Only one team, however, managed to reach the last ten.

Asian champions Iraq, Oman, Kuwait, Syria and Saudi Arabia lost little time in culling the men at the helm of their campaign but only the ’Sons of the desert’, who were a point removed from a berth in the next round when the baton changed hands, succeeded in booking progression.

The first coach to join the ranks of the jobless was Norwegian Egil Olsen whose five-month stint at the helm of Iraq came to an unceremonious end after a 1-1 stalemate with China at home in early February. The Asian champions put their faith in the tried and tested Adnan Hamad who had steered them to a fourth place finish in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Despite a 2-0 defeat to Qatar, Hamad, AFC Coach of the Year in 2004, managed to resurrect the team with successive wins over Australia and China but faltered in the last round when a lacklustre display saw their World Cup dreams ended by a solitary goal defeat to Qatar.

A 1-1 draw at home against the UAE on the second matchday proved not to the liking of the Syrian football chiefs and coach Fajr Ebrahim was ousted in favour of illustrious Al Karama boss Mohamed Kwid who inspired his men to a solitary goal win in the next match against Kuwait, costing his counterpart Rodion Gacanin his Kuwait job.

The Syrians, however, fell to Kuwait, now under Mohamed Ibrahim, in the return match 4-2 before a 2-0 defeat to Iran left them with a mountain to climb – to be more precise, needing a 3-0 scoreline win against the UAE. In the event, they won 3-1 but failed to make the cut due to a slightly inferior goal difference.

Uruguayan Julio Cesar Ribas became Oman’s fourth coach to be booted out in just over two years after the West Asians crashed to a 3-0 defeat to former Asian champions Japan on matchday 3 at the beginning of June. Ribas had taken over from Argentine Gabriel Calderon just three weeks before the qualifiers.

The Uruguayan’s replacement Hamad Al Azzani, fresh from his heroics at Al Nahda who he had led to the AFC Cup last eight, drew on his 2006 experience with the national team when he was handed over the reins after Srecko Juricic’s dismissal, and the Omanis drew two of their remaining matches before winning the last encounter. But the surge proved too late and they had to be content with finishing third in their group.

Kuwait’s Gacanin joined the scrap-heap the same day as Ribas after their 1-0 defeat to the Kwid-led Syrians on matchday 3 and the Kuwaiti Football Association turned to local legend and Al Qadsia coach Mohamed Ibrahim with high hopes.

After all, it was the 46-year-old Ibrahim who had negotiated the tricky path to the final round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers at the expense of China.

Kuwait did win the next match handsomely against Syria but a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to the UAE dumped the West Asians out of the reckoning before Iran left their cup of woes overflowing with a 2-0 defeat in the last round.

The last foreign coach to be ejected was Brazilian Helio dos Anjos who is best known for guiding Saudi Arabia to the final of last year’s AFC Asian Cup™ where they lost to Iraq.

The writing was on the wall for the Brazilian after a heavy 3-0 mauling at the hands of Uzbekistan in the second round and a narrow 2-1 win over lightweights Lebanon on the fourth matchday was enough for the pink slip to be handed over to Dos Anjos.

The unfinished job was entrusted to salted veteran Nasser Al Johar who had led the Saudis to the runners-up position in the AFC Asian Cup 2000 in Lebanon and also the FIFA World Cup 2002 Finals where they failed to clear the group stage.

Under Al Johar, the Saudis scored confident wins over Singapore (2-0) and Uzbekistan (4-0) to sew up their qualification and keep alive their dreams of yet another tilt at World Cup glory.