2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round

The AFC third round of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification was decided by a random draw which was conducted in Durban, South Africa on 25 November 2007. The round began on 6 February 2008 and finished on 22 June 2008.

The top two countries in each group at the end of the stage progressed to the fourth round, where the ten remaining teams will be divided into two groups of five.

Format

The 20 teams (five teams given a bye directly to the third round, 11 highest-ranked winners from the first round, and four winners from the second round) were divided into four pots for the draw, each containing five teams. The pots were drawn as follows:

Pot A	Pot B	Pot C	Pot D
Australia  South Korea  Iran  Japan  Saudi Arabia	Bahrain  Uzbekistan  Kuwait  North Korea  China	Jordan  Iraq  Lebanon  Oman  United Arab Emirates	Qatar  Syria  Thailand  Turkmenistan  Singapore

The 20 teams were split into five groups of four teams each, with all teams playing home and away against each of the other three teams in the group.

The top two teams in each group qualified for the fourth round.

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	6	3	1	2	7	3	+4	10	Fourth round		—	3–0	1–0	0–1
2	Qatar	6	3	1	2	5	6	−1	10			1–3	—	2–0	0–0
3	Iraq	6	2	1	3	4	6	−2	7			1–0	0–1	—	1–1
4	China	6	1	3	2	3	4	−1	6			0–0	0–1	1–2	—

Source: ^[1]

Australia	3–0	Qatar
Kennedy 11' Cahill 17' Bresciano 33'	Report

6 February 2008

19:30 UTC+11

Telstra Dome, Melbourne

Attendance: 50,969

Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)

Iraq	1–1	China
H.M. Mohammed 51' (pen.)	Report	Zheng Zhi 75'

6 February 2008

16:30 UTC+4

Al-Rashid Stadium, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 11,000

Referee: Mohsen Torky (Iran)

---

China	0–0	Australia
	Report

26 March 2008

14:00 UTC+8

Tuodong Stadium, Kunming

Attendance: 32,000

Referee: Mohamed Al Saeedi (United Arab Emirates)

Qatar	2–0	Iraq
Fábio César 1', 62'	Report

26 March 2008

18:30 UTC+3

Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 13,000

Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)

---

Australia	1–0	Iraq
Kewell 47'	Report

1 June 2008

17:00 UTC+10

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Attendance: 48,678

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

Qatar	0–0	China
	Report

2 June 2008

19:00 UTC+3

Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Muhsen Basma (Syria)

---

China	0–1	Qatar
	Report	Soria 14' (pen.)

7 June 2008

20:00 UTC+8

Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium, Tianjin

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Talaat Najm (Lebanon)

Iraq	1–0	Australia
E. Mohammed 28'	Report

7 June 2008

20:00 UTC+4

Al-Rashid Stadium, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Kazuhiko Matsumura (Japan)

---

China	1–2	Iraq
Zhou Haibin 33'	Report	E. Mohammed 41' Akram 67'

14 June 2008

20:00 UTC+8

Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium, Tianjin

Attendance: 39,000

Referee: Abdul Bashir (Singapore)

Qatar	1–3	Australia
Al Khalfan 89'	Report	Emerton 17', 56' Kewell 74'

14 June 2008

19:00 UTC+3

Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Lee Gi-Young (South Korea)

---

Australia	0–1	China
	Report	Sun Xiang 12'

22 June 2008

18:00 UTC+10

Stadium Australia, Sydney

Attendance: 70,054

Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)

Iraq	0–1	Qatar
	Report	Bechir 77'

22 June 2008

20:00 UTC+4

Al-Rashid Stadium, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)^{[note 1]}

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Ali Hamad Al-Badwawi (UAE)

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	6	4	1	1	12	3	+9	13	Fourth round		—	1–0	3–0	4–1
2	Bahrain	6	3	2	1	7	5	+2	11			1–0	—	1–1	1–1
3	Oman	6	2	2	2	5	7	−2	8			1–1	0–1	—	2–1
4	Thailand	6	0	1	5	5	14	−9	1			0–3	2–3	0–1	—

Source: ^[1]

Japan	4–1	Thailand
Endō 21' Ōkubo 54' Nakazawa 66' Maki 90+1'	Report	Winothai 22'

6 February 2008

19:20 UTC+9

Saitama Stadium, Saitama

Attendance: 35,130

Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)

Oman	0–1	Bahrain
	Report	Hubail 14'

6 February 2008

18:30 UTC+4

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

Attendance: 28,000

Referee: Lee Gi-Young (South Korea)

---

Thailand	0–1	Oman
	Report	Sulaiman 1'

26 March 2008

18:30 UTC+7

Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Mohsen Torky (Iran)

Bahrain	1–0	Japan
Hubail 77'	Report

26 March 2008

17:20 UTC+3

Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa

Attendance: 26,000

Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

---

Japan	3–0	Oman
Nakazawa 10' Ōkubo 22' S. Nakamura 49'	Report

2 June 2008

19:20 UTC+9

International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama

Attendance: 46,764

Referee: Abdul Malik Bashir (Singapore)

Thailand	2–3	Bahrain
Chaikamdee 25' Winothai 45'	Report	Isa 22' Latif 34' Adnan 57'

2 June 2008

18:30 UTC+7

Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Sun Baojie (China PR)

---

Oman	1–1	Japan
Ahmed Mubarak 11'	Report	Endō 53' (pen.)

