Australia's football team has scored a 3-0 win over Qatar in a World Cup qualifying match in Melbourne.
Josh Kennedy opened the scoring with a goal on a 10th minute header. Tim Cahill added another goal seven minutes later, with a leaping header off a corner kick. The Aussies kept up the attack and Mark Bresciano added the third goal before halftime.
Australia and Qatar are both in Asian qualifying Group-A with China and Iraq. Australia travels to China while Qatar hosts Asian champion Iraq in the next round of qualifying on March 26th. The top two teams in the group advance to the fourth round of qualifying.
In Group B, Japan scored a 4-1 win over Thailand in Saitama. Yasuhito Endo scored first in the 20th minute, but Thailand's Teeratep Winothai evened the game just one minute later. Japan scored three second-half goals to seal the win.
At Seoul's Olympic stadium, host South Korea scored a 4-0 win over Turkmenistan. Seol Ki-hyeon had two goals for South Korea, in the 57th and 83rd minutes. Also Wednesday, Iran played Syria to a scoreless draw in Tehran.
Asia has 4.5 berths to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The top four teams qualify directly and the fifth team plays an intercontinental playoff against the top-ranked Oceania team.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP.
