Home and away for Asian World Cup qualifiers<\/p>\n
ZURICH (AFP): The final Asian World Cup qualifying round will
\nbe played on a home and away basis, soccer's governing body FIFA
\ndecided Monday.<\/p>\n
Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain and Singapore had bid to hold a finals
\ntournament as in past Asian qualifying competitions.<\/p>\n
But FIFA's World Cup Organizing Committee, chaired by Lennart
\nJohansson, decided against a single tournament venue Monday.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia and South Korea -- who played in the 1994 USA
\nWorld Cup -- were seeded.<\/p>\n
They will be kept apart when two groups of five teams are
\ndrawn Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The other eight which will go into Tuesday's draw are China,
\nIran, Kazakhstan, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and
\nUzbekistan.<\/p>\n
The winner of each group will automatically qualify and the
\nrunners-up in each group will play-off for the right to directly
\nqualify for the World Cup finals in France next year.<\/p>\n
The loser of the playoff will face Australia, the Oceania Zone
\nwinners, on a home and away basis for a place in France.<\/p>\n
The decision to abandon the tournament format met with a mixed
\nreception from Chinese officials.<\/p>\n
"It's a big change," said Wang Junsheng, the Chinese Football
\nAssociation general secretary. "The timing for the second round
\nhad been decided last year and our league has been arranged
\naccording to that schedule. It will take at least eight to 10
\nweeks for our league to finish.<\/p>\n
"We will have to re-arrange everything, including the league
\nand the preparation for the national team.<\/p>\n
"Frankly, though, home and away is a fair competition, but our
\nproblem is with the timing," he said.<\/p>\n
Chinese coach Qi Wusheng was pragmatic.<\/p>\n
"I have no choice," he said. "The decision has been made so we
\nwill have to get ready and we will have to get the team into camp
\nas soon as possible.<\/p>\n
"The fans will be happy about this and, of course, the players
\nwill have a good opportunity to play well in front of their own
\npeople," he said.<\/p>\n
Venue<\/p>\n
A decision will be made Aug. 12 whether the European Group 9
\nWorld Cup qualifying match between Albania and Northern Ireland
\ncan be played in Albania as scheduled, FIFA announced Monday.<\/p>\n
Football's international governing body said it had decided to
\nwait another three weeks before deciding whether the match should
\nbe switched from the Albanian capital Tirana.<\/p>\n
The match is due to be played in Tirana on September 10 but
\nhas been put in doubt by the volatile political situation in
\nAlbania.<\/p>\n
Two of Albania's previous home matches, against Germany and
\nUkraine, were played in Spain for security reasons.<\/p>\n
The bureau of FIFA's World Cup organizing committee said
\nrecent developments in Albania necessitated the further delay in
\nmaking a decision.<\/p>\n
The FIFA bureau also decided that three qualifying matches
\npostponed for various reasons, Gabon vs Sierra Leone, Syria vs
\nKrygzstan and Yemen vs Uzbekistan should be played for reasons of
\nprinciple, even though the results can no longer affect the
\nqualifying process.<\/p>",
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