Uzbekistan booked their place at the 2011 Asian Cup finals on Wednesday by beating Malaysia 3-1, while Japan crushed Hong Kong 4-0 to strengthen their chances of going through.
Bryan Robson’s Thailand failed to capitalize on their 3-1 win over Singapore on Saturday, however, crashing to the same side 1-0 in Bangkok.
Anvar Gafurov and Bakhodir Nasimov scored either side of halftime for the Uzbekistan, before Baddrol Bakhtiar pulled a goal back for Malaysia with 20 minutes remaining.
Captain Timur Kapadze restored the advantage three minutes later, however, as Uzbekistan recorded a third consecutive win to extinguish any hope an under-strength Malaysia had of reaching the finals in Qatar.
Uzbekistan join the host nation, AFC Challenge Cup winners India and the top three at the 2007 finals — South Korea, Iraq and Saudi Arabia — in the showpiece event.
Syria’s 0-0 draw at home to Vietnam in Aleppo put them on the verge of making the finals. They now have 10 points in Group D and only a major upset would prevent them progressing.
China are favorites to join them and they play Lebanon in Beijing on Sunday.
Asian giants Japan remain firmly on course after they comfortably overcame a spirited Hong Kong.
A trademark left-footed free-kick from Espanyol’s midfield schemer Shunsuke Nakamura was the highlight of an easy win for the Blue Samurai against the whipping boys of Group A at a half-full Hong Kong Stadium.
Japan broke the deadlock in spectacular fashion, Makoto Hasebe scoring with a cracker after 32 minutes from outside the box.
On 74 minutes the away side went two goals up, substitute Hisato Sato heading home unmarked. Nakamura grabbed the third before a fourth from the penalty spot in injury-time from Shinji Okazaki.
Also in Group A, Bahrain have a maximum nine points from three matches after the Gulf side bounced back from the heartbreak of missing out on the World Cup by beating Yemen 4-0 in Manama.
In Bangkok, a 37th-minute strike by Aleksander Duric was enough to give Singapore an upset victory over Thailand as the Lions bounced back to keep their campaign alive.
The win saw them leapfrog their Southeast Asian neighbors to second in Group E.
Kuwait, meanwhile, ground out a 1-1 draw with Indonesia in Jakarta to put them level on seven points with Australia in Group B. Oman have four points and Indonesia three.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
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