7 June 2008

17:15 UTC+4

Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat

Attendance: 6,500

Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)

Bahrain	1–1	Thailand
Isa 67'	Report	Thonglao 65'

7 June 2008

19:30 UTC+3

Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa

Attendance: 21,000

Referee: Muhsen Basma (Syria)

---

Thailand	0–3	Japan
	Report	Tulio 23' Nakazawa 39' K. Nakamura 89'

14 June 2008

17:30 UTC+7

Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Ali Hamad Al-Badwawi (UAE)

Bahrain	1–1	Oman
Aaish 41'	Report	Sulaiman 72'

14 June 2008

19:30 UTC+3

Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Saad Al Fadhli (Kuwait)

---

Japan	1–0	Bahrain
Uchida 90'	Report

22 June 2008

19:20 UTC+9

Saitama Stadium, Saitama

Attendance: 51,180

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

Oman	2–1	Thailand
Al Hosni 58', 85'	Report	Sripan 3' (pen.)

22 June 2008

18:00 UTC+4

Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Salem Mujghef (Jordan)

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	6	3	3	0	10	3	+7	12	Fourth round		—	0–0	2–2	4–0
2	North Korea	6	3	3	0	4	0	+4	12			0–0	—	2–0	1–0
3	Jordan	6	2	1	3	6	6	0	7			0–1	0–1	—	2–0
4	Turkmenistan	6	0	1	5	1	12	−11	1			1–3	0–0	0–2	—

Source: ^[1]

South Korea	4–0	Turkmenistan
Kwak Tae-hwi 43' Seol Ki-hyeon 57', 85' Park Ji-sung 73'	Report

6 February 2008

20:00 UTC+9

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 25,738

Referee: Jasim Karim (Bahrain)

Jordan	0–1	North Korea
	Report	Hong Yong-jo 44'

6 February 2008

17:00 UTC+2

Amman International Stadium, Amman

Attendance: 16,000

Referee: Tayeb Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh)

---

North Korea	0–0	South Korea
	Report

26 March 2008

19:00 UTC+8

Hongkou Football Stadium, Shanghai (China)^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Saad Al Fadhli (Kuwait)

Turkmenistan	0–2	Jordan
	Report	Al-Bzour 33' Bawab 86'

26 March 2008

17:00 UTC+5

Ashgabat Olympic Stadium, Ashgabat

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Satop Tongkhan (Thailand)

---

South Korea	2–2	Jordan
Park Ji-sung 39' Park Chu-young 48' (pen.)	Report	Abdel-Fattah 73', 80'

31 May 2008

20:00 UTC+9

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

Turkmenistan	0–0	North Korea
	Report

2 June 2008

17:00 UTC+5

Ashgabat Olympic Stadium, Ashgabat

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)

---

North Korea	1–0	Turkmenistan
Choe Kum-chol 72'	Report

7 June 2008

17:00 UTC+9

Kim Il Sung Stadium, Pyongyang

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Saad Al Fadhli (Kuwait)

Jordan	0–1	South Korea
	Report	Park Chu-young 24' (pen.)

7 June 2008

17:30 UTC+3

King Abdullah Stadium, Amman

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)

---

North Korea	2–0	Jordan
Hong Yong-jo 44', 72'	Report

14 June 2008

17:00 UTC+9

Yanggakdo Stadium, Pyongyang

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Talaat Najm (Lebanon)

Turkmenistan	1–3	South Korea
Ovekov 77' (pen.)	Report	Kim Do-heon 14', 86', 90+3' (pen.)

