The UAE national football team discover their fate on Tuesday when the draw for the third round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup takes place in Kuala Lumpur.
ROAD SO FAR
The UAE confirmed their progression to this stage by finishing runner-up to Saudi Arabia in Group A during the recently concluded second round of qualification.
Last month's double-header against Palestine and the Saudis proved pivotal, with the UAE taking four points, including the 1-1 draw with the group leaders at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
The UAE therefore finished second in their pool, three points worse off than Saudi, and qualified as the third best runner-up from the eight groups.
POT LUCK
Twelve teams have qualified for the final stage of qualification: the eight group winners from Round 2 and the four best runners-up.
They will be placed in six pots of two, based upon their official Fifa world ranking. Given the UAE now sit 68th in the global standings, they occupy Pot 4 alongside China.
The respective pots, with current world ranking in brackets, are:
Pot 1: Iran (42), Australia (50)
Pot 2: South Korea (56), Japan (57)
Pot 3: Saudi Arabia (60), Uzbekistan (66)
Pot 4: UAE (68), China (81)
Pot 5: Qatar (83), Iraq (105)
Pot 6: Syria (110th), Thailand (119th)
Read more:
UAE football in 2018 World Cup qualifying: Guide to what comes next
Hosting 2022 World Cup is ‘an extra motivation’ for Qatar to qualify for Russia 2018
DRAWING LOTS
The draw is held at the Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur at 12:30pm UAE time. The 12 teams will form two groups of six, with each team playing 10 matches (five home and five away) under the round-robin format.
The first fixtures are scheduled for September 1. The winner and runner-up of each group qualify for the World Cup, while the third-placed teams take on each other in a play-off.
That victor then faces the team that finishes fourth in the fifth round of the Concacaf qualifiers across two legs, with the winner booking a spot at the finals in Russia.
BEST/WORST SCENARIO
The UAE, who have only once before qualified for the World Cup (in 1990), face a difficult task because of their seeding.
Of the potential permutations, Mahdi Ali’s men can probably best hope for a group containing Iran, Japan, Uzbekistan, Iraq and Thailand.
Conversely, a pool comprising Australia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Syria would perhaps be considered the most arduous.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
