enough to see Saudi Arabia through to the third round of qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup as Group A winner following the conclusion of the Preliminary Round 2 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers Tuesday.
The UAE was still in with an outside chance of over taking top spot in the the table, if the 2015 AFC Asian Cup semifinalist could win by 3-0 or more but that scenario looked increasingly unlikely when Taiseer Al-Jassam put the Saudis a goal up on 24 minutes at the Mohmmed Bin Zayed Stadium.
The home side dominated large parts of Tuesday’s derby and was worthy of at least a point, which came courtesy of a superb strike from Al-Ain star Omar Abdulrahman seven minutes into the second half.
With both sides ending with a point apiece, the Saudis finished top of Group A with 20 points, three clear of the UAE, which was denied a draw when the two sides met in Jeddah back in October thanks to a stoppage-time Al-Sahlawi penalty.
Saudi Arabia joins group winners Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Thailand and Qatar and the other three best second-place teams United Arab Emirates, Syria and Iraq in the final stage for the 2018 tournament in Russia.
China, helped by a slip-up from North Korea, scraped through to the final phase of World Cup qualifying in Asia Tuesday after beating future host Qatar 2-0 in a nervy Group C showdown between the continent's super rich.
While the Qataris could relax having already qualified for the 12-team third round as group winner, China needed to win in Xi'an and hope other results went its way in order to grab one of the four best runners-up spots across the eight groups.
Failure to advance would have been a backward step for a country that has flushed its domestic game with millions of dollars spent on foreign talent and youth academies following a soccer reform plan backed by President Xi Jinping.
Its blushes were spared, however, as Huang Bowen scored in the 58th minute and Wu Lei notched in the dying stages to grab the required win, which, coupled with Jordan's 5-1 loss to Australia, North Korea's surprise 3-2 defeat in the Philippines and Oman's failure to win in Iran, sent it through.
Huang told Xinhua that head coach Gao Hongbo, who stepped in for the final two games after Alain Perrin's sacking, deserved praise.
"He told us maybe 2018 was the last edition for the players of the age group from 1985 to 1989 and encouraged us not to give up even if there was only one percent of hope," the Guangzhou Evergrande midfielder said.
Asian champion Australia was involved in the first do-or-die contest of the night in Group B but Tim Cahill scored twice in a comfortable win over Jordan to advance to the third round and also the 2019 Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
"They were a much stronger team than we were," Jordan’s manager Redknapp told Australian media. "They were sharper. I suppose it's difficult with the fitness levels with the lads mostly playing in Jordan in the football there, which is not such a high standard and I thought that showed tonight. There was a big gulf in class tonight."
Japan also racked up the goals in a 5-0 home rout of Syria, which joined the Samurai Blue in advancing from Group E as one of the best runner-up despite the defeat.
Former Asian champion Iraq was another side to scrape through in second place after it edged Vietnam 1-0 in Tehran to join pool winner Thailand in escaping Group F.
Iran, which qualified for the last World Cup in Brazil, topped Group D after beating runner-up Oman 2-0 in Tehran thanks to a Sardar Azmoun brace, while Uzbekistan advanced from Group H following a 1-0 win over Bahrain.
North Korea would have followed the Uzbeks out of the group and into the third round if it had held on to a 2-1 lead in Manila but the 2010 World Cup finalist crumbled spectacularly, conceding twice in the last six minutes to gift China passage.
China has only ever qualified for one World Cup in 2002 despite the game enjoying widespread popularity in the world's most populous nation. The 2002 campaign was also the last time it had reached the final stages of qualifying in Asia.
In other matches Afghanistan edged Singapore 2-1, Lebanon drew with Myanmar 1-1, Turkmenistan beat India 2-1, Kyrgzstan downed Tajikistan 1-0, Palestine routed East Timor 7-0 and Maldives beat Bhutan 4-2.
The draw for the third round, where the 12 teams will be split into two groups and the top two from each advance to Russia 2018, will take place on April 12.
