the final games in the group

[Doctor DOOM]

seeing how the group has gone, I think the fate of the second team as well as the play-off team will be decided only by the last matchday.


considering that our last game is played several hours BEFORE our two rivals' and they go into the game fully aware of what they need ( no thanks to AFC's miserable planning ), how many of you think saudis would put in their 100% maximum effort to win?

would they take the easy, less stressful route of playing to a drab draw?
or .... ?

[zereshk-ali]

I'm afraid that Saudi will likely get at least a draw against an unmotivated South Korea in Seoul.

Presuming we beat UAE and Saudi beat South Korea then a draw would be good enough for them. However, don't forget that Saudi and North Korea would likely also be fighting it out for the second automatic spot. If Saudi only draw against South Korea, then they would need to beat North Korea to finish second due to North Korea's better goal difference.

The likelihood is that we will need to beat UAE and South Korea, and in all honesty I would be a bit ashamed to go to the world cup having only won 2 of our 8 group games.