Australia and Japan needed late winners at home on the opening day of third-round World Cup qualifying in Asia yesterday.
Alex Brosque, who came on as a substitute, saved Australian blushes with a late winner to deny Thailand a battling point in Brisbane.
The Socceroos trailed to a shock 15th-minute strike before coming from behind to claw back a 2-1 victory in their opening match of Group D.
The Thais, ranked 98 places below Asia's second-rated team, threatened a major upset when Teerasil Dangda gave them a stunning lead.
But Australia, bidding for their third consecutive finals' appearance in Brazil in three years' time, fought back to take all three points with goals from Josh Kennedy and Brosque.
"It feels like a loss," Mark Schwarzer, the Australia goalkeeper, said. "It was one of our worst performances for a long time and there are no excuses, we weren't good enough at times, but at least we won which is the positive."
The Australians take on Saudi Arabia in their second World Cup qualifier in Dammam on Tuesday, while Thailand, who are coached by Winfried Schaefer, the former Al Ain manager, host Oman in Bangkok.
Oman were held to a 0-0 draw at home by the Saudis yesterday.
In Group C, Michihiro Yasuda scored in stoppage time to give an undermanned Japan a 1-0 home win over North Korea.
Japan could not crack the Koreans' trademark resolute defence until Yasuda got the winner in the third minute of stoppage time.
Japan won despite being without the injured trio of Keisuke Honda, Kengo Nakamura and Yuto Nagatomo.
North Korea substitute Pak Kwang-ryong was sent off in the 86th minute. Uzbekistan beat Tajikistan 1-0 away in the group's other game.
In Group A, China overcame a half-time deficit to beat Singapore 2-1, giving Jose Antonio Camacho, the former Spain coach, a win in his first competitive game in charge.
Jordan scored either side of half time to secure a 2-0 win away to Iraq in the group's late match.
'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The National's picks
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia