World Cup Qualifying: Japan Is Clear at the Top with a 5-0 Win over Bahrain

AP

10:39 JST, September 11, 2024

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Australia’s stuttering start to the third round of World Cup qualifying hit another bump Tuesday with a 0-0 draw against Indonesia in Jakarta.

The result follows a 1-0 loss at home to Bahrain last week and leaves the Socceroos still without a goal in Group C as they aim for a sixth successive World Cup appearance.

Australia had 20 shots but was unable to convert and silence the 78,000 home fans at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

“Vastly improved performance and the boys showed that,” Australia coach Graham Arnold said. “But very disappointed. How many chances do we create? How many chances do we get? It has been a common theme for over a year.”

Japan is clear at the top with a 5-0 win over Bahrain that followed last week’s 7-0 thrashing of China. Ayase Ueda and Hidemasa Morita each scored twice before Koki Ogawa scored a late fifth.

China is in sixth and last place in the group after a last-minute 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in Dalian despite taking an early lead and then playing most of the match against 10 men.

Saudi Arabia’s Ali Lajami put the ball into his own net in the 14th minute and the visitors then went a man down five minutes later when Mohamed Kanno was sent off for kicking out at Jiang Shenglong.

But a bad week for Chinese soccer — which saw China lose 7-0 to Japan last week and the country’s Football Association ban 43 people for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption — only got worse.

Defender Hassan Kadesh helped Saudi Arabia turn the game around as he first equalized seven minutes before the break by heading home a corner for his first international goal and then added a second in the 90th to give Roberto Mancini’s team a vital win to stay on course for a seventh World Cup appearance with four points from the opening two games.

The 18 teams in the third round of qualifying have been divided into three groups of six. The top two from each automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The teams that place third and fourth will advance to a fourth qualifying round to compete for two more places.

Son Heung-min helped South Korea to its first victory in Group B with a goal and two assists in a 3-1 win in Oman. After a disappointing 0-0 draw with the Palestinians in Seoul, it only took Hwang Hee-chan 10 minutes to open the scoring in Muscat. After Oman leveled, Son scored his team’s second and then set up the third for Joo Min-kyu.

“It was a tough game. But we knew that in the second half, we were going to have more chances,” Son said. “In the first game, we created so many chances but we weren’t clinical enough. Today, we were clinical.”

Jordan, which defeated the Palestinians 3-1, also have four points as does Iraq after a 0-0 draw with Kuwait.

In Group A, Uzbekistan defeated Kyrgyzstan 3-2 while Iran beat United Arab Emirates 1-0 to leave both teams on maximum six points. North Korea and Qatar drew 2-2 in a game played in Laos after being moved from Pyongyang.