At Tashkent, Uzbekistan:
Shinji Okazaki's goal at 9 minutes lifted Japan to a 1-0 road win over Uzbekistan Saturday in Asian zone qualifying. Japan became the first country to qualify for next year's FIFA World Cup. It will be their fourth consecutive appearance in the tournament.
At Doha, Qatar:
Australia held hosts Qatar to a 0-0 draw and in doing so, joined Japan and hosts South Africa (who automatically qualified as the host country) in next year's FIFA World Cup.
At Dubai, United Arab Emirates:
South Korea clinched a berth in next year's World Cup finals with a 2-0 road win over the eliminated United Arab Emirates. Park Chu-Young (5') and Ki Sung-Yong (37') provided the goalpower that punched the South Koreans' tickets for South Africa (their seventh straight appearance in the finals).
Both Japan and Australia compete in Group A and locked up the top two places in the group, assuring of their qualification for next year's finals in South Africa. South Korea competes in Group B and have assured themselves of no worse than a second place finish in that group.
Meanwhile, in European zone competition:
At Reykjavik, Iceland:
Goals from Nigel de Jong (8') and Mark van Bommel (15') paced the Netherlands to a 2-1 road win over Iceland to secure their place in next year's World Cup as they locked up Group Nine.
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