Victory would have qualified the Saudis second of Group D next to Australia, which ensured it would finish at the top of the group with a 1-0 victory over Thailand in Bangkok. The win gave the Socceroos 12 points from five matches.

The Kingdom national team was hoping to seal its spot in the next round after beating Thailand 3-0 in Riyadh on Friday and hiking its tally to 5 points.

But an indifferent display on Tuesday where the host team couldn’t convert despite the many scoring opportunities put Saudi Arabia in an unenviable position of having to beat the Socceroos in Australia in order to keep alive its hopes of qualifying for the World Cup. The result put the Saudis on 6 points.

A loss by Saudi Arabia against Australia means the second Group D qualifier will be the winner of the group’s other concluding match between Oman (5 points) and Thailand (4 points).

Iran beat Indonesia 4-1 and will also be through if Qatar can get at least a draw against Bahrain later Tuesday.

Also, China kept alive its slim hopes of advancing by beating Singapore 4-0, while North Korea defeated visiting Japan 1-0 in a game with no impact on qualification for the next round.

Brett Holman scored the winning goal for Australia in the 77th minute, heading in a cross from Brett Emerton.

The game was played at Suphachalasai Stadium in downtown Bangkok because the larger-capacity Rajamangala Stadium is being used as an evacuation center for victims of Thailand’s floods.

Thailand created several chances as the Australians picked up four yellow cards in the second half. The best of those chances came when Suree Sukha blasted a close-range shot over the bar in the 35th minute with only goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to beat.

Iran started as strong favorite against Indonesia, which has lost all five of its third-round games.

Milad Meydavoudi put Iran ahead in the seventh minute, and Mojtaba Jabbari and Gholamreza Rezaei added two more before halftime.

Indonesia captain Bambang Pamungkas pulled goal back before the break, but Iran captain Javad Nekounam converted a penalty in the 73rd.

China notched the win it needed to stay alive, but it still must rely on Iraq losing its two remaining games— at Jordan later Tuesday and then at home against already-eliminated Singapore.

China dominated play from the beginning and broke through in the 42nd minute through striker Yu Hai.

Singapore’s best chance came when veteran striker Aleksandar Duric hit the crossbar in the 53rd minute. China quickly responded with captain Li Weifeng scoring with a header from a corner in the 56th minute.

China played with 10 players from the 67th minute after Huang Bowen was sent off for taking a swing at Mustafic Fahrudin, but was still able to add two more goals through Zheng Zheng in the 73rd and 82nd minutes.

North Korea’s game was more about a playing out of the political and historical enmity between the nations than it was about the result, as North Korea had already been eliminated and Japan had already advanced.

Playing before a crowd of 50,000 at Kim Il Sung Stadium, Pak Nam Chol gave North Korea a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute with an angled header beyond the reach of Japan goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa.