Bahrain stun Aus, Japan crush China in WC qualifiers

Bahrain stunned Australia 1-0 after a late Harry Souttar own goal while Japan crushed China 7-0 and South Korea were held to a 0-0 draw by Palestine in the opening games of Asia's third round of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup on Thursday. The Bahrainis celebrated wildly after the final whistle at Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast having beaten Australia for the first time in seven attempts, making the perfect start to their bid to qualify for the finals for the first time.

The Socceroos were already down to 10 men in the Group C contest after the dismissal of Kusini Yengi and Abdullah Al-Khalasi's cross took a wicked deflection off Souttar to wrongfoot goalkeeper Mat Ryan and give Bahrain the points.

Japan, who are also in Group C alongside Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, had no such problems against an inept Chinese side that collapsed to an embarrassing loss at Saitama Stadium.

Wataru Endo gave the hosts the lead with a 12th-minute header and Kaoru Mitoma doubled the advantage when he nodded in Ritsu Doan's cross in the dying moments of the half.

Takumi Minamino scored twice in six minutes soon after the interval to put the result beyond doubt, but Hajime Moriyasu's side refused to ease off against the already well-beaten Chinese.

Substitute Junya Ito hit the fifth with a shot that was deflected past Wang Dalei by Jiang Guangtai before Daizen Maeda headed home the sixth with three minutes remaining.

Takefusa Kubo put the seal on the win with the last kick of the game, slamming his shot into the roof of the Chinese goal. South Korea, meanwhile, were unable to find a way past Palestine goalkeeper Rami Hamada at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Group B in the first game under Hong Myung-bo after the former defender returned to coach the team in July.

Later on Thursday, Iraq will host Oman and Jordan will play Kuwait in Group B while Saudi Arabia take on Indonesia in Group C. In Group A, Uzbekistan entertain North Korea while Iran take on Kyrgyzstan and Asian Cup holders Qatar meet the United Arab Emirates in Doha.

The top two from each of the three groups progresses directly to the 2026 finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada with the third and fourth placed teams going into another round of qualifying.