Saudi Arabia and South Korea drew goalless in a Group B World Cup qualifier at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Wednesday. The draw put South Korea, which has already secured one of the Asian seats in South Africa, firmly on top while Saudis remained third in Group B with 11 points. North Korea which also has 11 points is second on goal difference. Later, Iran set-up a nerve-shredding final round of qualifiers after a 1-0 win over the UAE and kept its hopes of a fourth appearance in the Finals alive. Star midfielder Ali Karimi scored the only goal with a fierce drive after 52 minutes in Tehran. Iran remains in fourth place in Group B with 10 points. Saudi Arabia which is gunning for a fifth World Cup appearance needs to win against North Korea in their last fixture at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh next week. A draw will be enough for North Korea to go through. On the same day, Iran travels to South Korea for their last match. The team who finishes third in Group B will have to face the third-placed side in Group A, either Bahrain or Uzbekistan, with the eventual winner then going on to face New Zealand for a spot in the 2010 Finals. Nasser Al-Shamrani almost took the lead for Saudis in the 13th minute when he blasted a short range shot from inside the box, but South Korean goalkeeper denied him. South Korea took control in the midway of the first half but the solid Saudi defense blocked the home side's attempts. Just before the break, Lee Keun-ho's close range shot was stopped by Waleed Abdullah. Saudi Arabia played the last 20 minutes of the game with 10 players after Ahmed Atif received his second yellow card. Despite this disadvantage, Saudi players resisted against the continued threats of South Korea thanks to good saves by goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah. Few seconds from close, substitute Naif Hazazi's header almost broke the Korean hearts when he linked with Abdul Rahman Al-Qahatni's cross but Hazazi failed to hit the target. Elsewhere, Qatar saw its hopes of qualifying extinguished. The Qataris ended their eight-game campaign with a 1-1 draw against Japan in Yokohama. With Australia and Japan already assured of the top two places in Group A, the race for the third place play-off slot is now between Bahrain and Uzbekistan. Bahrain lost 2-0 to the Socceroos in Sydney to remain on seven points to Qatar's six and Uzbekistan's four. Uzbekistan and Bahrain play each other next week in Manama with the home team needing a draw to make the play-offs. Australia held its unbeaten record with a second-string team after goals from Mile Sterjovski and David Carney. It started off slowly but picked up the pace and scored twice after the break, with Scott McDonald also going close and Harry Kewell and Jason Culina hitting the woodwork. “I think we created chances to score more than two goals,” Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek said in a televised interview. “We were probably not really sharp enough to finish it off.” __
