AP, KUALA LUMPUR: The continental big four of Japan, Australia, Iran and South Korea all collected six valuable points over five days to remain on course for the next stage of Asian qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. Asian Cup champion Australia had a 3-0 win in Tajikistan and the biggest worry, apart from the ongoing political unrest in the Central Asian nation, was perhaps the ongoing standoff between the players union and Football Federation Australia over the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement.
Asian Cup runner-up South Korea had failed to win in its three previous visits to Lebanon but a 3-0 victory reflected the dominance of a team that was without the most expensive player in Asian soccer history because Son Heung-min had returned to England to finalize his transfer to Tottenham Hotspur. Japan’s stars were on target in a 6-0 win over Afghanistan on neutral turf at Tehran. Striker Shinji Okazaki and Borussia Dortmund’s Shinji Kagawa both scored twice while Keisuke Honda of AC Milan managed one. Japan has seven points, two behind Syria in Group E.
The team from war-torn Syria has scored 13 goals without conceding in its opening three wins. Iran leads Group D with seven points after a 3-0 win over India in Bangalore.