Jordan’s players celebrate their goal against Australia during the 2018 World Cup qualifying match at the Amman International Stadium yesterday. (Reuters)
AFP
Amman
Jordan shocked Australia 2-0 to go top of Group B and maintain their impressive run in the Asian World Cup qualifiers yesterday.
In Amman, Hamza al-Daradreh was the star for the hosts as he earned a penalty and then struck late in the match to help Jordan beat Australia for the second time in World Cup qualifying, their previous win coming in 2012.
The Socceroos dominated the first half but failed to breach the Jordan defence before Hassan Abdel Fattah struck from the penalty spot immediately after the resumption following a foul on al-Daradreh by Matthew Sprianovic.
Australia strove hard to restore parity but it was Jordan who found the net again, al-Daradreh scoring with six minutes remaining to put his team on 10 points from four matches.
In Muscat, World Cup regulars Japan beat Syria 3-0 to climb to the top of Group E with Keisuke Honda, Shinji Okazaki, and Takashi Usami netting for the Samurai Blue. Honda put the Japanese ahead in the 55th minute with a penalty after Okazaki was fouled before Okazaki and Usami sealed the wins with goals late in the match.
Elsewhere in the tournament South Korea secured a narrow 1-0 win over Kuwait, while Uzbekistan thrashed Bahrain 4-0. Only the winners of the group automatically progress to the next stage of qualification, where 12 teams will compete for four spots in Russia in three years’ time.
Meanwhile, Iraq captain Younis Mahmoud rescued a point for Iraq with a last-ditch penalty as the former Asian champions drew 1-1 with Vietnam in Hanoi.
A first-half strike by Le Cong Vinh gave the hosts the lead at My Dinh Stadium but Mahmoud converted a spot kick deep into stoppage time, which kept his side unbeaten in Group F and boosted their hopes of advancing to the third round of the Asian Qualifiers.
Palestine also needed a late equaliser as they drew 1-1 with Timor Leste in Group A, while North Korea dropped their first points in Group H when they were held to a goalless draw by the Philippines in Pyongyang.
A win for Iraq would have seen the Middle Eastern side move to the top of Group F, ahead of Thailand on goal difference. But, they found themselves trailing after 25 minute when Nguyen Trong Hoang’s superb through-ball from the right flank found an unmarked Cong Vinh who kept his cool to slot past goalkeeper Noor Sabri.
The home side were on the defensive for much of the game with goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh making a series of superb saves to deny Ali Adnan, Yasin Ahmed and Ali Hosni.
However, the Iraqi pressure finally told in the seventh minute of stoppage time when Mahmoud was felled in the Vietnamese box and sent Nguyen Manh the wrong way from the penalty spot to earn his side what could to be an invaluable point.
They moved up to five points from three games, two points behind leaders Thailand, who are not in action this week.
North Korea’s perfect start in Group H came to an end when they were surprisingly held 0-0 at home by the Philippines. They had won their first three games against Uzbekistan, Bahrain and Yemen but could find no way past the defence of the Azkals who moved up to second in the group ahead of the game between Bahrain and Uzbekistan later last night.
In other early matches yesterday,
Singapore downed Afghanistan 1-0 in Group E with a 72nd minute header by Khairul Amri, while goals by Hassan Maatouk and Abbas Atwi gave Lebanon a 2-0 win over Myanmar in a Group G game in Bangkok.
Maldives picked up their first points in Group C after withstanding a late fightback to win 4-3 at Bhutan.
Ahmed Nashid’s opening goal and an Ali Ashfaq hat-trick gave the visitors a four-goal advantage but Bhutan reduced the deficit with goals by Tshering Dorji, Chencho Gyeltshen and Biren Basnet in the final five minutes.