14 June 2008

19:00 UTC+5

Ashgabat Olympic Stadium, Ashgabat

Attendance: 11,000

Referee: Hiroyoshi Takayama (Japan)

---

South Korea	0–0	North Korea
	Report

22 June 2008

20:00 UTC+9

Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 48,519

Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)

Jordan	2–0	Turkmenistan
Abdel Fattah 66', 67'	Report

22 June 2008

18:00 UTC+3

Amman International Stadium, Amman

Attendance: 150

Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan	6	5	0	1	17	7	+10	15[a]	Fourth round		—	3–0	3–0[b]	3–0
2	Saudi Arabia	6	5	0	1	15	5	+10	15[a]			4–0	—	2–0	4–1
3	Singapore	6	2	0	4	7	16	−9	6			3–7	0–3[b]	—	2–0
4	Lebanon	6	0	0	6	3	14	−11	0			0–1	1–2	1–2	—

Source: ^[1]
Notes:

1. The positions of Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia are reversed from the original final standings after two matches were forfeited by Singapore.
2. Awarded as a 3–0 win as Singapore fielded an ineligible player.

Lebanon	0–1	Uzbekistan
	Report	Ahmedov 44'

6 February 2008

18:00 UTC+2

Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Beirut

Attendance: 800

Referee: Abdullah Al Hilali (Oman)

Saudi Arabia	2–0	Singapore
Al-Qahtani 38' Mouath 81'	Report

6 February 2008

20:15 UTC+3

King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Muhsen Basma (Syria)

---

Uzbekistan	3–0	Saudi Arabia
Kapadze 45+1' Shatskikh 65' Djeparov 67' (pen.)	Report

26 March 2008

16:00 UTC+5

MHSK Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 17,000

Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)

Singapore	2–0	Lebanon
Đurić 8' Fazrul 24'	Report

26 March 2008

19:30 UTC+8

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 10,118

Referee: Hiroyoshi Takayama (Japan)

---

Singapore	3–7	Uzbekistan
Đurić 16' Mustafić 31' (pen.) Wilkinson 73'	Report	Kapadze 10' Karpenko 22' Djeparov 34', 44' Denisov 42' Ibrahimov 62' Shatskikh 88'

2 June 2008

19:30 UTC+8

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 28,750

Referee: Ali Hamad Al-Badwawi (UAE)

Saudi Arabia	4–1	Lebanon
Al-Qahtani 45', 90+1' Hawsawi 65' Tukar 83'	Report	El Ali 43'

2 June 2008

21:00 UTC+3

King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Saad Al Fadhli (Kuwait)

---

Uzbekistan	3–0 Awarded[note 3]	Singapore
Geynrikh 80'	Report

7 June 2008

19:00 UTC+5

MHSK Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 12,867

Referee: Kim Dong-Jin (South Korea)

Lebanon	1–2	Saudi Arabia
Ghaddar 90+3'	Report	Tukar 45+2', 60'

7 June 2008

18:00 UTC+3

King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)^{[note 4]}

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Satop Tongkhan (Thailand)

---

Singapore	0–3 Awarded[note 5]	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Ab. Otaif 37' Al-Fraidi 76'

14 June 2008

19:30 UTC+8

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 23,000

Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)

Uzbekistan	3–0	Lebanon
Ahmedov 50', 63' Djeparov 90+4'	Report

14 June 2008

19:00 UTC+5

MHSK Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Matthew Breeze (Australia)

---

Lebanon	1–2	Singapore
Baihakki 62' (o.g.)	Report	Dayoub 72' (o.g.) Wilkinson 73'

22 June 2008

18:00 UTC+3

Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Beirut

Attendance: 500

Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)

Saudi Arabia	4–0	Uzbekistan
Ab. Otaif 5' Mouath 36', 88' Al-Harthi 56'	Report

22 June 2008

21:00 UTC+3

King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)

Group 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	6	3	3	0	7	2	+5	12	Fourth round		—	0–0	0–0	2–0
2	United Arab Emirates	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8			0–1	—	1–3	2–0
3	Syria	6	2	2	2	7	8	−1	8			0–2	1–1	—	1–0
4	Kuwait	6	1	1	4	8	12	−4	4			2–2	2–3	4–2	—

Source: ^[1]

Iran	0–0	Syria
	Report

6 February 2008

15:00 UTC+3:30

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 45,000

Referee: Abdul Malik Bashir (Singapore)

United Arab Emirates	2–0	Kuwait
Al Shehhi 14' Khalil 53'	Report

6 February 2008

19:15 UTC+4

Al Jazira Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 19,000

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

---

Syria	1–1	United Arab Emirates
Chaabo 2'	Report	Matar 54'

26 March 2008

14:30 UTC+2

Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Sun Baojie (China PR)

Kuwait	2–2	Iran
Ajab 38' Al-Rashidi 81'	Report	Nikbakht 2' Hosseini 5'

26 March 2008

19:45 UTC+3

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Matthew Breeze (Australia)

---

Iran	0–0	United Arab Emirates
	Report

2 June 2008

19:00 UTC+4:30

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Lee Gi-Young (South Korea)

Syria	1–0	Kuwait
Al-Hussain 52'	Report

2 June 2008

20:00 UTC+3

Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Salem Mujghef (Jordan)

---

United Arab Emirates	0–1	Iran
	Report	Zandi 8'

7 June 2008

20:00 UTC+4

Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)

Kuwait	4–2	Syria
Ajab 2', 20', 63' Al Khouja 57' (o.g.)	Report	Al-Khatib 10', 45+2'

8 June 2008

20:45 UTC+3

Thamir Stadium, Al Salmiya

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Abdullah Al Hilali (Oman)

---

Syria	0–2	Iran
	Report	Rezaei 64' Khalili 90+5'

14 June 2008

20:00 UTC+3

Abbasiyyin Stadium, Damascus

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Satop Tongkhan (Thailand)

Kuwait	2–3	United Arab Emirates
Ajab 52', 79'	Report	Matar 23', 39' Mohammed 90+1'

14 June 2008

20:45 UTC+3

Thamer Stadium, Salmiya

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)

---

Iran	2–0	Kuwait
Nekounam 17' Rezaei 90+2'	Report

22 June 2008

20:30 UTC+4:30

Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Sun Baojie (China PR)

United Arab Emirates	1–3	Syria
Matar 83' (pen.)	Report	Al Hussain 34', 51' Malki 90+3'

22 June 2008

20:00 UTC+4

Al Qatara Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

Goalscorers

There were 137 goals scored in 60 matches, for an average of 2.28 goals per match.

6 goals

• Ahmad Ajab

4 goals

• Hassan Abdel Fattah
• Ismail Matar
• Server Djeparov

3 goals

• Yuji Nakazawa
• Hong Yong-jo
• Yasser Al-Qahtani
• Malek Mouath
• Redha Tukar
• Kim Do-heon
• Jehad Al-Hussain
• Odil Ahmedov

2 goals

• Brett Emerton
• Harry Kewell
• A'ala Hubail
• Salman Isa
• Gholamreza Rezaei
• Emad Mohammed
• Yasuhito Endō
• Yoshito Ōkubo
• Ismail Sulaiman Al Ajmi
• Amad Al Hosni
• Fábio César Montezine
• Abdoh Otaif
• Aleksandar Đurić
• John Wilkinson
• Park Chu-young
• Park Ji-sung
• Seol Ki-hyeon
• Firas Al-Khatib
• Teeratep Winothai
• Timur Kapadze
• Maksim Shatskikh

1 goal

• Mark Bresciano
• Tim Cahill
• Joshua Kennedy
• Faouzi Aaish
• Ismail Abdullatif
• Sayed Mohamed Adnan
• Sun Xiang
• Zheng Zhi
• Zhou Haibin
• Jalal Hosseini
• Mohsen Khalili
• Javad Nekounam
• Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht
• Ferydoon Zandi
• Nashat Akram
• Hawar Mulla Mohammed
• Seiichiro Maki
• Kengo Nakamura
• Shunsuke Nakamura
• Marcus Tulio Tanaka
• Atsuto Uchida
• Waseem Al-Bzour
• Thaer Bawab
• Fahad Al-Rashidi
• Mahmoud El Ali
• Mohammed Ghaddar
• Choe Kum-chol
• Ahmed Mubarak Al Mahaijri
• Sayed Ali Bechir
• Khalfan Ibrahim
• Sebastián Soria
• Ahmed Al-Fraidi
• Saad Al-Harthi
• Osama Hawsawi
• Mustafic Fahrudin
• Fazrul Nawaz
• Kwak Tae-hwi
• Zyad Chaabo
• Sanharib Malki
• Sarayoot Chaikamdee
• Totchtawan Sripan
• Datsakorn Thonglao
• Guvanch Ovekov
• Saif Mohammed Al Bishr
• Mohamed Al Shehhi
• Faisal Khalil
• Vitaliy Denisov
• Alexander Geynrikh
• Aziz Ibrahimov
• Victor Karpenko

1 own goal

• Ramez Dayoub (against Singapore)
• Baihakki Khaizan (against Lebanon)
• Anas Al Khouja (against Kuwait)

Notes

1. Due to security concerns, Iraq's home matches were played in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.^[2]
2. Since North Korea refused to play the anthem and fly the flag of South Korea, the match was moved from Pyongyang to Shanghai, China.^[3][4]
3. FIFA awarded Uzbekistan a 3–0 win as a result of Singapore fielding the ineligible player Qiu Li. The match originally ended 1–0 to Uzbekistan.^[5]
4. Lebanon-Saudi Arabia match was moved from Beirut to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
5. FIFA awarded Saudi Arabia a 3–0 win as a result of Singapore fielding ineligible player Qiu Li. The match originally ended 2–0 to Saudi Arabia.^[5]