UAE reignites world cup qualifying campaign

The UAE reignited their qualifying campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after defeating Kyrgyzstan 3-0 in their Group A clash on Thursday.

The win at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi moved the UAE to seven points at the midway stage of the AFC Asian Qualifiers while Kyrgyzstan remained on three.

Harib Abdalla Suhail opened the scoring in the 15th minute before Marcus Meloni doubled the lead in the 35th minute and Suhail netted his second in the 86th minute to seal the win.

Elsewhere, Iran consolidated their position at the top of Group A after handing North Korea a 3-2 defeat in a five-goal thriller at the New Laos National Stadium in Vientiane.

Mehdi Ghayedi put the visitors ahead in the 29th minute before two goals in four minutes from Mohammad Mohebi gave the Iranians a comfortable halftime cushion.

But Khalilzadeh's sending off for a foul on Ri Jo Guk changed the game. Mehdi Taremi sliced in an own goal in the 56th before Kim Yu Song bundled home a second for the Koreans three minutes later.

Taremi was then denied from the penalty spot by Kang Ju Hyok after 67 minutes and Ri hit the bar as Iran clung on to escape with the win.

Lucas Mendes, meanwhile, scored 12 minutes into stoppage time to secure a 3-2 win for Qatar over Uzbekistan in Doha after Abbosbek Fayzullaev scored twice to cancel out Alimoez Ali's first brace for the hosts.

Uzbekistan remain in second place in the group despite the loss but are now only three points ahead of both Qatar and the UAE.

In Group B, South Korea maintained their grip on top spot with victory over Kuwait as Son Heung-min scored his 50th international goal.

Oh Se-hun headed Korea's opener in the 10th minute and Son doubled the lead from the penalty spot nine minutes later.

Although Mohammad Daham pulled one back on the hour mark, Bae Jun-ho struck with 16 minutes left to wrap up a win that takes Hong Myung-bo's side to 13 points.

Jordan stay in second having shared a 0-0 draw with Iraq in Basra and fourth-placed Oman had a late Muhsen Al-Ghassani strike to thank for their 1-0 win over Palestine.

China reignited their qualification hopes with a last-gasp 1-0 win over Bahrain in Riffa thanks to a Zhang Yuning strike after Herve Renard marked his return to the Saudi Arabia dugout with a 0-0 draw against hosts Australia.

The Chinese moved to six points from five games with Zhang's 91st minute winner, the result pulling Branko Ivankovic's side level with the Australians and Saudis and four points behind Japan in Group C.

The top two finishers in each of Asia's three qualifying groups advance automatically to the 2026 finals in North America while the third and fourth placed nations progress to another phase of preliminaries.