Iran became the first team from Asia to qualify for the 2022 World Cup finals on Thursday with a 1-0 victory over Iraq as Japan and South Korea moved a step closer to Qatar.
Porto forward Medhi Taremi scored the winner after 48 minutes in Tehran to send his country through to a World Cup finals for the sixth time, and third in a row.
Iran consolidated top spot in Group A with 19 points from seven games, two points ahead of South Korea, which is on the brink of qualifying after a 1-0 win over Lebanon in Sidon.
The United Arab Emirates is third position, eight points behind the Koreans — who are missing injured Spurs star Son Heung-min — after a 2-0 win over Syria.
In Group B, Japan took a step closer to Doha with a 2-0 win over a toothless China, and is sitting second, two points behind leader Saudi Arabia.
Australia is third, a further point behind Japan, to stay in the hunt for an automatic berth with a comfortable 4-0 home win over Vietnam in Melbourne.
The results: Group A: United Arab Emirates 2 (Caio 43, Yahya Al Ghassani 70) bt Syria 0; Iran 1 (Taremi 48) bt Iraq 0; Lebanon 0 lost to South Korea 1 (Cho Gue-sung 45+1).
Group B: Saudi Arabia 1 (Al-Buraikan 48) bt Oman 0; Australia 4 (Maclaren 30, Rogic 45+2, Goodwin 72, McGree 76) bt Vietnam 0; Japan 2 (Osako 13-pen, Ito 61) bt China 0.
