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Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, North Korea, Uzbekistan and UAE join Asian victors

Asian powers Australia, Japan and South Korea all started their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaigns on Wednesday with wins.

Australia downed Qatar 3-0, Japan beat Thailand 4-1 and South Korea defeated a stubborn Turkmenistan 4-0.

Saudi Arabia also won, beating Singapore 2-0, but Iran were held to a 0-0 draw by visiting Syria.

The five Asian powers had byes through the first two stages of Asian qualifying but have been joined by 15 others.

Also on Wednesday, it was: Iraq 1, China 1; Oman 0, Bahrain 1; Jordan 0, North Korea 1; Lebanon 0, Uzbekistan 1; and United Arab Emirates 2, Kuwait 0.

The top two teams in each of the five four-nation groups advance to the fourth round of qualifying.

Four Asian teams will qualify automatically for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, while a fifth will play in an intercontinental playoff against the top-ranked team from Oceania.

Iran, who are trying to qualify for the World Cup for the fourth time, played in Tehran without a full-time coach. Former Spain coach Javier Clemente is reported to be the man that will take over, but he has yet to sign a contract.

Hawar Mulla Mohammed gave Iraq a 1-0 lead in Dubai with a 50th-minute penalty, but China midfielder Zheng Zhi equalized in the 75th.

"We were clearly the better side," Iraq coach Egil Olsen said. "We really wanted to win this match to have a good chance of qualifying."

Iraq are playing their three home matches in Dubai because of the unstable situation at home.

Alaa Hubail scored in the 14th minute to help Bahrain beat Oman in Muscat, and Odel Ahmedov scored the only goal of the match in the 44th in Uzbekistan's win over Lebanon in Beirut.

Only about 200 invited guests watched the match because of a decision taken two years ago by the Lebanese soccer federation to prevent sectarian clashes between supporters of rival teams.

North Korea kept pace with South Korea by beating Jordan on Hong Yong Jo's free kick in the 42nd minute in Amman.

The United Arab Emirates got goals from Mohammed al-Shehhi and Faisal Khalil in their win over Kuwait. Al-Shehhi headed in a free kick from Subait Khater in the 13th minute, and Khalil scored off a corner kick in the 53rd.
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