2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
Listed below are the dates and results for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for Asia.
44 Asian teams are affiliated with FIFA, but Cambodia, Philippines, Bhutan and Brunei decided not to take part, and Myanmar was banned from the competition (for refusing to play a qualifier in Iran during 2002 qualifying), so a total of 39 teams took part, competing for 4.5 places in the World Cup.
Format
The qualification was composed of three rounds. Only the 14 last ranked teams according to FIFA took part in the Preliminary Round, where they were paired 2-by-2 and played home-and-away knock-out matches. The 7 winners joined the other 25 teams in the second round, where those 32 teams were divided in 8 groups of four teams each. The teams in each group would play against each other home-and-away, and the team with most points in each group would advance to the Third Round.
In the third round, the 8 remaining teams were divided in two groups of 4 teams each, that would again play against each other in a home-and-away basis. The two teams with most points in each group would qualify to the World Cup. The two third placed teams would play-off against each other home-and-away. Winner of this play-off would play against the fourth placed team in the final round of CONCACAF in an intercontinental play-off for a place in the World Cup.
First round
Guam and Nepal were scheduled to play against each other on November 21 and 25; Nepal withdrew, so Guam progressed to the 2nd round, but Guam later withdrew.
FIFA then decided to elect a "lucky loser", to select the best of the teams that lost, to advance to the second round.
The losers were compared, using the following criteria to break ties: a) number of points; b) goal difference; c) goals scored.
Laos advanced to the second round.
Second round
In the second round, the 25 teams who received byes, as well as the 7 play-off round winners, were split into eight groups of four teams each. Teams played home-and-away games with the other teams in their group, and the top-ranked team qualified for the third round.
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Group 7
Group 8
Third round
In the third round, the 8 teams who won their groups in the earlier round were split into two groups of four teams each. Teams played home-and-away games with the other teams in their group, and the top two teams qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, the third-placed teams entered a play-off to determine who would contest the AFC–CONCACAF play-off.
Group 1
Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Uzbekistan advanced to the AFC playoffs.
Group 2
Japan and Iran qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Bahrain advanced to the AFC playoffs.
Fourth round
Teams finishing 3rd in the third round groups played each other to determine a possible 5th qualifier from Asia. The first leg was originally played on 3 September 2005 but the match was ordered to be replayed by FIFA after a refereeing mistake. With Uzbekistan leading the tie 1–0, a penalty was awarded to them but the referee disallowed the resulting goal and offered an indirect freekick to Bahrain for encroachment. Uzbekistan had formally requested for the match to be recorded as an automatic 3–0 victory.
Bahrain advanced to the AFC–CONCACAF play-off on the away goals rule.
Inter-confederation play-offs
The Fourth Round winner then played the fourth-placed team of the CONCACAF qualifying group, Trinidad and Tobago, in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals.
Qualified teams
The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Goalscorers
There were 401 goals scored in 136 matches (including 2 international play-offs), for an average of 2.95 goals per match.
9 goals
Ali Daei
6 goals
A'ala Hubail
Lee Dong-gook
Ali Ashfaq
