Brett Emerton scored seven minutes from time as Australia rallied to beat Oman 2-1 despite being a man down for most of the Asian Cup qualifier on Saturday.
Australia took a slender lead in Group B with seven points from four matches following back-to-back, home-and-away wins over Oman.
Oman took the lead in the 17th minute in Muscat after being awarded a penalty when Rhys Williams was sent off for a foul on Imad Al Hosni in the area.
PHOTO: EPA
Luke Wilkshire equalized for Australia two minutes before half-time before Emerton fired in the winner in the 83rd.
In the other Group B match, striker Bader al-Motawaa scored twice in the second half to lift Kuwait to a 2-1 win over Indonesia and second place in the group.
Bambang Pamungkas gave Indonesia the lead after 33 minutes but al-Motawaa leveled with a penalty on the hour and scored the winner two minutes from the end of regulation time. It was Kuwait’s second win from three matches, including the upset victory at Australia in March.
In Group C, Alexander Geynrikh went on after half-time and scored in the 57th and 65th minutes to secure Uzbekistan’s 3-1 win over Malaysia at Tashkent.
China and Syria won in Group D, while Iran held on for a win over Jordan and Thailand beat Singapore 3-1 in Group E.
Substitute striker Raja Rafe headed home Firas al-Khatib’s free kick deep in stoppage time to give Syria a 1-0 win over Vietnam in front of 30,000 fans at Hanoi’s My Dinh Stadium, giving the Syrians a third straight win and a three-point buffer over China in the group.
In Beirut, China took advantage of heavy rain in a 2-0 result against Lebanon, with goals from Yu Hai and Qu Bo either side of half-time.
Javad Nekounam’s header in the 72nd minute gave Iran a 1-0 win over Jordan, who went a man down late on when Mahmoud Shalbaeih was sent off.
Jordan had chances in the 23rd and 70th minutes but was unable to beat the Iranian defense at Azadi Stadium.
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