A 1-1 draw with the United Arab Emirates was enough to see Saudi Arabia through to the third round of qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup as Group A winners following the conclusion of the Preliminary Round 2 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers on Tuesday. The UAE were still in with an outside chance of over taking top spot in the the table, if the the 2015 AFC Asian Cup semi-finalists could win by 3-0 or more but that scenario looked increasingly unlikely when Taiseer Al Jassam put the Saudis a goal to the good with 24 minutes at the Mohmmed bin Zayed Stadium played. Al Jassam scored his second goal in as many matches following his strike in Saudi Arabia's crucial 2-0 win over Malaysia last Thursday, when he volleyed the ball superbly past UAE keeper Majed Naser after Yahia Al Shehri's cross from the left was headed towards him via Mohammed Al Sahlawi, who consolidated his position as the leading scorer on the Asian qualifiers by scoring the opener against the Malaysians. The home side dominated large parts of Tuesday's Gulf derby and were worthy of at least a point, which came courtesy of a superb strike from Al Ain star Omar Abdulrahman seven minutes into the second half. With both sides ending with a point apiece, the Saudis finished top of Group A with 20 points, three clear of the UAE, who were denied a draw when the two sides met in Jeddah back in October thanks to a stoppage-time Al Sahlawi penalty. Eight group winners will advance to the third round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, as well as straight to the 2019 Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates, along with the four best runners-up. The other four runners-up will progress to the third round of qualifying for the Asian Cup, along with all the third-placed teams and the four best fourth-placed teams. The remaining sides, which will include Bangladesh, will have to negotiate past two rounds of playoffs for one of the final eight spots in the Asian Cup third qualifying round.
