2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Third Round

Main article: 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

The AFC Third Round of 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification began on 9 February 2005 and finished on 17 August 2005.

The top two countries in each group at the end of the stage qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, while the third-placed teams entered a play-off to determine an entrant for the play-off with the fifth-placed CONCACAF team.

Contents

Format

The 8 group-winners from the previous round were split into two groups of four teams each – with all teams playing home and away against each of the other three teams in the group.

The top two teams in each group qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Saudi Arabia 6 4 2 0 10 1 +9 14
 South Korea 6 3 1 2 9 5 +4 10
 Uzbekistan 6 1 2 3 7 11 −4 5
 Kuwait 6 1 1 4 4 13 −9 4
 
South Korea  – 2 – 0 0 – 1 2 – 1
Kuwait  0 – 4 – 0 – 0 2 – 1
Saudi Arabia  2 – 0 3 – 0 – 3 – 0
Uzbekistan  1 – 1 3 – 2 1 – 1 –
February 9, 2005
 South Korea  2 – 0  Kuwait Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul
Attendance: 53,287
Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)
Lee Dong-Gook  23'
Lee Young-Pyo  81'		 (Report)
February 9, 2005
 Uzbekistan  1 – 1  Saudi Arabia Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)
Soliev  90+3' (Report) Al-Jaber  77'
March 25, 2005
 Saudi Arabia  2 – 0  South Korea Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)
Khariri  29'
Al-Qahtani  73' (pen.)		 (Report)
March 25, 2005
 Kuwait  2 – 1  Uzbekistan Kazma SC, Kuwait City
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Sun Baojie (China PR)
Abdullah  7', 62' (Report) Geynrikh  77'
March 30, 2005
 Kuwait  0 – 0  Saudi Arabia Kazma SC, Kuwait City
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)
March 30, 2005
 South Korea  2 – 1  Uzbekistan Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul
Attendance: 62,857
Referee: Tallat Najm (Lebanon)
Lee Young-Pyo  55'
Lee Dong-Gook  62'		 (Report) Geynrikh  79'
June 3, 2005
 Saudi Arabia  3 – 0  Kuwait King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh
Attendance: 72,000
Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)
Al-Shalhoub  19', 49'
Al-Harthi  83'		 (Report)
June 3, 2005
 Uzbekistan  1 – 1  South Korea Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Masoud Moradi (Iran)
Shatskikh  62' (Report) Park Chu-Young  90+1'
June 8, 2005
 Kuwait  0 – 4  South Korea Kazma SC, Kuwait City
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Adunyachart Khanthama (Thailand)
(Report) Park Chu-Young  16'
Lee Dong-Gook  28' (pen.), 55'
Park Ji-Sung  58'
June 8, 2005
 Saudi Arabia  3 – 0  Uzbekistan King Fahd Stadium, Riyadh
Attendance: 72,000
Referee: Huang Junjie (China PR)
Al-Jaber  8', 60'
Al-Harthi  87'		 (Report)
August 17, 2005
 South Korea  0 – 1  Saudi Arabia Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul
Attendance: 61,586
Referee: Chaiwat Kunsuta (Thailand)
(Report) Al-Anbar  5'
August 17, 2005
 Uzbekistan  3 – 2  Kuwait Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)
Djeparov  41' (pen.)
Shatskikh  62'
Soliev  76'		 (Report) Al-Mutawa  16'
Abdullah  31'

Group 2

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Japan 6 5 0 1 9 4 +5 15
 Iran 6 4 1 1 7 3 +4 13
 Bahrain 6 1 1 4 4 7 −3 4
 North Korea 6 1 0 5 5 11 −6 3
 
Bahrain  – 0 – 0 0 – 1 2 – 3
Iran  1 – 0 – 2 – 1 1 – 0
Japan  1 – 0 2 – 1 – 2 – 1
North Korea  1 – 2 0 – 2 0 – 2 –
February 9, 2005
 Japan  2 – 1  North Korea Saitama Stadium, Saitama
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
Ogasawara  4'
Oguro  90+1'		 (Report) Nam Song-Chol  61'
February 9, 2005
 Bahrain  0 – 0  Iran Bahrain National Stadium, Manama
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)
(Report)
March 25, 2005
 North Korea  1 – 2  Bahrain Kim Il Sung Stadium, Pyongyang
Attendance: 50,000
Referee: Mongkol Rungklay (Thailand)
Pak Song-Gwan  63' (Report) Ali  7', 58'
March 25, 2005
 Iran  2 – 1  Japan Azadi Stadium, Tehran
Attendance: 110,000
Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)
Hashemian  13', 75' (Report) Fukunishi  66'
March 30, 2005
 North Korea  0 – 2  Iran Kim Il Sung Stadium, Pyongyang
Attendance: 55,000
Referee: Mohammed Kousa (Syria)
(Report) Mahdavikia  34'
Nekounam  79'
March 30, 2005
 Japan  1 – 0  Bahrain Saitama Stadium, Saitama
Attendance: 67,549
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)
Salmeen  72' (o.g.) (Report)
June 3, 2005
 Iran  1 – 0  North Korea Azadi Stadium, Tehran
Attendance: 35,000
Referee: Khalil Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
Rezaei  45' (Report)
June 3, 2005
 Bahrain  0 – 1  Japan Bahrain National Stadium, Manama
Attendance: 32,000
Referee: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia)
(Report) Ogasawara  34'
June 8, 2005
 Iran  1 – 0  Bahrain Azadi Stadium, Tehran
Attendance: 80,000
Referee: Kwon Jong-Chul (Korea Republic)
Nosrati  48' (Report)
June 8, 2005
 North Korea  0 – 2  Japan Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok (Thailand)
Attendance: 0
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
(Report) Yanagisawa  67'
Oguro  89'

Note: Since there were crowd troubles in the previous two North Korea's home matches,[1] FIFA decided that the next one North Korea's home match be moved to a neutral venue (Thailand) and played behind closed doors.[2]