2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round

The AFC third round of 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification began on 9 February 2005 and finished on 17 August 2005.

The top two countries in each group at the end of the stage qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, while the third-placed teams entered a play-off to determine an entrant for the play-off with the fifth-placed CONCACAF team.^[1]

Format

The 8 group-winners from the previous round were split into two groups of four teams each – with all teams playing home and away against each of the other three teams in the group.^[1]

The top two teams in each group qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.^[1]

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	6	4	2	0	10	1	+9	14	2006 FIFA World Cup		—	2–0	3–0	3–0
2	South Korea	6	3	1	2	9	5	+4	10			0–1	—	2–1	2–0
3	Uzbekistan	6	1	2	3	7	11	−4	5	Fourth round		1–1	1–1	—	3–2
4	Kuwait	6	1	1	4	4	13	−9	4			0–0	0–4	2–1	—

Source: ^[2]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

South Korea	2–0	Kuwait
Lee Dong-gook 23' Lee Young-pyo 81'	Report

9 February 2005

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 53,287

Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)

Uzbekistan	1–1	Saudi Arabia
Soliev 90+3'	Report	Al-Jaber 77'

9 February 2005

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)

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Saudi Arabia	2–0	South Korea
Khariri 29' Al-Qahtani 73' (pen.)	Report

25 March 2005

Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)

Kuwait	2–1	Uzbekistan
Abdullah 7', 62'	Report	Geynrikh 77'

25 March 2005

Kazma SC Stadium, Kuwait City

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Sun Baojie (China PR)

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Kuwait	0–0	Saudi Arabia
	Report

30 March 2005

Kazma SC Stadium, Kuwait City

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)

South Korea	2–1	Uzbekistan
Lee Young-pyo 55' Lee Dong-gook 62'	Report	Geynrikh 79'

30 March 2005

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 62,857

Referee: Tallat Najm (Lebanon)

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Saudi Arabia	3–0	Kuwait
Al-Shalhoub 19', 49' Al-Harthi 83'	Report

3 June 2005

King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 72,000

Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)

Uzbekistan	1–1	South Korea
Shatskikh 62'	Report	Park Chu-young 90+1'

3 June 2005

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)

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Kuwait	0–4	South Korea
	Report	Park Chu-young 19' Lee Dong-gook 29' (pen.) Chung Kyung-ho 55' Park Ji-sung 61'

8 June 2005

Kazma SC Stadium, Kuwait City

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Adunyachart Khanthama (Thailand)

Saudi Arabia	3–0	Uzbekistan
Al-Jaber 8', 60' Al-Harthi 87'	Report

8 June 2005

King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 72,000

Referee: Huang Junjie (China PR)

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South Korea	0–1	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Anbar 5'

17 August 2005

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 61,586

Referee: Chaiwat Kunsuta (Thailand)

Uzbekistan	3–2	Kuwait
Djeparov 41' (pen.) Shatskikh 62' Soliev 76'	Report	Al-Mutawa 16' Abdullah 31'

17 August 2005

Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	6	5	0	1	9	4	+5	15	2006 FIFA World Cup		—	2–1	1–0	2–1
2	Iran	6	4	1	1	7	3	+4	13			2–1	—	1–0	1–0
3	Bahrain	6	1	1	4	4	7	−3	4	Fourth round		0–1	0–0	—	2–3
4	North Korea	6	1	0	5	5	11	−6	3			0–2	0–2	1–2	—

Source: ^[2]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Japan	2–1	North Korea
Ogasawara 4' Oguro 90+1'	Report	Nam Song-Chol 61'

9 February 2005

Saitama Stadium, Saitama

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)

Bahrain	0–0	Iran
	Report

9 February 2005

Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)

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North Korea	1–2	Bahrain
Pak Song-Gwan 63'	Report	Ali 7', 58'

25 March 2005

Kim Il Sung Stadium, Pyongyang

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Mongkol Rungklay (Thailand)

Iran	2–1	Japan
Hashemian 13', 75'	Report	Fukunishi 66'

25 March 2005

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 110,000

Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)

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North Korea	0–2	Iran
	Report	Mahdavikia 34' Nekounam 79'

30 March 2005

Kim Il Sung Stadium, Pyongyang

Attendance: 55,000

Referee: Mohammed Kousa (Syria)

Japan	1–0	Bahrain
Salmeen 72' (o.g.)	Report

30 March 2005

Saitama Stadium, Saitama

Attendance: 67,549

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

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Iran	1–0	North Korea
Rezaei 45'	Report

3 June 2005

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)

Bahrain	0–1	Japan
	Report	Ogasawara 34'

3 June 2005

Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa

Attendance: 32,000

Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)

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Iran	1–0	Bahrain
Nosrati 48'	Report

8 June 2005

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 80,000

Referee: Kwon Jong-Chul (Korea Republic)

Note: This match was used as backdrop for the 2006 Iranian film Offside.

North Korea	0–2	Japan
	Report	Yanagisawa 67' Oguro 89'

8 June 2005

Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok (Thailand)

Attendance: 0

Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

Note: Since there were crowd troubles in the previous two North Korea's home matches,^[3] FIFA decided that the next one North Korea's home match be moved to a neutral venue (Thailand) and played behind closed doors.^[4]

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Japan	2–1	Iran
Kaji 28' Oguro 76'	Report	Daei 79' (pen.)

17 August 2005

International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama

Attendance: 66,098

Referee: Qasem Shaban (Kuwait)

Bahrain	2–3	North Korea
Isa 49' Ali 54'	Report	Choe Chol-Man 28' Kim Chol-Ho 43' An Chol-Hyok 90'

17 August 2005

Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)

Goalscorers

There were 55 goals scored in 24 matches, for an average of 2.29 goals per match.

3 goals

• Husain Ali
• Masashi Oguro
• Bashar Abdullah
• Sami Al-Jaber
• Lee Dong-gook

2 goals

• Vahid Hashemian
• Mitsuo Ogasawara
• Saad Al-Harthi
• Mohammad Al-Shalhoub
• Lee Young-pyo
• Park Chu-young
• Alexander Geynrikh
• Maksim Shatskikh
• Anvarjon Soliev

1 goal

• Salman Isa
• Ali Daei
• Mehdi Mahdavikia
• Javad Nekounam
• Mohammad Nosrati
• Rahman Rezaei
• Takashi Fukunishi
• Akira Kaji
• Atsushi Yanagisawa
• Bader Al-Mutawa
• An Chol-hyok
• Choe Chol-man
• Kim Chol-ho
• Nam Song-chol
• Pak Song-gwan
• Mohammed Al-Anbar
• Yasser Al-Qahtani
• Saud Khariri
• Chung Kyung-ho
• Park Ji-sung
• Server Djeparov

1 own goal

• Mohamed Salmeen (against Japan)