2014 Brazil World Cup: Asia Qualifying Wrap

Wednesday, 12th September 2012 at 11:47am

The Asian qualification zone returned to action last night with four games as Asia's top sides hoped to take another step towards qualifying for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

Group A

South Korea edged closer to qualifying for the final Asian phase of qualifying for Brazil 2014 with a 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

An own goal from Ki Sung-yeung gave the hosts the lead on 13 minutes but they were undone by an own goal of their own when Artyom Filiposyan thumped the ball into his own new from Kwak Tae-Hwi's header across goal.

The visitors grabbed a second after the break through Lee Dong-Gook but Uzbekistan leveled proceedings just two minutes later when Sanjar Tursonov rose highest to power a header home.

In Group A's other match, Lebanon surprised Iran with a 1-0 win, taking three points to move them off the bottom and with it ignite their hopes of reaching the finals with two games remaining.

Roda Antar's goal after 28 minutes was enough for the hosts as Iran failed to find an equalizing goal to lose ground on Korea.

Group B

Group B saw Asian federation powerhouses Japan and Australia in action with both sides recording different results.

Japan recorded their third win in four matches by beating Iraq 1-0 in Saitama. The Samurai Blue were without Manchester United's new signing Shinji Kagawa but they still had too much for Iraq who slumped to defeat thanks to a 28th minute goal Ryoichi Maeda.

Australia are still without a win in Group B. They opened this phase of the campaign with two draws and were expected to have too much for Jordan despite being away from home.

Unfortunately for the Socceroos they were undone by a determined home side who scored twice after the break through a Hasan Mahmoud penalty and Amer Deeb.

Archie Thompson grabbed a late equalizer for Australia but it wasn't enough to stop them crashing to a potentially damaging loss.

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