Australia, Kuwait and Jordan completed the line-up for the 2011 Asian Cup by coming through hard-fought final qualifying matches on Wednesday.
Australia proved too good Indonesia in Brisbane, with Mark Milligan scoring his first international goal in the 1-0 win.
Kuwait joined pool winners Australia in qualifying from Group B after they eked out a 0-0 draw away to Oman in Muscat.
PHOTO: AFP
The Kuwaitis needed only a point to qualify and survived some difficult moments with goalkeeper Nawaf al Khaldi producing a number of top quality saves, including from Khalifa Ayil in the second minute of stoppage time.
Jordan became the 16th and final side through to the finals when they beat Singapore 2-1 at home and Thailand lost to Group E winners Iran 1-0 in Tehran.
Jordan, who started the day bottom of the group, overcame a dogged display by Singapore goalkeeper Lionel Lewis to finish in second place ahead of the two south east Asian sides.
PHOTO: AFP
Jordan striker Odai al-Saify opened the scoring for the home side at a blustery King Abdullah Stadium after just nine minutes when he headed home from 12m and Al Bani Yaseen nodded the winner from close range in the 58th minute.
The game was briefly interrupted in stoppage time when a handful of home fans came onto the edge of the pitch following the news of Iran’s late winner.
“Our achievement tonight is a gift to his Highness the King and to all the Jordanian people,” coach Adnan Hamad said. “This win is a big achievement for our national team as we were so far behind in the qualifiers.”
The return of their European-based players helped Japan ease the pressure on under-fire coach Takeshi Okada with a 2-0 victory over Bahrain to win Group A.
Both teams had already booked their place at the finals in Qatar but Japan were under pressure to produce a victory after a number of lackluster performances recently.
In other matches Syria thrashed Lebanon 4-0 at home to leapfrog already-qualified China to win Group D with the United Arab Emirates beating Uzbekistan 1-0 to win Group C in a battle of two Qatar-bound teams.
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