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Japan, S. Korea Open With Victories
Olympics | Aidan Jones | September 22, 2011

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Hong Kong. Asian giants Japan and South Korea cantered to home wins while Australia fired blanks in a dour draw on Wednesday in the final round of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.

Later, Saudi Arabia and Qatar drew 1-1 in Riyadh, Uzbekistan beat Iraq 2-0 in Tashkent and Syria defeated Bahrain 3-1 in a qualifier played in Jordan.

In front of an expectant home crowd in Tosu, Japan beat Malaysia 2-0, with a goal in either half breaking the visitors’ defense.

Dominating the game throughout, Takashi Sekizuka’s side opened the scoring in the 10th minute and a 77th minute strike from substitute Ryohei Yamazaki secured the three points.

“We had the first goal early on in the game. Our plan was to defend the lead and go for additional goals,” said Japan coach Sekizuka, adding that his side would need to be less profligate against fellow Group C teams Bahrain and Syria.

South Korea also scored two without reply to beat Oman in Changwon, courtesy of a glorious 23rd minute free-kick from Yoon Bit-garam and a second in the 74th minute by Kim Bo-kyung.

South Korea is matched with Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in Group A.

While Japan and South Korea won comfortably, Australia struggled in a turgid encounter with the United Arab Emirates in Adelaide which ended 0-0.

Going into the match as favorites to win their group, the Australians were outplayed by the visitors for large periods of the match.

Agence France-Presse