The sixth and final matchday concluded with five teams booking their place in the next stage as Kuwait, DPR Korea, China PR, Kyrgyz Republic and Indonesia joined Korea Republic, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Palestine, Qatar, Japan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Uzbekistan, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Australia in the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the AFC Asian Cup Finals.

But all is not lost for the sides that missed out on the top two spots as the bottom two sides from each of the nine groups will be part of the 24 teams that will battle for six available spots in the 2027 tournament during the third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.

Qatar’s Almoez Ali and Korea Republic’s Son Heung-min finished the second round of the qualifiers as its joint top scorers with seven goals from the group stage. Both will now hope to continue their goalscoring form in the third round and take their sides to the next FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Ayase Ueda bagged six goals for Japan to finish behind Ali and Son while China PR’s Wu Lei, Jordan’s Musa Al Taamari and Iran’s Mehdi Taremi netted five times each. 

Just like Matchday Three and Four, the final set of the second round fixtures also saw four players register hat-tricks to help their nations finish the qualification campaign in style.

 

Oman’s Abdulrahman Al Mushaifri (vs Chinese Taipei), Iran’s Taremi (vs Hong Kong, China), DPR Korea’s Ri Jo Guk (vs Myanmar) and Lebanon’s Hassan Maatouk, in his farewell match against Bangladesh, all scored hat-tricks for their sides. 

Australia and Japan went through the second round of the qualifiers without conceding a single goal. While Japan scored 24 goals and conceded none in a group that had DPR Korea, Syria and Myanmar, Australia scored 22 goals without reply in Group I which also featured Palestine, Lebanon and Bangladesh.

 

The Socceroos and Samurai Blue are also two among the three sides who won all six of their group outings – the other being Iraq who maintained a perfect record in Group F, competing against Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. 

Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic and Palestine were among the 18 teams who booked their place in the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the trio will be making their debut in this stage when it kicks off in September.

 

Palestine had already confirmed their progress before Matchday Six, but the other two squeezed through on Tuesday after Indonesia defeated the Philippines 2-0 and Kyrgyz Republic snatched a point from a 1-1 draw against Oman to progress at the expense of Malaysia from Group D. 

Indonesia accounted for the highest attendance during the double-header in their historic 2-0 win against the Philippines on Matchday Six when 64,942 fans attended the match at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, while Korea Republic followed suit when 64,935 fans gathered at the Seoul World Cup Stadium to see the Taeguk Warriors register their fifth win in Group C against visitors China PR, courtesy of a Lee Kang-in goal.

Team Garuda also attracted the third highest attendance as 60,245 fans turned up for their 2-0 loss to Iraq on Matchday Five. India legend Sunil Chhetri’s farewell game at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium, meanwhile, attracted a crowd of 58,921 on June 6.

As many as 331 goals were scored from 107 matches during the second round of the Asian Qualifiers at an average of 3.09 goals per game.

 

Hajime Moriyasu’s Japan were the team to score the most goals, netting 34 times in six matches while Australia followed closely behind with 22 goals and Korea Republic came in at third place with a tally of 20 goals. 

Nepal collected their first point of the second round on Matchday Six after a 2-2 draw with Yemen in Dammam, and it could have been more, had it not been for a 91st-minute equaliser from Mohammed Al Dahi for the West Asian side.

 

After the Yemenis took the lead through a Nasser Al Gahwashi penalty in the ninth minute, Sanjeeb Bista equalised for Nepal in the 22nd minute before Gillespye Jung Karki pulled them 2-1 up. Vincenzo Annese’s side were seconds away from bagging all three points only for the opposition to muster a late equaliser. 

And finally, India and Lebanon bid goodbye to their captains and two of their nation’s greatest-ever players as Sunil Chhetri and Hassan Maatouk brought down the curtains on their national team careers after Matchday Five and Matchday Six respectively. Chhetri’s illustrious international spell, which spanned for almost two decades, saw him net 94 goals in 151 matches finishing as the fourth highest men’s international goalscorer of all time as he featured for the last time for the Blue Tigers in a 0-0 draw against Kuwait at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

Maatouk, on the other hand, had a blistering end in his farewell appearance after scoring a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Bangladesh at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan. The Cedars legend accounted for 26 goals in 123 matches as the nation’s all-time top-scorer and most capped player signed off in style.