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Saudi Arabia

Thailand, who had only two points from their previous nine group games, rocked the Australians with an equaliser through Pokkhao Anan in the 82nd minute.

But Leckie grabbed the winner for the Socceroos four minutes from the end to put the pressure back on the Saudis to beat Japan in their final game.

Iraq 1, UAE 0 In Amman, Ayman Hussein’s first-half header gave Iraq a 1-0 victory over United Arab Emirates, ending their slim hopes of reaching next year’s World Cup in Russia.

The Emiratis needed to win by a convincing margin to have any chance of a play-off spot, but it was Iraq who showed more purpose and determination to clinch only their third win in 10 matches.

It was a disappointing outing for Edgardo Bauza-coached UAE, who upset regional giants Saudi Arabia last week and had held out hopes of reaching only their second World Cup.

But in front of an empty stadium in the Jordanian capital Amman, they failed to get their game going, allowing the Iraqis to hold sway over them for most of the match.

Iraq created a number of chances, keeping the UAE goal under pressure right from the start and eventually finding the net through the 21-year-old Hussein, who leapt high to head Waleed Saleem’s cross into the net on 29 minutes.

UAE’s star players, including Mohammed Abdulrahman, were off-colour for the better part of the encounter, hardly testing the Iraqi defence.

Iraq could have consolidated their lead several times in the second half but UAE goalkeeper Khalid Essa pulled off a string of saves, including twice in quick succession in the 52nd minute from Hussein and Bashar Resan.

The UAE had a great chance to equalise in the 70th minute but Tareq al-Khaddeim’s shot was saved by Iraq goalkeeper Mohamed Gassid. UAE finish fourth in Group B, with Iraq fifth.

China 2, Qatar 1 In Doha, China’s faint hopes of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals in Russia finally ended, despite securing the victory they needed in Qatar with just 10 men.

Syria’s draw in Iran and Uzbekistan’s goalless stalemate with South Korea meant that two late goals to secure a 2-1 win in Doha were ultimately futile in China’s desperate bid to snatch a play-off place for next year’s tournament.

As well as coming from behind, China also took the lead after their captain Zheng Zhi had been sent off.

But despite being knocked out, China’s coach Marcello Lippi said his team had made real progress for the future after taking 11 points from their last six games.

“When I was first appointed nobody told me to get to the World Cup,” said the Italian at a press conference afterwards.

“They asked me to build up a very strong team.

“We were unlucky, we didn’t get the results we deserved,” added Lippi, who received applause from Chinese journalists as he left the press room. China began the match brightly. They dominated early on and should have scored as early as the second minute when Xiao Zhi missed a free header from just six yards.

They squandered several other chances before Qatar made any impression, but the game remained goalless at half-time.

However, the deadlock was broken immediately in the second half and against the run of play, it was Qatar who took the lead.

Striker Akrim Afif sidefooted home in the 46th minute, after good work from Ali Al-Moez.

The game became more stretched as China pushed men forward for an equaliser and Afif should have scored a second soon after, but was denied by goalkeeper Zeng Cheng.

The visitors equalised in the 74th minute when Xiao Zhi powered home from close range, to give China a glimmer of hope.

That appeared to end just six minutes later however when Zheng was red-carded after he fouled Afif, who was clean through on China’s goal.

But just two minutes later substitute Wu Lei scored to give China the lead and set up a dramatic finale.

Results elsewhere though meant that China had failed to qualify for Russia, and they finished fifth, one point off of the play-off position, secured by Syria on a night of high-drama in AFC Group A.

While Lippi remained confident about China’s future, it was another sobering night for their ambitious rivals, Qatar.

Defeat meant they finished bottom of the group, a desperate end for a country anxious to qualify for its first World Cup finals before they host in 2022.

The match was also played in a near-empty Khalifa stadium, the first international to be played in one of the revamped venues that will be used during the 2022 tournament.

Despite the sad end to the tournament, coach Felix Sanchez said there were enough young players coming through to give Qatar hope.

“We have a lot of very young players, we will keep working with them,” he said. England’s Phil Jones (up), and Slovakia’s Adam Nemec challenge for the ball during the World Cup Group F qualifying soccer match between England and Slovakia at Wembley Stadium

in London, England on Sept 4. (AP) PARIS, Sept 5, (AFP): Germany fired six past Norway while England fought back after an early scare to beat Slovakia in European World Cup qualifying on Monday.

Timo Werner scored a double in Germany’s 6-0 rout of the Norwegians in Stuttgart to leave Joachim Loew’s world champions with a perfect eight out of eight record atop Group C.

Iran’s Ali Karimi (left), vies for the ball against Syria’s Firas Mohamad Alkhatib during the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualification football match between Iran and Syria at the Azadi

Stadium in Tehran on Sept 5. (AFP)