Thu, Oct 10, 2024 | Rabi al-Thani 7, 1446 | DXB 
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Goals from Lee Jae-sung and Oh Hyeong-gu gave underfire coach Hong Myung-bo his second win in a row
Published: Thu 10 Oct 2024, 9:21 PM
Updated: Thu 10 Oct 2024, 9:21 PM
South Korea’s Jun-Ho Bae vies for the ball with Jordan’s Yazan Abo Al Arab. — Reuters
South Korea beat Jordan 2-0 in Amman on Thursday to move top of Group B in the third round of Asia’s World Cup preliminaries as Australia won their first match under new coach Tony Popovic.
Goals from Lee Jae-sung and Oh Hyeong-gu gave underfire coach Hong Myung-bo his second win in a row and lifted the Koreans on to seven points from three matches.
Hong had been booed after Korea’s opening 0-0 draw with Palestine in Seoul but back-to-back wins mean the Taeguk Warriors are in a strong position to continue their record of qualifying for every World Cup since 1986.
A header from Lee gave South Korea, missing injured captain Son Heung-min, the lead in the 38th minute and Oh doubled the advantage 23 minutes into the second half when he wrong-footed Yazeed Abulaila to score from inside the area.
In Group A, Uzbekistan were unable to find a way past Iran’s defence despite the visitors having only 10 players for the final 35 minutes of their top-of-the-table clash as they played out a 0-0 draw in Tashkent.
Defender Saleh Hardani was shown a red card 10 minutes into the second half for a dangerous tackle on Uzbekistan captain Eldor Shomurodov.
Australia picked up their first win of the campaign at the third attempt as Popovic led them to a 3-1 victory over China in Adelaide in his first game since replacing Graham Arnold as coach.
Home-town favourite Craig Goodwin powered home a long-range strike in the 53rd minute after setting up Australia’s first goal just before halftime with a free kick that was headed in by Lewis Miller to cancel out Xie Wenneng’s opener.
Nishan Velupillay made sure of the win on his international debut with a stoppage-time goal.
The win revived Australia’s chances of finishing the third phase of qualifying with a top-two spot and an automatic ticket to the 2026 finals.
China, who have conceded 12 goals in their three qualifiers, remained winless in Group C.
Asia has eight direct slots for the next Fifa World Cup which will be a 48-team tournament.
Eighteen teams have been divided into three groups of six each in the third round of the Asian qualifiers.
The UAE have been drawn in Group A with Qatar, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and North Korea.
South Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine and Kuwait will compete in Group B while Group C features Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China and Indonesia.
The top two teams from each group will qualify directly for the World Cup. The third and fourth-placed teams in each group will then compete in the six-team fourth round of qualifiers.
The six teams in the fourth round will be divided into two groups of three teams. The winners of each group will earn the last two direct slots for the World Cup, while the two runners-up teams will be locked in a playoff battle.
The winner of the Asian playoff will then advance to an inter-confederation playoff tournament featuring five other teams for the final two slots in the World Cup.
The UAE haven’t qualified for the World Cup since their maiden appearance at the global showpiece in 1990.
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