Australia, Japan, South Korea dominate; China and Iran struggle

In the first match of phase three in Asian qualifying, top seed Australia took on Qatar at home. The Australians immediately put their 2007 Asian Cup dissapointment behind them and proceeded to maul the Qataris. With three first-half goals and a few more close calls, the Austalians were able to coast through the second half and complete the three-goal shutout victory. "We played a fantastic first half. We created chances, we scored great goals, we never gave them one chance," said Australian coach Pim Verbeek.

Japan hosted Thailand and Asia's leading scorer Chaikamdee in their opening match. Snow also welcomed the visiting Thais to Saitama. A free kick within the first half hour gave Japan their first lead, but Thailand struck back to produce a halftime tie and a chorus of boos for the home side. Japan secured a 2-1 before Thailand's Narongchai Vachiraban was sent off for his second yellow. With the man advantage, the Japanese pushed in two more goals (including on in stoppage time) and won by a score of 4-1. Japanese coach Takeshi Okada spoke after the match. "These games are never easy but we may have underestimated them a bit. Scoring three goals from set pieces is nice but it's worrying we only scored one from open play."

Turkmenistan coach Rakhim Kurbanmamedov: "In terms of expertise and experience, I think South Korea are the strongest in Asia."

South Korea and Turkmenistan were next on the docket. On a chilly night, the South Koreans made seemingly little headway toward achieving a good result until a ball struck the Turkmeni net just before the half. Rattled, Turkmenistan fell apart in the second half and hope for better results in their future after suffering a 4-0 defeat. Korea Republic coach Huh Jong-Moo enjoyed the effort, saying, "I'm happy with the performance tonight. Turkmenistan didn't play that badly. It's just that our team was better."

In the most surprising of the early qualifiers, Iran hosted underdogs Syria. As expected, Iran shutout the Syrians. The only problem was that they were unable to score themselves. A scoreless draw was the final result, and the Iranians have many questions to answer before a March trip to Kuwait. Neither side had a coach heading into the match, which may help to explain the poor offensive perfomances.

"Obviously, we wanted to open with a win and we were gutted afterwards. But we have to pick ourselves up and look to the future. We want a place at the finals, and every member of the team will give his all for the cause," explained Iranian captain Ali Karimi.

Asian Cup 2007 champions Iraq welcomed China to their home away from home, Dubai. Iraq did a wonderful job early in the second half after a scoreless first half. The Iraqis put away a penalty kick for a 1-0 lead, but it did not take long for disaster to strike. Nashat Akram was sent off in the seventy-first minute for his second yellow, allowing China a chance to steal the points. With the best player of the Asian Cup Younis Mahmoud out early with an injury, Iraq surely did not need to be going a man down. China was able to knock home an equalizer, but Iraq did manage to salvage its first point. Both sides drew a massive number of yellow cards, with five apiece.

Goal scorers:
Australia: Kennedy 10; Cahill 17; Bresciano 33

Japan: Endo 20; Okubo 53; Nakazawa 66; Maki 90+1

Thailand: Winothai 21

South Korea: Kwak 43; Seol K.H. 57, 83; Park J.S. 70

China: Zheng Z. 75

Iraq: Hawar 50 PK