Uruguay rematch? Socceroos’ World Cup mission just got even tougher

The Socceroos’ road to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has become even more treacherous after Asia’s play-off winners were drawn to face a South American team in a sudden-death qualification showdown.

The draw for the intercontinental play-offs was conducted by FIFA on Saturday morning (AEDT), and the outcome has further underlined the importance of Australia clinching automatic qualification.

The path ahead for Aziz Behich and the Socceroos isn’t getting any easier.Credit: Getty

It means if the Socceroos finish third in Group B and can beat the other third-placed team in Asia’s other group – currently the United Arab Emirates – they will likely face Peru, Colombia, Chile or Uruguay on June 13 or 14 in a one-off clash for a spot at the World Cup.

Graham Arnold would have been hoping for Asia to land a kinder play-off opponent, such as Oceania’s best team or the fourth-placed side from CONCACAF, the North and Central American confederation.

But now that Asia’s play-off winners have been drawn to face CONMEBOL’s fifth-placed team, Arnold and his players will be even more desperate to avoid the intercontinental path completely and unseat either Japan or Saudi Arabia, who currently occupy the group’s top two positions.

The good news is their destiny remains firmly in their hands: they’ll need to not only beat Vietnam (home) and Oman (away) in the next international window, but most likely secure a result against Japan (home) or Saudi Arabia (away) to confirm a top-two spot and the direct qualification for the World Cup that comes with it.

Ordinarily, the third-place Asian play-off and the intercontinental play-off would take place over two legs each, home and away. But FIFA last week confirmed that both fixtures would be single-legged and staged at a neutral venue due to the scheduling challenges posed by the pandemic - so even if the Socceroos did happen to win their way through to a rematch with Uruguay, for example, there will be no repeat of the scenes from November 2005 at a jam-packed Stadium Australia, where the country’s 32-year World Cup drought was ended by John Aloisi’s famous penalty.

The Socceroos were forced down the intercontinental route last time under Ange Postecoglou, but managed to confirm their spot at the 2018 World Cup in Russia after getting past both Syria and Honduras.

Asked about the Socceroos’ position in qualifying earlier this week, Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said he was not concerned and remained confident that Arnold’s men will get to the World Cup directly.

“We shouldn’t be disheartened at this point,” Johnson said.

“The Socceroos have lost one game in the year 2021. We do have two very winnable matches that we’ll be playing in January ... we’re expecting six points for those matches. Japan and Saudi will also play against each other during that window, so if we get six points, there will be movement, and that sets up a real interesting March window when we play Japan here and Saudi away.

“So I don’t think there’s anything to be concerned about at this point, I think we’ve got every chance of going through directly, and if we don’t, we will be playing in June in play-offs, which we’re confident we can do as we did in the last qualifiers in 2018.”

New Zealand, meanwhile, have been granted a much easier pathway to the World Cup with Oceania’s top side likely to face Panama. Qualification for Oceania has not even begun yet, and won’t until March, but the All Whites are considered unbackable favourites to come through.

Meanwhile, one of the past two European champions, Italy and Portugal, will not be in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after they were drawn in the same path for the European qualification playoffs on Friday.

World Cup qualifiers

European playoff draw (home side first)

Path A

Semi-final 1: Scotland v Ukraine

Semi-final 2: Wales v Austria

Path B

Semi-final 3: Russia v Poland

Semi-final 4: Sweden v Czech Republic

Path C

Semi-final 5: Italy v North Macedonia

Semi-final 6: Portugal v Turkey

Intercontinental playoff draw

AFC team (Asia) v CONMEBOL team (South America)

CONCACAF team (North America) v OFC team (Oceania)

The 12 teams – 10 of which finished runners-up in their groups – were split into three four-team paths, each with its own semi-finals and final. Seeded teams were guaranteed a home game in the semi-finals.

The winning team from each path qualifies for the World Cup in Qatar, meaning Italy and Portugal cannot both reach the tournament.

Italy, who won the Euros earlier this year, and 2016 European champions Portugal will play their semi-final games at home against North Macedonia and Turkey, respectively.

Should the two heavyweights advance, Portugal will have home advantage in the final.

“It could have been a little better, for sure.” Italy coach Roberto Mancini said. “We are confident and positive, especially in the more difficult moments.

“As we would have gladly avoided them [Portugal], probably they too would have avoided us. We will have to play a great match [against North Macedonia], then we will see in the final.”

Failure to advance would be a major blow for four-times World Cup winners Italy, who did not reach the 2018 edition – the first time they had missed out on qualification in 60 years.

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