Saudi Arabia at United Arab Emirates (4-2)"This is a wonderful result for us, especially after the draw against Iran. It was a superb performance from the team to come back from one goal behind. United Arab Emirates were playing really well and putting us under a lot of pressure." -Yasser Al Kahtani, captain of Saudi Arabia
Bahrain at Qatar (5-2, Abdulla Marzooq 8, 35/Sebastien Soria Quintana missed penalty in 1st half)
"We were down to ten men in the first half with Marzooq receiving his second yellow card, and considering the fact that we equalised and got a draw is quite creditable." -Milan Macala, coach of Bahrain
Sudan at Chad (3-3,/Marcus Mbaiama 90)
Goal scorers:
Saudi Arabia: Autef 68; Al Fraidi 73
United Arab Emirates: Khater 29
Qatar: Quintana 5
Bahrain: Fatadi 66
Sudan: Adel 4; Agab 48 PK; Ali 75
Chad: Djime 34
North Korea were the underdogs as they headed to Abu Dhabi to take on United Arab Emirates. Keeping with what we become a theme of the day, the eastern Asians were the team that stepped up to the challenge. The teams held at zero goals for the first five-sixths of the game, but in the final fifteen minutes and change, that story changed. First, the Emiratis had the misfortune of blocking a cross into their own net. Then, the North Koreans scored seven minutes later, only to see the Emiratis regain traction with a goal of their own five minutes after that. The score did not change after that, however, and the 2-1 home less is a monstruous blow to the hopes of the United Arab Emirates' qualification campaign. North Korea take three points into their upcoming meeting with South Korea.
The August schedule is pretty light, for it only contains Match Day 1 of CONCACAF's Third Round, as well as the opening UEFA qualifier. September is much more packed. All match times are local.
Before the draw, Japan were designated the fourth seed and were placed into Pot B. Saudi Arabia became the fifth seed and were put into Pot C.
The draw for the fourth round of Asian qualifying will be held on June 27, 2008, in Kuala Lumpur. There will be four pots of unequal size that will be used to split the remaining ten teams in two groups of five. The top two finishers in each group will advance to the 2010 World Cup, and the two third-place teams will advance to a home-and-away playoff against one another.
The eyes of the soccer universe were focused on the United Arab Emirates today, with Iraq playing Qatar in Dubai and the Emiratis hosting Syria in Abu Dhabi. These two matches were the only ones that still mattered for the qualification process for Asia’s fourth round.
China faced Australia in one of eight Asian qualifiers that served no purpose in determining progression to the fourth phase. The visiting Chinese went all out to preserve some semblance of pride after having already been eliminated, but Group A winners Australia definitely did not bring a full squad for the outing. 
Australia visited hot Doha without Lucas Neill or Vince Grella and were looking to rebound from the debacle against Iraq in Dubai. Australia and Qatar may not be buying each other dinner after such a harsh match (Australia had five of the eight yellow-card warnings), but there is no doubt that the Qataris will have to respect the Aussies. Australia pushed its 1-0 halftime lead to 3-0 in the second half before Qatar pulled one back with two minutes to go to earn a more respectable 3-1 loss. Australia advance to Round Four, whereas Qatar are now in third place in Group A.
“The players believe it's possible, so we'll try to fulfill this dream.” New Caledonia coach Didier Chambaron speaking about his team’s prospects of winning the OFC Nations Cup and advancing to the World Cup via the Oceania/Asia playoff.
Syria faced Kuwait in Kuwait during the final AFC qualifier of the day. The game was fully of intensity; Syria picked up three yellows, and Kuwait added two of its own. As for the goals, they came quickly and often. A Kuwait goal was twice answered by a Syrian goal, and the score was 2-2 at the half. Kuwait pulled away with two goals right around the hour mark, but they were not comfortable for long. Kuwaiti goalkeeper Al Khaldi was ejected for a red card in the seventy-third minute, but luckily for the Kuwaitis, they had one substitution remaining. Down a man, Kuwait managed to hang on for the 4-2 victory and are still in contention in Group E.
Turkmenistan visited North Korea in their fourth group C match. The North Koreans found themselves tied at the half with last-place Turkmenistan, but a second-half goal saw them through to a one-goal shutout win. Turkmenistan have seen their dreams of making the World Cup extinguished and will have to watch the tournament as spectators. North Korea face Jordan at home on June 14.
With the opportunity of passing rivals South Korea for the group lead, the North Korea were unable to gather any sort of offense and had to settle for one point, the result of a scoreless draw against a determined Turkmenistan defense. North Korea and South Korea are still tied for first in the group after the third round of matches.
Iraq weren’t sure if they would get to play in Australia until Thursday, when they were reinstated. The trip to Australia would not prove to be a good one for the Iraqis, however, as the Australians recorded their third straight clean sheet in three qualifying matches. The first half saw the Iraqis hit the crossbar, the goalie’s leg, and the air just outside of a post. With the game tied at the half, the Australians decided to score quickly with a Kewell header off of a cross from Emerton to excite the crowd. They held on for the victory.
With a rabid home crowd and a two-goal lead, one would figure that the South Koreans would hold on for the win. Well, one would be wrong. Despite a 1-0 lead at the half and an insurance goal in the second, a two-goals-in-seven-minutes flurry from Jordanian substitute Abdel Fattah leveled the match and meant that the two sides would split the points. South Korea currently has five and Jordan possesses four in Group C. Jordan added four yellow cards to its two-goal haul. The two sides face off again in Jordan on June 7.
Iraq have been suspended by FIFA from all competitions for one year because the Iraqi government dissolved its national sports federations.
FIFA just confirmed a portion of the dates of fixtures in Africa, South America, North America, Oceania, and Asia. Here is my attempt to sort through them. This post will be updated when more match dates are finalized.
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.
China played host to undermanned Australia in the elevated city of Kunming. Five of Australia's English-based players were unable to come play due to injury. TO make matters worse, Archie Thompson succumbed to an injury in the tenth minute and had to be substituted out of the game. With their only true attack of the day failing to connect when Marco Bresciano's volley was saved by Zong Lei, the Australians had little chance of winning. Luckily for the Australians, goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer did manage to show up healthy and complete the game. He made clutch save after clutch save to keep the game scoreless until the eighty-seventh minute when he made a crucial error, taking down Qu Bo inside the box for a penalty kick. Schwarzer made up for his mistake on the very next play, however, stuffing Shao Jiayi's penalty kick and preserving the road tie for Australia. "I must apologise to the team and the fans for that penalty kick," said Shao Jiayi after the game. "Because of me we did not win the game. We should have won the game but we didn't because I missed the penalty kick. I really feel bad about this." Schwarzer had a different take. "To lose that match to a late penalty would have been a disaster for us because I thought we deserved to get something out of the game."
Jordan hosted the North Koreans today but were unable to secure even one point as the North Koreans moved into a tie atop the group standings with rivals South Korea. On a pitch devoid of grass, the North Koreans had trouble making headway toward the Jordanian goal, but neither side could net a goal in the opening half until it was almost over. A strike in the forty-fourth minute was all the visitors needed to gain three points and a one-goal shutout.
