Under 23s suffer major blow

The Qantas Australian Under 23s have suffered a blow to their London 2012 Olympic Qualifying campaign, with FIFA overtuning a crucial result in their group.

The Qantas Australian Under 23s have suffered a major blow in their Olympic Qualifying campaign with FIFA awarding three points to the United Arab Emirates after Iraq fielded an ineligible player in their November 27 encounter.

FIFA reversed the result of Iraq's win over UAE as a sanction for fielding Jasim Faisal who was suspended and should have missed the match.

Iraq were deducted the three points for the win, which were then transferred to the UAE who were awarded a 3-0 win.

The end result means UAE and Uzbekistan now share the lead atop the group with eight points each, sending Iraq to the bottom of the group with just one point, moving Australia up to third.

With games in hand against the UAE on February 22 in Dubai and Iraq on march 14 in Gosford the Under 23s squad now knows they must win both matches to qualify for the London Olympic Games.