DAMMAM, 18 November 2004 — Saudi Arabia thrashed Sri Lanka 3-0 in the 2006 World Cup Asian Zone qualifiers in their match played here last night at the Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd Stadium.
Saad Al-Harthy (6), Muhammad Al-Shahloub (44 from penalty) and Fahd Fallatah (65) scored for the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia qualified for the second round leading their group with a total of 18 points.
This is the sixth win in a row for the Kingdom, which qualified to the finals of the last three World Cup tournaments in the United States in 1994, France in 1998 and North Korea and Japan in 2002.
Meanwhile, Iran, Kuwait and South Korea claimed the last three berths in the final round of Asian World Cup qualifying, while Asian Cup runner-up China was eliminated despite a 7-0 victory over Hong Kong.
The trio joined Uzbekistan, Japan, North Korea, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in the fight to claim Asia’s four guaranteed berths for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. The fifth-place team can still advance to the finals in a playoff with a team from the CONCACAF region.
Kuwait’s 6-1 victory over Malaysia enabled it to edge China by one goal scored for the berth from Group 4. The results left both teams with 15 points and plus-13 goal difference. Both had beaten the other 1-0 at home, leaving goals scored to decide the group winner.
Kuwait, which scored five second-half goals against Malaysia, outscored its opponents 15-2 while China, which failed to convert a penalty against Hong Kong, outscored its foes 14-1.
Iran defeated Laos 7-0 to win Group 1 by three points over Jordan, which lost 2-0 at Qatar, while South Korea remained on track for its sixth straight appearance in the World Cup finals, beating Maldives 2-0 to win Group 7.
In other games Wednesday, it was: Uzbekistan 6, Taiwan 1 in Group 2; Oman 0, India 0 and Japan 1, Singapore 0 in Group 3; Thailand 1, Yemen 1 and United Arab Emirates 1, North Korea 0 in Group 5; Syria 0, Kyrgyzstan 1 and Bahrain 4, Tajikistan 0 in Group 6; Lebanon 0, Vietnam 0 in Group 7; and Indonesia 3, Turkmenistan 1 and Saudi Arabia 3, Sri Lanka 0 in Group 8.
In Kuwait City, Fahad Hazaa scored Kuwait’s final goal in the 82nd, the last of four in an 18-minute span to send the Gulf to the final round of qualifying. Khaled Nanthakumar pulled Malaysia, which lost all six second-round matches by a combined 18-2 score, a 1-1 draw in the 22nd minute, negating Bader Al Mutwa’s opener for Kuwait seven minutes earlier.
But Bashar Abdullah scored in the 50th and 68th minutes and Faraj Laheeb added a pair seven minutes apart to increase the lead to 5-1 by the 79th.
In Guangzhou, China, Hong Kong goalkeeper Fan Chun-yip thwarted several Chinese scoring chances, including a 71st-minute penalty by Zheng Zhi that would have sent China to the final round. Li Jinyu and Shao Jiayi scored twice each to help China to a 5-0 lead by the 49th minute. After Fan blocked Zheng with a diving save, Yu Genwei scored in the 87th and Li Weifeng added another in the 90th to continue to press China’s chances.
In Tehran, Iran, Ali Daei scored four times, three in the first 27 minutes, and Javad Nekounam added two to assure Iran of advancing.
Iran, which last played in a World Cup in 1998 in France, entered the day level on points with Jordan, but having the edge on aggregate goals 2-1.
In Doha, Qatar went ahead of Jordan in the 60th minute and consolidated the lead in the 75th with Nayef Al Khater’s goal.
South Korea, which finished fourth at the 2002 World Cup but was held to a 0-0 draw by the Maldives in March, dominated the first half but needed until the 66th minute to get the lead.
Kim Do-heon put the South Koreans ahead when his shot deflected in off the left post. Lee Dong-gook added the insurance in the 80th, sliding past two defenders to redirect Seol Ki-hyeon’s ball.
Lebanon started the day a point behind the South Koreans, but its failure to score a goal in Beirut finished it with 11 points, in second place four points back.
Resurgent Russia Crush Estonia 4-0
In Krasnodar, Russia, Russia rebounded from last month’s 7-1 thrashing by Portugal with a morale-boosting 4-0 victory over Estonia in a World Cup qualifier yesterday.
Russia, who desperately needed a victory to revive their hopes of reaching Germany 2006, hit three goals in a nine-minute spell midway through the first half of the Group Three clash.
Andrei Karyaka began the onslaught with a free kick in the 23rd minute before setting up Marat Izmailov two minutes later.
