Email
Print
Digg This
By Martin Petty
MANAMA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Australia, Japan and South Korea won their Asian World Cup qualifers on Wednesday to move a step closer to booking their place for South Africa in 2010.
Mark Bresciano's last-gasp goal gave Australia a 1-0 victory in Bahrain to maintain their perfect start to the campaign while Japan thumped Qatar 3-0 away to move into outright second place in the Group A standings.
South Korea beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 to surge to the lead in Group B, two points ahead of Iran, who scored a late equaliser for a 1-1 draw with United Arab Emirates.
Bresciano pounced on a rare defensive mistake by Bahrain to score three minutes into injury time and steal all the points after the Australians had been outplayed for most of the match in Manama.
"We didn't deserve the three points," Australia coach Pim Verbeek told reporters. "It was a tough game, we were never in control.
"One point would have been good for us. I'll say we're lucky to win this game."
The result provided Australia with their third win in the final round of Asian qualifiers and put them in a strong position to reach the World Cup finals with the top two sides from each of the five-team groups guaranteed places.
Japan rebounded from their disappointing 1-1 draw at home with Uzbekistan last month with a comfortable win in Doha to climb to seven points, two behind Australia and three clear of third-placed Qatar, who have already played an extra match. Bahrain and Uzbekistan have a solitary point each.
Tatsuya Tanaka put the visitors ahead in the 19th minute then striker Keiji Tamada and Marcus Tulio Tanaka added goals in the second term to seal Japan's win.
"I had expected a tough match but my players did a good job to win all three points," said Japan coach Takeshi Okada.
"The race is still open and you never know who will qualify in the end."
South Korea scored twice in the last 25 minutes to beat Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.
In-form striker Lee Keun-ho broke the deadlock in the 77th minute before substitute Park Chu-young added the second in stoppage time.
The result lifted South Korea to the top of the Group B standings with seven points, ahead of Iran (five), North Korea (four), Saudi Arabia (four) and United Arab Emirates (one).
Iran captain Karim Bagheri scored from a header with nine minutes remaining to salvage a valuable point for his team in Dubai.
United Arab Emirates skipper Abdul Raheem Jumaa gave his side the lead in the 20th minute but they squandered a series of chances to extend their advantage and had to settle for a draw.
Wednesday's matches were the last Asian qualifiers this year with the next round of fixtures scheduled for February.
