Saudi Arabia returns with a point from Australia and retains the lead

The Saudi national team returned with an important negative draw point from Australia, Thursday, in the decisive third round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, so it retained the lead of its group, enhancing its chances of reaching the finals.

This is the first time that the Saudi team has been unable to win in the third round, after four opening victories. It retained the lead with 13 points, three ahead of runner-up Australia.

While two teams qualify directly from the two groups in the third round to the finals, and each third plays a play-off play-off, Saudi Arabia appears confident in its steps towards reaching the World Cup for the sixth time in its history.

In the same group, Japan (6 points) will later replace Vietnam without points, and Oman (6) will play China (3) in Sharjah.

The Saudi team missed goalkeeper Muhammad Al-Owais, Yasser Al-Shahrani and Abdullah Mado due to some injuries and the lack of medical readiness for others, while goalkeeper Fawaz Al-Qarni suffered a right thigh injury during the last training session.

The French coach, Herve Renard, relied on the likes of Abdelilah Al-Omari, Sultan Al-Ghannam, Commander Salman Al-Faraj, Abdel-Ilah Al-Maliki, Muhammad Kanoo and Salem Al-Dosari, who returned again, after his absence from the confrontations with China and Japan due to injury.

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