China slumped out of World Cup contention before Uzbekistan and Jordan qualified for the first time , taking advantage of Asia getting double the number of guaranteed entries at the first 48-team tournament in North America next year.

Asian soccer power South Korea sealed an 11th straight appearance at the men’s World Cup finals with a 2-0 win in Iraq.

In a hectic night Thursday with a lot on the line, Australia scored late to edge already-qualified Japan 1-0 before China lost 1-0 in Indonesia.

For Uzbekistan, a 0-0 draw against the United Arab Emirates was enough to take the second automatic qualification spot in Group A behind Iran.

With Asia now having eight guaranteed qualifiers — after just four for the 2022 edition in Qatar — Uzbekistan was a likely contender to step up. Whil

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