In Group C, a first-half penalty from Ole Romeny in Jakarta was enough to end China’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 2002, when the tournament was staged in Asia for the first time and co-hosts South Korea and Japan didn’t have to go through continental qualifying.

By Michael Church HONG KONG (Reuters) -Uzbekistan and Jordan progressed to the World Cup finals for the first time on Thursday as regular qualifiers South Korea also booked their place in North America next year with a 2-0 win over Iraq in Basra.

Jordan and Uzbekistan qualified for the men's World Cup finals for the first time on Thursday, while South Korea booked their place at an 11th successive finals.