#asian-cup-qualification

#asian-cup-qualification

Maika Hamano scored in the 27th minute, fooling Lilly Reale and sending a left-footed shot over goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce's outstretched hand, securing Japan's victory.

Nestory Irankunda netted twice amid a four-goal, 17-minute explosion that saw his side run out 5-1 victors over Curacao, marking his first goal with a Jackson-inspired celebration.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held the draw on Wednesday to determine the quarterfinal pairings, a day after announcing that the western zone playoffs that were postponed because of the war in the Middle East have been rescheduled for April 13-14 in Jeddah.

Iraq hasn't qualified for a World Cup for 40 years, it's a big challenge with a lot of pressure and they are a nation of 46 million that are obsessed with football.

At the end of the day, it's the federation who should decide if they're playing, and as of today, the federation has told us that they are going to the World Cup. They are our member. We want them to play. You know, they qualified, so we hope that they will solve their issues, whatever it is, and be able to participate.

Hosts Australia continue their campaign aiming to reclaim the Asian Cup crown they last won in 2010. After beating Philippines and Iran, a draw against South Korea saw them finish their group stage campaign.

The 50-year-old has taken quite a jump from Canada, a huge country where soccer is not the biggest sport, to Indonesia, a huge country where it definitely is. If he can repeat his 2022 heroics for 2030, he will be a hero to a nation of 280 million people who are just desperate to return to the global stage.

Cynics may say it is no coincidence the J.League has introduced penalty shootouts to replace draws just before the World Cup. Japan have identified the quarter-finals as the target this summer after failing to progress past the last 16 on three of the past four occasions, with two of those disappointments coming after failures from the spot. The 2022 tournament was the worst, with the Samurai Blue, who should have seen off Croatia during normal time, losing the shootout 3-1 in dismal fashion.

This will be the 21st edition of the quadrennial tournament, which is the biggest international women's football competition for nations in the Asian Football Confederation. The tournament will begin on Sunday, 1 March with a group stage consisting of three groups of four teams. Members of the same group will face each other in a round-robin format until they have played three matches each.