With the FIFA World Cup growing to 48 teams, opportunity is knocking for Asia. Now guaranteed eight direct entrants to the expanded tournament, as well as the chance to make it nine through an intercontinental playoff, the long-standing dominance of the continent’s World Cup places by Japan, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran is set to be challenged by a new cohort of nations. And while two members of that old guard in Japan and Iran were the first to punch their tickets to 2026 over the past week, fresh faces are increasingly closing in on history of their own.

Having established themselves as arguably the best side in the world outside of the Europe-South America duopoly, Japan became the first nation to qualify for the 2026 World Cup during the March window, securing passage to North America via a 2-0 win over Bahrain. Australia, meanwhile, remain well-placed to claim Group C’s other automatic qualification slot after recording back-to-back wins over Indonesia and China, but will be made to work for it in June after Saudi Arabia followed up their 1-0 win over China by holding the Samurai Blue to a 0-0 draw in Saitama, keeping the Green Falcons within three points of the Socceroos.

Over in Group A, an 83rd-minute equaliser from Internazionale attacker Mehdi Taremi ensured that Iran would also be going to North America, salvaging a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan and making their gap on the third- and fourth-placed United Arab Emirates and Qatar unassailable. Needing to beat North Korea to give themselves any chance of overhauling the Uzbeks for the other automatic qualification slot in the group, the U.A.E. added to the remarkable scenes across the continent when Sultan Adil netted a 98th-minute winner to secure a 2-1 triumph. The late goal, however, proved too little, too late for coach Paulo Bento, who was axed as the Emirates coach on Wednesday. Elsewhere, Qatar defender Lucas Mendes saw red just three minutes after scoring an equaliser, meaning that the two-time defending Asian champions will, at best, be forced into a further round of qualifiers after falling to a 3-1 defeat to the Kyrgyz Republic.

After drab affairs with Oman and Jordan made it three straight 1-1 draws, South Korea and Son Heung-Min continue to stumble but, for now, remain atop Group B. They were then given an unexpected boost late on Tuesday when Palestine, needing a win to maintain their faint hopes of a historic World Cup berth in play, scored in the 88th and 98th minutes to complete a heart-stopping come-from-behind win against Iraq. Stunned, the Iraqis not only inadvertently left defender Akam Hashem behind when the team bus left the stadium, but also engaged in crisis talks surrounding the future of coach Jesús Casas in the hours following, with some reports indicating he was set to be fired.

– Asian World Cup qualifying group tables

Iraq’s slip up was also of benefit to AFC Asian Cup finalists Jordan, who moved into outright second in the group with their draw against South Korea. Palestine will now enter June’s international window with games against Kuwait and Oman needing to overcome a four-point gap between themselves and the Omanis if they are to remain in qualifying.

Here are the main talking points from what was another topsy-turvy round of games in World Cup qualifying across Asia.

Can Japan win the World Cup?

Excluding co-hosts United States, Mexico and Canada, Japan became the first team to qualify for the World Cup when they secured a top-two finish in Group C.

While the Samurai Blue have never made it beyond the round of 16, the Japan Football Association have an official target of becoming world champions by 2050 — but coach Hajime Moriyasu has not been afraid to set his sights on doing just that well ahead of time.

So could they?

On paper, Japan have a formidable squad brimming with numerous players starring in Europe’s most prominent leagues, even if they do not exactly have a standout world-class name like Hidetoshi Nakata, Keisuke Honda or Shinji Kagawa from previous eras.

Having previously had his fair share of detractors for perceived overly conservative tactics, Moriyasu has, in this campaign, done the exact opposite with an adventurous 3-4-2-1 formation — where it seems the plan is to simply slot in as many attackers as possible. Kaoru Mitoma and Ritsu Dōan, goal-scoring attackers for their club sides, are being deployed as wing-backs and linking up with the equally creative Takefusa Kubo and Takumi Minamino, who occupy the two attacking midfield berths. Prominent Europe-based players such as Daichi Kamada, Kyōgo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda cannot even get into the starting XI at the moment, such is the depth of quality at Moriyasu’s disposal.

Make no mistake: Japan have the quality to go deep into the latter stages of the 2026 World Cup.

But, as Tuesday’s dour 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia illustrated, when coming up against opposition of similar quality who decide to sit back, Japan can still struggle to find a breakthrough. For all the adventure that Japan have been showing when they are the powerhouses on the continental stage, it still remains to be seen if Moriyasu will stick to his guns when they come up against the best teams in the world. — Gabriel Tan

Jackson Irvine, superstar

Jackson Irvine has always been a lethal weapon when he is able to arrive late into the box with direct, purposeful runs. That quality was on show this window as the Socceroos midfielder netted a brace in Australia’s 5-1 win over Indonesia, before going on to open the scoring in their 2-0 win over China. The wins moved Australia to within touching distance of a place at the 2026 World Cup, realistically only needing a draw away to Saudi Arabia in their final game to go to a sixth-straight tournament.

One of only two players to start all six games of Tony Popovic’s nascent tenure as coach, Irvine has established himself as the first name on the Socceroos teamsheet during this cycle, and that level of responsibility and importance for his nation will only grow if he can consistently start banging in goals. A player finding a new level to their game in their 30s isn’t exactly common, but, playing week-in-and-week-out in the Bundesliga as the skipper of St. Pauli seems to have done just that for the 32-year-old, with the elevated level of competition to be found in the German top flight forcing him to adapt or perish in a new role and with new responsibilities.