Begençmuhammet Kulyýew
5 goals
Husain Ali
Ilham Jaya Kesuma
Bashar Abdullah
Maksim Shatskikh
4 goals
Vahid Hashemian
Hong Yong-jo
Bader Al-Mutawa
Badar Al-Maimani
Yasser Al-Qahtani
Alexander Geynrikh
3 goals
Talal Yousef
Hao Haidong
Li Jinyu
Huang Wei-yi
Javad Nekounam
Razzaq Farhan
Qusay Munir
Takashi Fukunishi
Mitsuo Ogasawara
Takayuki Suzuki
Badran Al Shagran
Roda Antar
Ali Nasseredine
Sergey Chikishev
Ibrahim Fazeel
Ahmed Thoriq
Roberto Kettlun
Saad Al-Harthi
Sami Al-Jaber
Ibrahim Sowed
Rejepmyrat Agabaýew
Guwançmuhammet Öwekow
Mohamed Omer
Server Djeparov
Mirjalol Qosimov
Anvarjon Soliev
Phan Văn Tài Em
2 goals
Li Xiaopeng
Shao Jiayi
Chen Jui-te
Chu Siu Kei
P. Renedy Singh
Arash Borhani
Reza Enayati
Mehdi Mahdavikia
Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht
Ebrahim Taghipour
Salih Sadir
Ahmad Mnajed
Tatsuhiko Kubo
Yuji Nakazawa
Masashi Oguro
An Yong-hak
Kim Yong-su
Kim Do-heon
Lee Young-pyo
Park Chu-young
Mesaed Al Enezi
Faraj Laheeb
Evgeny Boldygin
Mohamed Nizam
Ahmed Mubarak
Mohamed Al Hinai
Amad Ali
Khalifa Ayil Al-Naufli
Taysir Amer
Safwan Habaib
Sayed Ali Bechir
Mubarak Fazli
Waleed Hamzah
Waleed Jassem
Talal Al-Meshal
Mohammad Al-Shalhoub
Mohammed Noor
Indra Sahdan Daud
Raja Rafe
Yousef Shekh Eleshra
Pirmurod Burkhanov
Numonjon Hakimov
Akmal Kholmatov
Yusuf Rabiev
Kiatisuk Senamuang
Nazar Bayramov
Wladimir Baýramow
Leonid Koshelev
Ali Al Nono
1 goal
Duaij Naser Abdulla
Mohamed Hubail
Mohamed Husain
Salman Isa
Sayed Mahfoodh
Li Weifeng
Sun Jihai
Xu Yunlong
Yu Genwei
Chang Wu-yeh
Chiang Shih-lu
Chuang Yao-tsung
Kwok Yue Hung
Ng Wai Chiu
Wong Chun Yue
Elie Aiboy
Ismed Sofyan
Budi Sudarsono
Mohammad Nosrati
Rahman Rezaei
Nashat Akram
Ahmad Salah Alwan
Saad Attiya
Hussam Fawzi
Younis Mahmoud
Emad Mohammed
Jassim Swadi
Toshiya Fujita
Akira Kaji
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
Shunsuke Nakamura
Shinji Ono
Naohiro Takahara
Keiji Tamada
Atsushi Yanagisawa
Abdelhadi Al Maharmeh
Haitham Al Shboul
Hatem Aqel
Moayad Mansour
Awad Ragheb
Mustafa Shehdeh
Mahmoud Shelbaieh
An Chol-hyok
Choe Chol-man
Kim Chol-ho
Nam Song-chol
Ri Han-jae
Ri Hyok-chol
Pak Song-gwan
Sin Yong-nam
Ahn Jung-hwan
Cha Du-ri
Cho Byung-kuk
Choi Jin-cheul
Lee Chun-soo
Park Ji-sung
Abdul Al Dawood
Fahad Al Hamad
Hamad Al Harbi
Waleed Jumah
Nawaf Humaidan
Husain Seraj
Vyacheslav Amin
Valeri Berezovsky
Vladimir Chertkov
Azamat Ishenbaev
Emil Kenjisariev
Andrey Krasnov
Phutthadavong Chanthalome
Visay Phaphouvanin
Sengphet Thongphachan
Faysal Antar
Mahmoud Chahoud
Khaled Hamieh
Haitham Zein
Fu Weng Lei
Rosdi Talib
Mohd Amri Yahyah
Assad Ghani
Mohamed Nazeeh
Ali Umar
Ahmed Al Mukhaini
Yousef Shaaban
Francisco Atura
Ziyad Al-Kord
Ahmed Keshkesh
Imad Zatara
Meshal Abdullah
Mohamed Salem Al Hamad
Nayef Al Khater
Saad Al-Shammari
Bilal Mohammed
Nasser Kamil Mubarak
Wesam Rizik
Sami Al-Anbar
Talal Al-Meshal
Fahad Fallata
Saud Kariri
Omar Sulaimani
Khairul Mohd
Channa Ediri
Mohamed Hameed
Kasun Jayasuriya
Dudley Steinwall
Chandradasa Karunaratne
Rathnayake Mudyanselage
Isuru Perera
Jehad Al-Hussain
Mohamad Yehya Al Rashed
Meaataz Kailouni
Sukhrob Hamidov
Sarayoot Chaikamdee
Therdsak Chaiman
Jiensathawong Jakapong
Anon Nanok
Niweat Siriwong
Sutee Suksomkit
Nirut Surasiang
Dovlet Bayramov
Omar Berdiýew
Gurbangeldi Durdiyev
Artem Nazarov
Didargylyç Urazow
Rashid Abdulrahman
Saleh Obaid
Mohamed Rashid
Bakhtiyor Ashurmatov
Marat Bikmaev
Vladimir Shishelov
Nguyễn Minh Hai
Phạm Văn Quyến
Radwan Abduljabar
Akram Al Selwi
Saleh Al-Shehri
Fathi Jaber
1 own goal
Mohamed Salmeen (playing against Japan)
Yahya Golmohammadi (playing against Qatar)
Ebrahim Mirzapour (playing against Japan)
Nitsavong Khoupchansy (playing against Iran)
Battulga Khishigdalai (playing against Maldives)
References
External links
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) at RSSSF.com
FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)