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the socceroos claimed all three points with a late victory over bahrain last night. the aussie team traveled to bahrain determined to continue their unbeaten run in the world cup qualifying group. despite missing a few big names, the socceroos were favourites to win the match.

both teams had chances to win the game, however thanks to good work by aussie keeper mark schwarzer, the hosts remained goalless. bresciano scored late in the game to secure the win.

australia remains on top of group b. japan is second after their win. in group a, south korea beat saudi arabia for the first time in nineteen years to go top of their group. the koreans were helped in their cause by iran who could only manage a draw against uae.

all national teams take a break until next february.

the socceroos continue their good run with a crucial away win to uzbekistan last night.

the game started at a slow tempo, but the aussies took control of the match after the 28th minute. it was the defenders who did all the hard work, keeping the uzbeki strikers at bay and putting together the only goal of the match. luke wiltshire’s cross was met by a chipperfield header. chipper’s low header hit the ground, bounced over the keeper, off the post and into goal. both teams had numerous chances, and the uzbeki players pleaded for a penalty after they claimed that their player was fouled in the box. however, neither side were able to add to the score line.

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coach verbeek was understandably happy with the result, the aussies taking full points in their first game and all but eliminating uzbekistan from the tournament. the socceroos get a month off to prepare for their tough brisbane match against qatar.

in other news, english striker theo walcott has cemented his reputation with a sensational hattrick against a 10 man croatia. beckham was benched and the youngster make the most of his run on. england cruised to a thumping 4-1 win.

in england last night, the socceroos played a friendly against commonwealth compatriots south africa. the game ended in a 2-2 draw. australia played a large squad for the game, most notably with scott chipperfield playing after a long term injury. the first half ended 2-1 in the socceroo’s favour, however south africa scored in the second half to level the game.

the socceroos will face the netherlands in another friendly before facing uzbekistan in next month’s world cup qualifier.

the socceroos have beaten qatar 3-1 to reach the asian playoff group, which is the final step to qualifying for the 2010 world cup. the aussies traveled to doha looking for an opportunity to bounce back from the stun loss to iraq. the socceroos played much better football. australia was almost at full strength. kewell, emerton, bresciano and culina played. scott mcdonald was on the bench but didn’t play. the only notable absentees were viduka, lucas neill and tim cahill. brett emerton played further up front in a much more attacking role. he was rewarded with two goals. harry kewell nabbed australia’s third. mark schwarzer made some good saves to deny the qatari players, however the home side did manage to break their duck with a late consolation goal.

the socceroos will join a pool of 9 other teams to play in 2 groups of 5 teams. from there, the top 2 teams from each group go through to the world cup and the 3rd place teams play off against each other. the winner of that game plays against the winner of oceania. the winner of that match will also go through to the world cup. although one game remains, australia, bahrain, japan, north korea, south korea, uzbekistan, saudi arabia and iran are already through to the round robin group. iraq/qatar and uae/syria contest the last two places.