Qatar's Abdul Ghafor Murad (R) fights for the ball with Saudi Arabia's Musab Bandar Al-Otaibi during their qualifying match for the 2012 London Olympic Games at the Al-Sadd stadium in Doha last month. — ReutersSINGAPORE — Saudi Arabia takes on Oman in a crunch final round of qualifying pool game for the London Olympics Wednesday. The Kingdom sits in the bottom of the four-team Group A, led by already-qualified South Korea, which last month blanked Oman 3-0. Oman has a one-point advantage over third-placed Qatar as it would try to preserve its playoff spot heading into its final fixture. Elsewhere Japan is primed to join South Korea at the Olympics as it heads into the final round with a three-point cushion. The 1968 bronze medalist needs just a point to guarantee an automatic berth by finishing top of Group B, but a handy goal-difference means it could lose at home to Bahrain and still go through. Syria is strong favorite to hang on to second spot, which would put it into this month's playoffs involving the three group runners-up, as they take on pointless Malaysia at home. Third-placed Bahrain is level on nine points with Syria but it would need to beat Japan by a hatful of goals — two weeks after its full national side beat Indonesia 10-0, prompting a FIFA probe — to reach the playoffs. Australia, which is yet to score in five games, is playing only for pride when it takes on Iraq in Gosford. “It's a bit different because we've had no preparation time at all. It'll probably be a bit hit and miss — the players will probably play on instinct and what they do naturally,” said Australia coach Aurelio Vidmar. “We'll go through a few things of what we expect of them but I know there will be mistakes, which is only normal in a situation like this,” he told the Football Federation Australia website. “But on the flip-side they're all very keen to represent their country and they'll give 100 percent.” Uzbekistan has its fate in its hands as it entertains the United Arab Emirates in Tashkent, needing to win by more than one goal to supplant the Group C leader. In Group A, Oman has a one-point advantage over third-placed Qatar as it looks to preserve its playoff spot heading into its final fixture with Saudi Arabia. Qatar takes on already-qualified South Korea. Men's football is played as an Under-23 tournament at the Olympics, although the rules allow for three over-age players. The three group runners-up will play a round-robin tournament in Vietnam this month with the winner facing Senegal for a place at the Olympics. FIFA concludes visit to Brazil FIFA has concluded a visit to six of the 12 host cities of the 2014 World Cup. A group of about 40 people from FIFA and the local organizing committee travelled to the northeastern city of Natal Monday, the last stop in a seven-day trip across Brazil. They also visited Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Cuiaba and the jungle city of Manaus. The other six host cities had been inspected last year. The inspection group scrutinized local plans for dealing with traffic, security, fan management, commercial partners, marketing, hospitality and media. An official of the local organizing committee said the visits were important to help organizers “evaluate several aspects”.
