Hamburg  - Japan are a win away from qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa after beating Bahrain 1-0 in the Asian qualifying zone on Saturday.

There was also an important win for North Korea, whose 2-0 victory against the United Arab Emirates took them to the top of Group B, while Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia also kept alive their hopes of making it to South Africa with victories.

Celtic midfielder Shansuke Nakamura was the hero for Japan as he scored the only goal of the match in the 47th minute with a deflected free-kick from the edge of the area after a foul on Keiji Tamada.

The victory in Saitama sees Japan top group A with 11 points from five games. Australia, who have played a game, less are on ten points.

With the three remaining teams in the group, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Bahrain each sitting on four points from five matches and the top two from both groups advancing directly, Japan need just three points from their remaining three matches to qualify.

Farhod Tadjiev scored a hattrick as Uzbekistan defeated Qatar 4-0 in Tashkent, with the visitors down to just 10 men against Uzbekistan in the 32nd minute when Bilal Rajab was sent off.

The home side made their numerical advantage count just two minutes later when Tadjiev opened the scoring with a header. The Pakhtakor Tashkent striker was on target again on the stroke of halftime and in the 53rd before Anvarjon Soliev got the other on the hour.

The win kept Uzbekistan in the hunt for third place in the group, which would qualify them for a play-off against the third-placed team from Group B, with the winner of that match taking on New Zealand for a place at the World Cup.

Group B remains wide open, with North Korea leading the standings on 10 points from their five games, while South Korea have eight points from four matches.

Saudi Arabia are third on seven points with Iran fourth on six points. Both teams have played five matches - as have the United Arab Emirates, who have just one point.

North Korea, whose only World Cup appearance was in 1966 with a famous win against Italy, cruised to a deserved 2-0 against the United Arab Emirates. Pak Nam-Chol (51) and Mun In-Guk (93) scored the goals for the home side.

In Tehran, 100,000 local fans were disappointed as Saudi Arabia came from behind to win 2-1 against Ali Daei's Iran side.

Iran looked like the certain winner after Masoud Shojaei scored in the 57th minute but two goals in the last 12 minutes by Naif Hazazi (78) and Osama al-Harbi (86) devastated both the Iranian team and fans in the Azadi stadium.

The defeat could also endanger the position of Daei who is expected to lose his job if Iran fail to qualify.

The next round of Asian World Cup qualifiers will be played on Wednesday. (dpa)