Thailand has knocked the United Arab Emirates football team out of World Cup contention with a stunning 3-0 shutout in their Asian Group 5 qualifying match in Bangkok. North Korea has advanced to the next stage of qualifying after beating Yemen 2-1, topping the Group with 11 points from 5 games. The Emirates has seven points and Thailand has six, two more than Yemen.
In other Asian qualifying Wednesday, Jordan topped Laos 3-2 and Iran beat Qatar 3-2 in Group 1, Uzbekistan defeated Iraq 2-1 in Group 2, while Singapore shut out India 2-0 and Japan nipped Oman 1-0 in Group-3.
In Group-4, Hong Kong beat Malaysia 2-0 and Kuwait downed China 1-0. Tajikistan edged Kyrgyzstan 2-1 and Syria drew 2-2 with Bahrain in Group 6, while Maldives knocked off Vietnam 3-0 and Lebanon and South Korea played to a 1-1 draw in Group 7.