The result leaves the Saudis two points behind Thailand and with a mountain to climb in their bid for a fifth appearance at a World Cup finals.

The Saudi national team is now third in Group D with only two points from two drawn matches against Thailand and Oman and a 3-1 defeat by Australia in Dammam. Thailand is second in the group with four points while the Australian team, a 3-0 winner over Oman Tuesday, is first with full nine points. Oman is last with only one point.

With only nine points up for grabs in the final half of the third round of Asian qualifying, Saudi Arabia's only hope is to collect the full nine points by winning all the remaining matches to finish on 11 points in order to qualify second form the group. The Saudis will play at home to Thailand and Oman and away to Australia.

Agencies add: In the other matches, Japan trounced hapless Tajikistan 8-0 Australia looked sure to progress after a 3-0 win over Oman kept them on maximum points in Group D, and South Korea moved toward the last stage with a 2-1 win against UAE.

North Korea's hopes of reaching a second World Cup in a row suffered a setback with a 1-0 home loss to Uzbekistan.

Iraq edged past China 1-0 in a tense clash and there were also wins for Jordan and Qatar as 10 games swung into action across the region.

Rampant Japan were the big winners as they totted up four goals in each half against Tajikistan in Osaka, led by Mike Havenaar and Shinji Okazaki who both bagged a brace.

"This victory gives us a very good feeling. I knew hopes among fans were high. The players responded with their good performance today," said coach Alberto Zaccheroni.

South Korea had a second-half own goal to thank as UAE defender Ismail Hamdan's inadvertent strike helped them to a 2-1 win in Suwon. Arsenal's Park Chu-Young had opened the scoring and UAE pulled one back in injury time.

In Sydney, Brett Holman, Josh Kennedy and Mile Jedinak were all on the scoresheet as Australia registered their third win out of three and looked certain to progress from Group D.

"The target was to win and to win well," said captain Lucas Neill. "Now we've got one foot in the next round but we've still got a lot of work to do." In Pyongyang, Alexander Geynrikh's first-half strike was enough to secure a 1-0 win for Uzbekistan, who are level on seven points with Japan at the top of Group C.

North Korea, who lashed out against their low FIFA ranking after being drawn in a tough group for the third round, would have targeted the Uzbek clash in Pyongyang as a must-win as they scrap for the second qualifying spot.

The North Koreans competed at their first World Cup since 1966 last year, but they disappointed at the Asian Cup in January after being bracketed with holders Iraq and three-time winners Iran in another unkind draw.

Jordan took a big step toward their first berth in the final qualifying stage with a 3-0 away win over Singapore, while Qatar came out on top of a 3-2 thriller against Indonesia in Jakarta.

The winners and runners-up of the five groups will be drawn into two pools for the round-robin fourth stage, with the eventual top two in each section earning a ticket to Brazil.

The two third-placed teams will then face each other for the right to contest an intercontinental play-off.