2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for Asia.

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
Tournament details
Teams39 (from 1 confederation)
Qualification for
championships (AFC)

44 Asian teams are affiliated with FIFA, but Cambodia, Philippines, Bhutan and Brunei decided not to take part, and Myanmar was banned from the competition (for refusing to play a qualifier in Iran during 2002 qualifying), so a total of 39 teams took part, competing for 4.5 places in the World Cup.

The qualification was composed of three rounds. Only the 14 last ranked teams according to FIFA took part in the Preliminary Round, where they were paired 2-by-2 and played home-and-away knock-out matches. The 7 winners joined the other 25 teams in the Second Round, where those 32 teams were divided in 8 groups of four teams each. The teams in each group would play against each other home-and-away, and the team with most points in each group would advance to the Third Round.

In the Third Round, the 8 remaining teams were divided in two groups of 4 teams each, that would again play against each other in a home-and-away basis. The two teams with most points in each group would qualify to the World Cup. The two third placed teams would play-off against each other home-and-away. Winner of this play-off would play against the fourth placed team in the Final Round of CONCACAF in an intercontinental play-off for a place in the World Cup.

Tiebreakers

If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams will be ranked as follows:

  1. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams
  2. goal difference in matches between the tied teams
  3. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams
  4. goal difference in all group matches
  5. greater number of goals scored in all group matches
  6. a play-off on neutral ground, with extra time and penalties if necessary (in qualifying)
  7. drawing of lots (at the final event)

This is a change from the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where total goal difference was the first tiebreaker.

First round
Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC First Round
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Turkmenistan  13–0  Afghanistan 11–0 2–0
Chinese Taipei  6–1  Macau 3–0 3–1
Bangladesh  0–4  Tajikistan 0–2 0–2
Laos  0–3  Sri Lanka 0–0 0–3
Pakistan  0–6  Kyrgyzstan 0–2 0–4
Mongolia  0–13  Maldives 0–1 0–12

Guam and Nepal were scheduled to play against each other on November 21 and 25; Nepal withdrew, so Guam progressed to the 2nd round, but Guam later withdrew.

FIFA then decided to elect a "lucky loser", to select the best of the teams that lost, to advance to the Second Round.

The losers were compared, using the following criteria to break ties: a) number of points; b) goal difference; c) goals scored.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Laos 2 0 1 1 0 3 −3 1
 Bangladesh 2 0 0 2 0 4 −4 0
 Macau 2 0 0 2 1 6 −5 0
 Pakistan 2 0 0 2 0 6 −6 0
 Afghanistan 2 0 0 2 0 13 −13 0
 Mongolia 2 0 0 2 0 13 −13 0
Source:

Laos advanced to the Second Round.

Second round
Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Second Round

In the second round, the 25 teams who received byes, as well as the 7 play-off round winners, were split into eight groups of four teams each. Teams played home-and-away games with the other teams in their group, and the top-ranked team qualified for the third round.

Group 1
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Iran 6 5 0 1 22 4 +18 15 — 0–1 3–1 7–0
 Jordan 6 4 0 2 10 6 +4 12 0–2 — 1–0 5–0
 Qatar 6 3 0 3 16 8 +8 9 2–3 2–0 — 5–0
 Laos 6 0 0 6 3 33 −30 0 0–7 2–3 1–6 —
Source:

Group 2
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Uzbekistan 6 5 1 0 16 3 +13 16 — 1–1 3–0 6–1
 Iraq 6 3 2 1 17 7 +10 11 1–2 — 4–1 6–1
 Palestine 6 2 1 3 11 11 0 7 0–3 1–1 — 8–0
 Chinese Taipei 6 0 0 6 3 26 −23 0 0–1 1–4 0–1 —
Source:

Group 3
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Japan 6 6 0 0 16 1 +15 18 — 1–0 7–0 1–0
 Oman 6 3 1 2 14 3 +11 10 0–1 — 0–0 7–0
 India 6 1 1 4 2 18 −16 4 0–4 1–5 — 1–0
 Singapore 6 1 0 5 3 13 −10 3 1–2 0–2 2–0 —
Source:

Group 4
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Kuwait 6 5 0 1 15 2 +13 15 — 1–0 4–0 6–1
 China PR 6 5 0 1 14 1 +13 15 1–0 — 7–0 4–0
 Hong Kong 6 2 0 4 5 15 −10 6 0–2 0–1 — 2–0
 Malaysia 6 0 0 6 2 18 −16 0 0–2 0–1 1–3 —
Source:

