Asia's World Cup Qualifiers Open with Surprises and Thrashings

Asian teams experienced a thrilling start to the third round of World Cup qualifying. Bahrain stunned Australia with a late own goal, Qatar lost 3-1 to the UAE, and Japan thrashed China 7-0. South Korea was held to a 0-0 draw, while Iran and Uzbekistan secured 1-0 wins.

Bahrain stunned Australia 1-0 after a late Harry Souttar own goal while Qatar lost 3-1 to the United Arab Emirates and South Korea were held to a 0-0 draw by Palestine in a dramatic opening to Asia's third round of World Cup qualifying on Thursday.

There were no problems, however, for World Cup regulars Japan as Hajime Moriyasu's side handed China a 7-0 thrashing at Saitama Stadium, and six-times qualifiers Iran secured a 1-0 win over visitors Kyrgyzstan.

The Bahrainis celebrated wildly after the final whistle at Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast, having beaten Australia for the first time in seven attempts, making the perfect start to their bid to qualify for the finals for the first time. The Socceroos were already down to 10 men in the Group C contest after the dismissal of Kusini Yengi and Abdullah Al-Khalasi's cross took a wicked deflection off Souttar to wrongfoot goalkeeper Mat Ryan and give Bahrain the points.

Japan, who are also in Group C alongside Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, had no such problems against an inept Chinese side that collapsed to an embarrassing loss. Wataru Endo gave the hosts the lead with a 12th-minute header and Kaoru Mitoma doubled the advantage when he nodded in Ritsu Doan's cross in the dying moments of the half.

Takumi Minamino scored twice in six minutes soon after the interval to put the result beyond doubt, but Moriyasu's side refused to ease off against the already well-beaten Chinese. Substitute Junya Ito hit the fifth with a shot that was deflected past Wang Dalei by Jiang Guangtai before Daizen Maeda headed home the sixth with three minutes remaining. Takefusa Kubo put the seal on the win with the last kick of the game, slamming his shot into the roof of the Chinese goal.

South Korea were unable to find a way past Palestine goalkeeper Rami Hamada at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Group B in the first game under Hong Myung-bo after the former defender returned to coach the team in July. The Koreans trail Iraq in the early standings as Aymen Hussein's header earned his side a 1-0 win over Oman in Basra. In Group A, the UAE fought back to defeat Qatar 3-1 having gone behind to Ibrahim Al-Hassan's 38th minute opener. But goals from Harib Abdalla, Khaled Ibrahim and Ali Saleh in the final quarter of the game saw the visitors notch up an unexpected victory over the back-to-back Asian Cup winners.

Iran defeated Kyrgyzstan thanks to Mehdi Taremi's 34th miute goal while Uzbekistan also claimed three points when Jaliloddin Marsharipov's strike handed North Korea a 1-0 loss in Tashkent.

Later on Thursday, Jordan will play Kuwait in Group B while Saudi Arabia take on Indonesia in Group C. The top two from each of the three groups progresses directly to the 2026 finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada with the third and fourth placed teams going into another round of qualifying.

(With inputs from agencies.)