Saudi Arabia will look to seal their place in this year’s World Cup when they take on China at Sharjah Stadium in United Arab Emirates on Thursday evening with kickoff at 18:00.
China were lefty empty handed again in their last AFC World Cup qualifying fixture as they surrendered to a 3-1 defeat to Vietnam at away back in January. China have now lost two consecutive qualifying matches, while have only won one of their eight qualifying matches so far, suffering five defeats in the run.
As a result Li Xiaopeng’s side sit fifth in Group B on five points from eight matches, two points above the rock-bottom Vietnam. They have already been eliminated from the qualifiers and will only be fighting for their pride in this match.
Meanwhile Saudi Arabia have made an impressive qualifying campaign and are on the verge of making it to another World Cup edition. The Green Falcons currently lead Group B with 19 points from eight matches just a point above the second-placed Japan and four above the third placed Australia.
With just two matches remaining a win on Thursday for Saudi Arabia will book them a place in Qatar later in the year, regardless of the result in the Japan-Australia clash.
They will therefore be looking for all three points on Thursday as they look to seal a place in the World Cup finals ahead of the final group match next week. They will be confident of getting the job done as despite losing in the last qualifying fixture, the defeat is their only defeat this season and they overcame China 3-2 in the earlier group match.
China vs Saudi Arabia head to head
Both sides have met in five encounters since 2009 with Saudi Arabia claiming three victories while China have claimed one victory and there have been one draw.
- Saudi Arabia 3-2 China 12/10/21
- Saudi Arabia 0-1 China 10/01/15
- China 0-0 Saudi Arabia 19/11/13
- Saudi Arabia 2-1 China 06/02/13
- China 1-4 Saudi Arabia 04/06/09
Home
- Vietnam 3-1 China
- Japan 2-0 China
- China 1-1 Australia
- China 1-1 Oman
- Saudi Arabia 3-2 China
Away
- Japan 2-0 Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia 1-0 Oman
- Morocco 1-0 Saudi Arabia
- Palestine 1-1 Saudi Arabia
- Saudi Arabia 0-1 Jordan
China team news
China have called up a 24-man squad for month’s matches against Saudi Arabia and Oman. The whole squad is fully fit, but Wu Lei is unavailable as he opted to stay and fight for his place in his club team.
Saudi Arabia team news
Saudi Arabia have called up a 26-man squad, who are all fully fit and ready for selection.
Prediction and odds
- Saudi Arabia win
- Both sides to score
- Goals over 2.5
