Hopes hanging by a thread

Loss to Iran deals major blow to China's chances for World Cup spot

China's World Cup qualification hopes faded further on Tuesday as Marcelo Lippi's side fell 1-0 to Iran in Teheran.

Mehdi Taremi netted less than a minute after halftime as Carlos Queiroz's unbeaten Iran took a major step towards next year's finals in Russia.

The victory left Group A leader Iran four points clear of second-place South Korea, which beat Syria 1-0 to ease the mounting pressure on coach Uli Stielike.

Lippi's team,however, failed to build on last week's morale boosting home win over South Korea.

China, which remains fifth in the group, eight points back of second-place South Korea, now has to win all of its remaining games - against Syria,Uzbekistan and Qatar to reach its second World Cup.

China is pumping huge resources into soccer in an effort to join the sport's elite, but Lippi conceded his team still lags far behind Asia's best.

"The experience of the last two rounds has shown that there is still room for us to improve," said the former Italy and Juventus coach, who took China's coaching reins in October.

"They were two good matches, but when facing a strong side like Iran ourdefense needs to improve."

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan put a disappointing run of results behind it with a 1-0 win over Qatar, thanks to Shanghai SIPG midfielder Odil Ahmedov's curling freekick.

Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup finals, is bottom of the group with four points, nine outside the automatic qualification places with three games left.

In Group B, Japan confirmed Thailand's elimination and strengthened its own qualifying hopes with a 4-0 home thumping at Saitama Stadium.

Japan, coached by Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic, is three points ahead of third-place Australia, which earned its first win in five games with a 2-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates, whose coach Mahdi Ali resigned after the game.

It was the UAE's second loss in less than a week, following last Thursday's reverse against Japan.

"Very proud of the players, it was a challenging 10 days for us," Australia coach Ange Postecoglou told Fox Sports.

Jackson Irvine and Mathew Leckie scored for Australia.

"We always know at home we're a dominant team. We worked awfully hard, we pressed the way we wanted to and created opportunities. I thought we played well enough to deserve the victory," added Postecoglou.

Saudi Arabia defeated Iraq 1-0 in Jeddah to move into a tie with Japan at 16 points, but has scored one less goal.

Agencies