DOHA/JEDDAH: Asia’s World Cup playoff group hosts Qatar and Saudi Arabia are back in the finals, following the earlier regional examples of Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea and Uzbekistan.

Qatar, seeded hosts in 2022, qualified on the pitch for the first time after beating the  United Arab Emirates 2-1 in Doha on second-half headers from Boualem Khouki and Pedro Miguel.

Khouki met Akram Afif’s free kick four minutes into the second half to put hosts Qatar ahead and the Asian Player of the Year unlocked the UAE defence again with 16 minutes left, delivering the free kick from which Miguel headed in.

Qatar’s Tarek Salman was sent off in the 89th minute and Sultan Adil pulled one back for the UAE nine minutes later in a nail-biting finish that featured more than 15 minutes of stoppage time.

The win means the Qataris top Group A with four points ahead of the UAE on three and Oman with one in the fourth round of the Asian qualifying competition.

The UAE continue on to a two-legged clash next month against Iraq.

Saudi Arabia claimed a 0-0 draw with Iraq in Jeddah to seal their own qualification for next year’s finals. Herve Renard’s side had only needed a point against Graham Arnold’s Iraq and a stoppage-time save by goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi to keep out Hassan Abdulkareem’s curling free kick ensured progress.

The result means Saudi Arabia win Group B of the fourth round of Asia’s preliminaries, finishing level on four points with the Iraqis but ahead of their neighbours on goals scored thanks to an earlier 3-2 win over third-place finishers Indonesia.

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