JEDDAH: Against all odds and in a difficult situation, Saudi Arabia kept their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup alive rallying to get the better of Iran 2-1 in Tehran’s and in front of over 100,000 cheering home fans.

With the absence of many key players due to injuries, the Saudis, who are in the fourth in their group, went into the match with the odds stacked against them and had little hope to win against the host. However, the visitors shocked all their fans and critics to score a well deserved win.

Naif Al-Hazzazi, Ittihad striker, and Naser Al-Shamrni, Shabab striker, played next to each other for the first time to fill the gap due to the absence of Malek Muaz and Yaser Al-Qahtani. The pair proved to be good replacements and throughout the match they managed to create many openings in the rival defense. If fact Al-Hazzazi almost scored with a header following a corner in the first half but the goal was disallowed by the referee as he pulled up a Saudi player for a foul.

The Iranians dominated proceedings in the first quarter and had their rivals defending their citadel. The Saudi slowly gained into confidence and made inroads into the rival half. The Saudi strikers were well supported by Ubdo Utaif and captain Muhammad Nur who fed them with measured through passes and crosses from the flanks.

Iran on the other hand kept up the pressure and came close to scoring on a couple of occasions. But it was only due to the outstanding performance by Waleed Abdullah under the Saudi bar that prevented them from scoring.

The Saudi defense led by Osama Hawsawi and Osama Al-Muwallad also played important roles in keeping the Iranian frontline at bay. Iran drew first blood in the 57th minute when Masoud Shojaei fired home a screamer from outside the penalty area to the left of Waleed Abdullah area to send the crowd wild.

Knowing that a defeat will end their hopes of qualifying the Saudis recognized the seriousness of the situation. The reorganized themselves and went in search for the equalizer.

They were not to be denied for long as Naif Al-Hazzazi sent the arena into silence in the 79th minute when his firm grounder from inside the penalty box found the back of the net.

Iran pushed forward in search for a winning goal knowing that any result other than winning will place the Iranian team in a difficult situation. As the Iranians were pushing forward to score the winner, Osama Al-Muwallad’s header in the 86th minute dashed the Iranian hopes. The Saudis went into their shell and defend their citadel till the end of the match that earned them three crucial points.

Saudi Arabia jumped to the third position in the standings with seven points.

The Iranian team dropped to the fourth with 6 points.

Prince Sultan bin Fahd, President of the Saudi Youth Welfare presidency, called the Saudi team after the match to congratulate for this important win. He urged the Saudi players to put more effort in the upcoming matches, especially the next match against UAE in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, Japan are a win away from qualifying when they Bahrain 1-0 earlier yesterday.

There was also an important win for North Korea, whose 2-0 victory against the United Arab Emirates took them to the top of Group B, while Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia also kept alive their hopes of making it to South Africa with victories.

Celtic midfielder Shansuke Nakamura was the hero for Japan as he scored the only goal of the match in the 47th minute with a deflected free-kick from the edge of the area after a foul on Keiji Tamada. The victory in Saitama sees Japan top Group A with 11 points from five games. Australia, who have played a game, less are on ten points.

With the three remaining teams in the group, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Bahrain each sitting on four points from five matches and the top two from both groups advancing directly, Japan need just three points from their remaining three matches to qualify.

Farhod Tadjiev scored a hat-trick as Uzbekistan defeated Qatar 4-0 in Tashkent.

North Korea, whose only World Cup appearance was in 1966 with a famous win against Italy, cruised to a deserved 2-0 against the United Arab Emirates. Pak Nam-Chol (51) and Mun In-Guk (93) scored the goals for the home side.

The next round of Asian World Cup qualifiers will be played on Wednesday.