SUWON (South Korea): Arsenal striker Park Chu-young scored his seventh goal in four games for South Korea as the hosts defeated the United Arab Emirates 2-1 on Tuesday in an Asian Group B qualifier for the 2014 World Cup.
The Koreans have seven points from three games, while the UAE has lost three straight.
Seo Jung-jin, making his first full appearance for South Korea, threaded a pass through the middle of the UAE defense and Park rolled the ball past the goalkeeper from the edge of the area after 51 minutes.
South Korea extended its lead after 64 minutes as Ismail Hamdan headed a Ki Sung-yung corner into his own net.
Ismai Matar scored from close range in the 92nd minute for the visitors. South Korea travels to UAE for the next match in the group in November.
Japan routs Tajikistan 8-0
Mike Havenaar, Shinji Okazaki and Shinji Kagawa all scored twice to lead Japan to an 8-0 thrashing of Group C minnow Tajikistan in the third round of Asian qualifying for the World Cup.
Havenaar headed Japan in front in the 11th minute from a cross by Yuichi Komano. The hosts doubled the lead eight minutes later when Okazaki took a pass from Kengo Nakamura and beat the Tajikistan goalkeeper with a right-footed shot into the top corner. Komano scored his first goal for Japan to make it 3-0 in the 35th before Kagawa closed out the scoring in the first half.
Havenaar, Kagawa, Nakamura and Okazaki all added goals after the break to complete the rout.
In other matches, Iraq beat China 1-0, Qatar beat Indonesia 3-2 and Thailand held Saudi Arabia to 0-0 draw.
The victory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen gives Iraq six points in Group A, three points behind leader Jordan. China has three points while Singapore is last with zero points after Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Jordan.
Meanwhile, Iran and Bahrain are ahead of Qatar, which now has three points. Indonesia remains in last place without a victory from three games. (Agencies)