Group 5
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 North Korea 6 3 2 1 11 5 +6 11 — 0–0 4–1 2–1
 United Arab Emirates 6 3 1 2 6 6 0 10 1–0 — 1–0 3–0
 Thailand 6 2 1 3 9 10 −1 7 1–4 3–0 — 1–1
 Yemen 6 1 2 3 6 11 −5 5 1–1 3–1 0–3 —
Source:

Group 6
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Bahrain 6 4 2 0 15 4 +11 14 — 2–1 4–0 5–0
 Syria 6 2 2 2 7 7 0 8 2–2 — 2–1 0–1
 Tajikistan 6 2 1 3 5 9 −4 7 0–0 0–1 — 2–1
 Kyrgyzstan 6 1 1 4 5 12 −7 4 1–2 1–1 1–2 —
Source:

Group 7
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 South Korea 6 4 2 0 9 2 +7 14 — 2–0 2–0 2–0
 Lebanon 6 3 2 1 11 5 +6 11 1–1 — 0–0 3–0
 Vietnam 6 1 1 4 5 9 −4 4 1–2 0–2 — 4–0
 Maldives 6 1 1 4 5 14 −9 4 0–0 2–5 3–0 —
Source:

Group 8
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Saudi Arabia 6 6 0 0 14 1 +13 18 — 3–0 3–0 3–0
 Turkmenistan 6 2 1 3 8 10 −2 7 0–1 — 3–1 2–0
 Indonesia 6 2 1 3 8 12 −4 7 1–3 3–1 — 1–0
 Sri Lanka 6 0 2 4 4 11 −7 2 0–1 2–2 2–2 —
Source:

Third round
Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Third Round

In the third round, the 8 teams who won their groups in the earlier round were split into two groups of four teams each. Teams played home-and-away games with the other teams in their group, and the top two teams qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, the third-placed teams entered a play-off to determine who would contest the AFC–CONCACAF play-off.

Group 1
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Saudi Arabia 6 4 2 0 10 1 +9 14 — 2–0 3–0 3–0
 South Korea 6 3 1 2 9 5 +4 10 0–1 — 2–1 2–0
 Uzbekistan 6 1 2 3 7 11 −4 5 1–1 1–1 — 3–2
 Kuwait 6 1 1 4 4 13 −9 4 0–0 0–4 2–1 —
Source:

Group 2
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Japan 6 5 0 1 9 4 +5 15 — 2–1 1–0 2–1
 Iran 6 4 1 1 7 3 +4 13 2–1 — 1–0 1–0
 Bahrain 6 1 1 4 4 7 −3 4 0–1 0–0 — 2–3
 North Korea 6 1 0 5 5 11 −6 3 0–2 0–2 1–2 —
Source:

Fourth round
Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Fourth Round

Teams finishing 3rd in the third round groups played each other to determine a possible 5th qualifier from Asia. The first leg was originally played on 3 September 2005 but the match was ordered to be replayed by FIFA after a refereeing mistake. With Uzbekistan leading the tie 1-0, a penalty was awarded to them but the referee disallowed the resulting goal and offered an indirect freekick to Bahrain for encroachment. Uzbekistan had formally requested for the match to be recorded as an automatic 3-0 victory.[1]

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Uzbekistan  1–1 (a)  Bahrain 1–1 0–0

Bahrain advanced to the AFC–CONCACAF play-off on the away goals rule.

Inter-confederation play-offs
Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF–AFC play-off)

The Fourth Round winner then played the fourth-placed team of the CONCACAF qualifying group, Trinidad and Tobago, in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals.

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Trinidad and Tobago  2–1  Bahrain 1–1 1–0

Qualified teams

The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
 Saudi ArabiaThird Round Group 1 winners8 June 20053 (1994, 1998, 2002)
 JapanThird Round Group 2 winners}8 June 20052 (1998, 2002)
 South KoreaThird Round Group 1 runners-up8 June 20056 (1954, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)
 IranThird Round Group 2 runners-up8 June 20052 (1978, 1998)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers
9 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
1 own goal
gollark: Which also keeps winning against people.
gollark: So it uses an *incredibly* bad MCTS-type thing.
gollark: It's not that mathy, I just don't quite understand minimax and α-β pruning.
gollark: How?
gollark: Well, the size is very easy to change.

References
  1. "Uzbekistan and Bahrain to play it again". ESPN. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
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