Borhani Arash scored a second half penalty on Sunday to boost defending champion Iran's chances of advancing to the Asian Games quarter-finals with a 2-1 win over Hong Kong.
Sota Hirayama scored a late goal to give Japan a 1-0 win over Syria that all but assured a spot in the Asian Games final eight, while China improved its chances of advancing with a 3-1 win.
Sham Kwok Keung opened the scoring in the 8th minute for Hong Kong, before Mazyar Zare Eshghdoost leveled the match in the 39th.
Arash Borhani drove home the winning goal in the 64th minute to give Iran a two point lead over India in Group D heading into final second round match.
Hirayama's header in the 77th minute give 2002 silver medalist Japan the Group F lead with six points. North Korea has four points after it beat Pakistan 1-0 later on Sunday.
The top team in each of the six groups qualifies for the quarter-finals, along with the best two runners-up.
Both teams squandered plenty of opportunities to score, including a Japanese goal that was disallowed in the 41st minute due to a foul on Syrian goalkeeper Mowssab Balhowss.
Zhou Haibin opened the scoring for China in the 41st minute when he capitalized on a fumble from Malaysian goalkeeper Syed Adney.
Gao Lin made it 2-0 seven minutes after the break when he picked up a headed cross from Zhu Ting. Fung Xiaoting sealed the win in the 72nd.
Mohamad Hardi Jaafar scored Malaysia's only goal on a 25m free kick in the 66th.
Kim Chol Ho scored in the 53rd minute to help North Korea hand Pakistan its 12th straight Asian Games defeat and Subhash Chakraborthy scored moments before fulltime to give India a 2-1 win over Maldives.
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