China eliminated from World Cup contention. Uzbekistan and Jordan qualify for the first time

China slumped out of World Cup contention before Uzbekistan and Jordan qualified for the first time, taking advantage of Asia getting double the number of guaranteed entries at the first 48-team tournament in North America next year.

Asian soccer power South Korea sealed an 11th straight appearance at the men’s World Cup finals with a 2-0 win in Iraq.

In a hectic night Thursday with a lot on the line, Australia scored late to edge already-qualified Japan 1-0 before China lost 1-0 in Indonesia.

For Uzbekistan, a 0-0 draw against the United Arab Emirates was enough to take the second automatic qualification spot in Group A behind Iran.

With Asia now having eight guaranteed qualifiers — after just four for the 2022 edition in Qatar — Uzbekistan was a likely contender to step up. While most of its team plays in the domestic league, it includes a few Europe-based stars like Roma forward Eldor Shomurodov and Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov.

In Group B, South Korea and Jordan secured their places at the 2026 tournament to be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Ali Olwan scored three goals in Jordan’s 3-0 win over Oman as the soon-to-be World Cup debutant built on reaching the final at the 2023 Asian Cup, where it lost to host Qatar. Jordan’s highest-profile player is winger Mousa Tamari at French club Rennes.

In Group C, a first-half penalty from Ole Romeny in Jakarta was enough to end China’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 2002, when the tournament was staged in Asia for the first time and co-hosts South Korea and Japan didn’t have to go through continental qualifying.

China’s struggles

It’s a mystery to many how a country of 1.4 billion people with such a pedigree in Olympic sports struggles so much to reach soccer’s marquee event.

Branko Ivankovic, a Croatian with international experience in Iran and Oman, was hired last year to guide the Chinese men’s team and domestic news agency Xinhua said the head coach took some of the responsibility for another failed campaign.

“This team has been fighting for this goal for over 20 years. We believed that if we could reach the next stage from this tough group, we would have a strong chance of qualifying,” Ivankovic said, according to Xinhua. “But we didn’t succeed and, as head coach, I definitely bear significant responsibility.”

With one game remaining in this round of Asian qualifying, China has won only two of nine games and is bottom of the group that also contains Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia.

“We’ve brought in a younger generation of players who have injected energy into the team,” Ivankovic said. “Based on their performances, I believe this team has a promising future.”

World Cup pathway

In Abu Dhabi, Uzbek fans celebrated together at the end and had goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov to thank for a number of important saves.

As well as the six automatic qualifiers from Asia — two from each of the three groups in this stage — UAE and Qatar, which defeated the already-qualified Iran 1-0, will finish third and fourth and advance to the next stage in Asian qualifying. Six teams will compete in the next stage for two more places at the 2026 World Cup.

South Korea clinched top spot in its group, helped by Ali Al-Hamadi’s first-half red card for a high kick.

Kim Jin-gyu put the Koreans ahead just after the hour, and the victory was sealed by Oh Hyeon-gyu eight minutes from the end. the result ensured Jordan could finish no worse than second.

The Palestinian team stayed in contention for the top four with a 2-0 win over last-place Kuwait, one point behind fourth-place Oman.

Australia moved to the cusp of qualifying for a sixth consecutive World Cup with a last-minute goal from Aziz Behich in Perth.

In the 90th minute, Riley McGree broke free down the right and pulled back for Behich to curl home to bring Perth Stadium to its feet and give Australia its first win over Japan in 16 years.

“It hasn’t sunk in just yet but when the final whistle went it was a great feeling,” Behich said. “It was a tough game and we had to grind it out. It’s been a long campaign and we have worked so hard.”

To secure that spot Australia needs to avoid a heavy loss next week at third-place Saudi Arabia, which had a 2-0 win over Bahrain.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer