Almost all Asian countries that competed in World Cup 2022 are seemingly on their way to returning to World Cup 2026 after they all started their campaigns on the right track.
South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and former hosts Qatar have won their first two qualifier matches, so they’re on top of their respective groups.
Malaysia, UAE, and Iraq have also achieved the same results, so their World Cup 2026 odds of qualifying for the big dance just got better. On the other hand, the race is wide open in Group E, with all four participating countries within arm’s reach of one another.
Just in case you missed the action during the international break, don’t fret, as SBOTOP is here to recap the latest World Cup 2026 results from the Asian region.
South Korea, Qatar, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Australia in pole position
Japan are easily the standout team, following back-to-back 5-0 victories against Myanmar and Syria. As a result, they boast the best goal difference in the Asian qualifiers at +10.
Ayase Ueda has been the catalyst for the Samurai Blue because he is the competition’s current joint-top scorer, with five goals alongside Qatar’s Almoez Ali. The Feyenoord forward scored a brace in the second game after scoring a hat-trick in the first.
Besides Ueda, Daichi Kamada, Ritsu Doan, Takefusa Kubo, Yukinari Sugawara, and Mao Hosoya have also found the back of the net for Japan.
Qatar also have a +10 goal difference because they recorded 11 goals, although they’ve conceded once. They began their campaign with an 8-1 thrashing of Afghanistan, and yesterday they defeated India handily, 3-0.
As mentioned earlier, Almoez Ali is the team’s leading scorer in this competition. He scored a whopping four goals against Afghanistan before adding one more against India.
South Korea are in pole position in the top-heavy Group C with wins over Singapore (5-0) and China (3-0). The blowout win against Singapore was expected given their talent gap, while the win against China in Shenzhen was mainly because of Heung-Min Son’s brace.
Australia, meanwhile, started their campaign with a 7-0 rout of Bangladesh but were given a huge scare by Palestine yesterday in a game that ended with a 1-0 scoreline.
With Lebanon, Palestine, and Bangladesh yet to win a single game, the Socceroos pathway to the next round is more straightforward compared to the other topnotchers so far in the qualifiers.
And last but not least, we have Saudi Arabia, who were the last team that managed to beat defending World Cup champions Argentina.
The Green Falcons notched 4-0 and 2-0 wins against Pakistan and Jordan, respectively, and Saleh Alshehri, who scored one of the goals to beat Argentina 2-1, has been their talisman with four goals thus far.
Malaysia, UAE, and Iraq can join in too
Malaysia have never qualified for the World Cup, while UAE (1990) and Iraq (1986) have only qualified once, so all of them feel a huge sense of urgency to make it back as soon as possible. The good news, though, is that all of them have won two straight games to start their campaigns.
Malaysia eked out a 4-3 win against Krygyzstan and a 1-0 victory against Chinese Taipei. Dion Cools is currently their top scorer with two goals.
Iraq have notched a 5-1 blowout of Indonesia before grinding out a 1-0 victory against Vietnam to claim the top berth in Group F.
UAE, meanwhile, have recorded a 4-0 win against Nepal and a 2-0 win over Bahrain. 33-year-old winger Ali Mabkhout is in the running for the competition’s Golden Boot since he already has three goals for Al-Abyad.
Like Malaysia, UAE are on top of their group, but they cannot be complacent because they only have a three-point lead over the two teams below them.
Group E is up for grabs
Iran and Uzbekistan have four points apiece, while Turkmenistan and Hong Kong have one point each. Since Iran (+4) have a better goal difference than Uzbekistan (+2), they are occupying the top spot, at least for now.
Iran scored a 4-0 win against Hong Kong before being held to a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan. Mehdi Taremi, Sardar Azmoun, and Ramin Rezaelan have been the standouts for Team Melli, with two goals each.
Before the draw against Iran, Uzbekistan recorded a 3-1 win against Turkmenistan. Otabek Shukurov has been their attacking protagonist, with two goals as well.
Hong Kong and Turkmenistan played out a 2-2 draw yesterday, which is probably the main reason why their World Cup 2026 hopes are still alive.
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