Turkmenistan and Jordan were looking to avoid last place in Group C. With a two-goal shutout, Jordan took all of the points on the road in Ashgabat to send Turkmenistan into the cellar. Jordan are now positioned in third place in the group with three points, one behind each of the Koreas.Syria hosted group leaders United Arab Emirates and got off to a quick start. The hosts pushed home a goal two minutes after the whistle. Still, the United Arab Emirates were not going down without a fight and they ended up scoring an equalizer due to the scoring prowess of Ismail Matar in the second half. The road draw puts the Emiratis on top of Group E with four points.
Bahrain pulled off the shock of the day while playing host to Japan. The two group leaders heading into the day, Bahrain and Japan were looking toward this game as the stepping stone into first place. The ball was having trouble finding its way into the back of the net until Bahrain struck gold with a header off of a cross in minute seventy-seven to send Japan reeling and the crowd in Manāmah into a frenzy. The scoreline held and Bahrain took first place in Gorup B with the 1-0 win.
Qatar, off of a big loss to Australia, tried to salvage a better result at home in Doha against the defending Asian Cup champions Iraq. Qatar did that and more with a wonderful, flowing attacking game and a stifling defense. Iraq never looked to be in the game and perhaps the 2-0 victory for Qatar does not illustrate how the Qataris so completely controlled the game. Qatar's coach Jorge Fossati spoke about the performance. "On this occasion we stuck with our game plan and managed to break up Iraq's fluid passing game. That will give us confidence for the games ahead."
Kuwait welcomed perennial power Iran to town. The crowd in Kuwait City could not have been pleased with the start of the match as Iran knocked home two goals in the first five minutes. It appeared that the Iranians would rout the Kuwaitis and make up for their opening draw with Syria. The Kuwaitis had other ideas. They stormed back into the match with a goal to make the score 2-1 at the half. A goal with under ten minutes remaining meant that Kuwait would at least come out with a point at home against mighty Iran. The final score read 2-2. Mesaed Al Enezi was sent off for Kuwait with a red card just before the final whistle to cap a tough battle which featured three yellows for each side.
Goal scorers:
Jordan: Albzoor 33; Bawab 86
Syria: Chaabo 2
United Arab Emirates: Matar 54
Bahrain: Hubail 77
Qatar: Quintana 1; Montesin 67
Iran: Vahedi 2; Hosseini 4
Kuwait: Al Azemi 38; Alrashidi 81
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