Saudi Arabia again benefit from WCQ scheduling

PFDC – KUALA LUMPUR, While Iran had been scandalously penalized by having to play the final 2010 World Cup qualifier hours ahead of rivals and lower seeds Saudi Arabia and North Korea, Asian Football Conferderation (AFC) and FIFA have now left no stones unturned to prevent Saudi Arabia from suffering a similar fate.

Iran’s 1-1 draw against top-seeds South Korea in 2009 wasn’t enough for the Persians to proceed to the playoffs, as Saudi Arabia and Korea DPR agreed to a lacklustre goalless draw in Riyadh hours later, thanks to the information advantage gained after the final whistle of Team Melli’s game. Back then, neither FIFA nor AFC had been willing to grant Iran the basic right in football to have their final group match played simultaniously to that of their rivals, which is common ever since 1982.

Unsurprisingly, the AFC, usually ruling in favour of Arab Persian Gulf nations, the game between top-seeds Korea Republic and second seeds Iran was of course not scheduled after the game of the two lower-seeded teams.

Now, however, with AFC’s favourites Saudi Arabia being on the brink of elimination, the qualifier between Australia and the green falcons has been postponed to the late evening, so it will be kicked off at the same time as the vital clash between Oman and Thailand.

The final matchday of Asian 2014 World Cup qualification round 3 will take place on February 29, with Iran having already qualified for the next stage.

Meanwhile the release of the next FIFA ranking was postponed to March 7 in order to include the results of the final matchday in Asia. The ranking will then serve to determine the seeding for the final qualification round’s draw on March 9.