World Cup Asian qualifiers:
Iran coach Qalenoei blames ‘frustrating’ refereeing in Qatar defeat
Iran head coach Amir Qalenoei said his team was left “frustrated and annoyed” by several decisions made by Saudi referee Mohammed Al Hoish in a 1-0 away defeat against Qatar at the 2026 World Cup Asian qualifiers on Thursday.
Qatari defender Pedro Correia found the net in the 41st minute, five minutes after the visitors had gone down to 10 men due a second booking inside three minutes for left-back Milad Mohammadi.
Despite a first defeat in their qualification campaign, Qalenoei’s men, who had already secured a spot in next year’s finals in North America, remained top of Group A with 20 points, while the Qataris confirmed their progress to the fourth round of the qualifiers.
Questioning the Asian Football Confederation’s decision not to pick a referee from Fareast Asia for the game, Qalenoei said: “We had a decent start to the game but there were some refereeing decisions, especially the second yellow card for our player, which caused us to lose confidence at the end of the first half, though we improved in the second half.”
The Iranian coach believed the Saudi official had double standards in his approach to the game.
“He officiated in a way that annoyed and frustrated our team. He kept calling fouls against us and issuing cards, while ignoring similar challenges from Qatari players, letting them get away with it without any punishment,” said the Iranian, whose team had been last beaten in February 2024 – a 3-2 loss to the same opponent in the AFC Asian Cup semifinals.
With some of the key players, namely prolific striker Sardar Azmoun and skipper Alireza Jahanbakhsh, missing the game with injury, Qalenoei fielded a new-look starting XI on Thursday, including Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh and Ali Alipour – the top two leading marksmen in the newly-finished Iranian top-flight season – as well as Sepahan winger Mohammad-Mahdi Mohebbi, who made his senior international debut, and Tractor center-back Aref Aqassi.
“The Iranian league ended early, and some players were out of action for 20 days. Seven of our main players were injured but the young players still impressed today and I am very optimistic about the future,” added Qalenoei.
Iran will finish the qualifiers against bottom-side North Korea at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium on Tuesday.
Double debutants
Uzbekistan and Jordan celebrated a maiden World Cup qualification, while regular qualifier South Korea also booked a place in the finals with a 2-0 win over Iraq in Basra.
Uzbekistan claimed the spot at the expanded 48-team showpiece following a goalless stalemate against the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, which guaranteed Timur Kapadze’s side a top two finish in Group A of the preliminaries alongside Iran.
Foolad Khuzestan goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov made a string of second-half saves to earn his nation a first World Cup qualification since Uzbekistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Elsewhere, Kim Jin-gyu and Oh Hyeon-gyu were on target in the second half for the South Koreans against 10-man Iraq and that win not only secured qualification for Hong Myung-bo’s side from Group B but confirmed Jordan would also progress.
The Asian Cup finalists had beaten Oman 3-0 earlier in the evening through a hat-trick from Ali Olwan, but the Jordanians had to wait for the outcome of Iraq’s game before being able to celebrate their World Cup berth.
Australia also stands on the cusp of a place at the finals after Aziz Behich scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Japan in Perth in Group C.
Victory keeps Australia three points clear of Saudi Arabia, which won 2-0 against Bahrain in Riffa, with one game to play.
Goals from Musab Al-Juwayr and Abdulrahman Al-Obud earned Saudi Arabia a win that put Australia’s celebrations on hold until the two nations meet in Jeddah on Tuesday. The Socceroos’ vastly superior goal difference means they can lose that meeting with the Saudis by up to four goals and still advance to a sixth consecutive World Cup finals as second-placed finishers behind the Japanese.
Indonesia continued its impressive campaign with a 1-0 win over China to guarantee progress to the fourth round, while ending the qualification hopes of Branko Ivankovic’s side.
Goals from Tamer Seyam and Wessam Abou Ali kept Palestine’s chances of going through to the next round intact, with a 2-0 win over hosts Kuwait moving Ihab Abujazar’s side to within one point of Oman in fourth place in Group B.