It’s not just on the field where Irvine looks to be boosting Australia’s fortunes, though, nor in his role as president of the Australian players’ union. Because with every win that the Socceroos record, Irvine increasingly looks like could be emerging as the kind of mainstream men’s star Australian football hasn’t had for several years — arguably since Tim Cahill — by the time 2026 rolls around.

Articulate and friendly, socially conscious, and culturally aware, there’s few better ambassadors the Socceroos could hope for. — Joey Lynch

Who can step up for South Korea when Son doesn’t fire?

Given his reputation as one of football’s good guys, it has not exactly been fun to see Son struggle for form with Tottenham Hotspur this season.

And his woes have since been duplicated on the international stage, with the South Korea captain firing blanks in successive 1-1 draws against Oman and Jordan. Son even felt a need to publicly apologise after the first match against Oman, and his cause was not helped by being deployed as the focal point in attack against Jordan. As many Spurs fans will attest, that is just not where he plays his best football — even if he will always give it his all.

Considering how often in the past Son has dragged South Korea to victory, he can be forgiven for a couple of off days. Instead, South Korea should have enough quality individuals to step up when he is down, so who exactly should they be turning to?

The obvious answer is Lee Kang-In and, while he did provide the assist for Hwang Hee-Chan‘s goal against Oman, the Paris Saint-Germain man was conspicuously absent on Tuesday after picking up an ankle injury. Given his Premier League credentials, Hwang also looms as a potential candidate, but he is yet to step out of Son’s shadow despite the fact that he should be in his prime at the age of 29.

Instead, central midfield duo Lee Jae-Sung and Hwang In-Beom — of Mainz and Feyenoord respectively — often end up being the auxiliary driving force after Son, although neither are advanced enough nor have the necessary X-factor to be a consistent game changer for South Korea. — Tan

Kluivert’s rollercoaster start as Indonesia boss

Following the shock decision to part ways with Shin Tae-Yong, who had presided over Indonesia’s rise from the doldrums to being one of the emerging nations in Asia, the appointment of Dutch legend Patrick Kluivert was always going to receive a mixed reception given his lack of notable coaching experience.

Kluivert could not have asked for a worse start as Indonesia were thrashed 5-1 by Australia in his first match at the helm, leading to social media chatter calling for his immediate dismissal.

Admittedly, these comments likely emanated from the pro-Shin camp — of which there are still plenty — but it was crucial that Indonesia responded in their next outing, which proved to be the case as they beat Bahrain 1-0.

The victory would have tasted even sweeter given the bad blood between the two sides. In their previous meeting, Indonesia cried foul over the amount of added time that was allowed at the end of the match, which allowed the Bahrainis to bag an unlikely 99th-minute equaliser.

In the prematch news conference on Monday, Bahrain coach Dragan Talajić fanned the flames further when he took a dig at Indonesia, basically questioning why a country of nearly 300 million had a majority of naturalised Dutch players in their national team.

It was one such individual — Ole Romeny — who emerged as the match-winner against Bahrain, which should give the Indonesia faithful plenty of smug satisfaction. More importantly, the result keeps Indonesia within touching distance of second-placed Australia and Saudi Arabia in third, while they now have a three-point advantage over bottom-placed nations Bahrain and China. — Tan

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Popovic: I wish Kluivert well, but not against us

Australia head coach Tony Popovic talks about the challenge of facing Indonesia in a key World Cup qualifier and competing against Dutch legend Patrick Kluivert.

Uzbekistan rise, Qatar stumble

For most fans around the globe, the White Wolves probably wouldn’t be on their radar or, if they were, only in the context of their young star Abdukodir Khusanov recently securing a move to Manchester City. For observers of Asian football, however, Uzbekistan have long been considered a side on the rise; it thought to be just a matter of time until their consistent success at youth level eventually translated into success by its senior side.

Despite now-former coach Srecko Katanec stepping down due to ill-health at the start of the year, the Central Asian powers took another major step towards a first World Cup appearance during the March window; defeating a 10-man Kyrgyz Republic 1-0 before securing a 2-2 draw with Iran in Tehran, a result that could have easily been a win that secured qualification had it not been for Taremi’s late equaliser.

Currently four points clear of the third-placed U.A.E. in Group A and now under the guidance of 119-time Uzbek international Timur Kapadze, the Uzbeks will instead have a chance to make history in the first game of the June window, when they host the Emiratis in Tashkent. Five days later they will travel to face Qatar in a game that might not mean a lot to them at that point, but could prove make-or-break for The Maroons.

After securing a place in the 2022 World Cup as hosts — the first time they had ever appeared at the tournament — the Qataris had been expected to be one of the main beneficiaries of the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams. Hassan Al-Haydos and Co. are the two-time defending Asian Champions, after all, and the significant investment that was put into the squad for their home World Cup just didn’t dissipate the second it ended.

But Luis García’s side — Qatar are onto their fourth coach since Félix Sánchez’s five-year tenure ended after the 2022 tournament — is now seven points back of the second-placed Uzbeks with just two games remaining. Perhaps even more concerning, their upset 3-1 loss to the Kyrgyz Republic on Tuesday leaves them at risk of being of being overhauled by the White Falcons and eliminated entirely from qualifying in June. — Lynch