Saudi Arabia maintained their three-point lead over the United Arab Emirates at the top of Group A of the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers after second-half goals from Mohammed Al Sahlawi and Taiseer Al Jassam secured a 2-0 win over Malaysia on Thursday. The UAE had kept the pressure on the Saudis by defeating Palestine 2-0 in Thursday's earlier Group A fixture to go level on 16 points ahead of the Green Falcons' penultimate Preliminary Round 2 match. But with the joint-qualifiers leading scorer Al Sahlawi netting his 13th of the campaign five minutes after the interval at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium (having also been on target in the away fixture against Malaysia which was abandoned due to crowd trouble before the Saudis were subsequently awarded a 3-0 win) and veteran midfielder Al Jassam adding a second with quarter-of-an-hour remaining, Bert van Marwijk's side restored their three-point advantage over their Gulf rivals with one round of matches remaining. Australia led 2-0 at halftime. Queens Park Rangers midfielder Massimo Luongo scored in the second minute as Australia overwhelmed Tajikistan 7-0 Thursday to consolidate first place in Group B of Asian qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. Tom Rogic and Nathan Burns both scored twice as Australia remained on course for a fourth successive World Cup appearance. Skipper Mile Jedinak and Mark Milligan scored penalties either side of halftime. Debutant forward Apostolos Giannou had a role in both of the first two Australia goals, laying the ball off for Luongo to drill a shot home from the edge of the area in the second minute and earning the penalty which Jedinak converted 10 minutes later. Australia dominated possession for the rest of the half but, with their all time leading scorer Tim Cahill watching on from the bench, failed to convert pressure into shots on goal. Tajikistan, 83 places lower than their hosts in the FIFA rankings, struggled to get out of its half and it was not until the 27th minute that Nuriddin Davronov mustered up its first shot, his long range effort nearly hitting the corner flag. Milligan took over as captain when Jedinak was substituted at the break and he stepped up to take the penalty when Giannou was again upended inside the box 12 minutes after the restart. Midfielder Aaron Mooy beat three defenders down the right in the 67th minute to give Burns a simple finish soon before Celtic attacking midfielder Rogic struck twice in three minutes to bring up the number "6" on the famous old cricket scoreboard. The woodwork saved Tajikistan from any further humiliation until FC Tokyo striker Burns grabbed his second with a far-post header three minutes from time. Australia, which has six wins in seven matches and a 24-3 goals-for and against total, hosts Jordan next Tuesday in Sydney. In Group E, Hiroshi Kiyotake, Maya Yoshida and Mu Kanazaki scored second-half goals as Japan thrashed Afghanistan 5-0. Shinji Okazaki gave Japan a 1-0 lead late in the first half and an own goal in the second half added to Japan's commanding lead. Japan improved to 19 points in Group E, three ahead of Syria. In other matches, South Korea edged past Lebanon on an injury time goal by Lee Jeong-hyeop and Vietnam routed Taiwan 4-1. Elsewhere, China blanked Maldives 4-0; Jordan routed Bangladesh 8-0; Uzbekistan edged Philippines 1-0; Thailand held Iraq 2-2; Iran thrashed India 4-0; UAE edged Palestine 2-0; Bahrain beat Yemen 3-0; Qatar downed Hong Kong 2-0; Syria punished Cambodia 6-0.
