South Korea and Japan, co-hosts of the last World Cup finals, both made hard work of winning their opening Asian qualifiers for the 2006 tournament while tiny Palestine pulled off the biggest win in their history on Wednesday.
South Korea beat a spirited Lebanon 2-0 at home in Group Seven while Asian champions Japan scraped a 1-0 win over Oman in Group Three. Saudi Arabia began their rehabilitation with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Indonesia.
Palestine, playing all of their Group Two matches away for security reasons, crushed Taiwan 8-0 in neutral Doha.
Surviving on a shoe-string budget since joining FIFA in 1998 and with their expenses currently being paid for by a group of 12 local businessman, the Palestinians overpowered Taiwan in their first World Cup qualifier beyond the preliminary stage.
Ziad Al-Kord struck first after just eight minutes before two goals from Safwan Habiab put Palestine out of reach in front of less than 500 spectators.
"It was a good win for us, a good start to our campaign," said Palestine's Austrian coach Alfred Riedl.
"It took us 10 to 15 minutes to settle down but once we were 2-0 up everything went superbly."
In Suwon, Cha Du-ri and Cho Byung-kuk scored with close-range headers as South Korea beat Lebanon 2-0 but the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists were indebted to goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae for saving a 31st-minute penalty.
Two minutes later, German-based striker Cha put the home side in front and centre-back Cho doubled their lead five minutes into the second half, nodding in a Park Ji-sung corner to settle South Korean nerves.
WASTEFUL JAPAN
A wasteful Japan also missed from the penalty spot and only an injury-time goal from substitute Tatsuhiko Kubo gave the Asian champions a 1-0 victory over plucky Oman.
Midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura had his spot-kick saved by goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi in the 30th minute and was guilty of another glaring miss midway through the second half.
But with disgruntled fans streaming for the exits, Kubo spared Japan's blushes, pouncing on a defensive mistake to fire a clinical left-foot shot past Al-Habsi in the third minute of stoppage time in Saitama.
In Guangzhou, talisman Hao Haidong struck in the 75th minute as China beat Kuwait 1-0 in an bad-tempered Group Four match in front of a 70,000 crowd.
Trouble flared late on in the match, with Kuwait's Fahad Al-Hamad sent off two minutes from time for spitting in defender Li Weifeng's face. Also in Group Four, Hong Kong upset Malaysia with a 3-1 away victory in Kuantan.
In Hanoi, midfielder Phan Van Tai Em scored twice as Vietnam thrashed Indian Ocean islanders the Maldives 4-0 to go above South Korea on goal difference in Group Seven.
India joined Japan at the top of Group Three with a 1-0 win over Singapore in Margao, India.
SAUDI CRUISE
Saudi Arabia, who lost all three matches at the 2002 World Cup, including a humiliating 8-0 defeat by Germany, cruised past Indonesia, Ibrahim al-Shahrani scoring two first-half goals for the Gulf Cup champions in Riyadh.
Turkmenistan overcame Sri Lanka 2-0 at home in the other Group Eight fixture.
Iran, who failed to qualify for the 2002 finals, kicked off their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Qatar behind closed doors in Tehran.
Alisheh Nikbakht-Vahedi, Mehdi Mahdavikia and Ali Daei were on target for Iran, being punished following crowd violence at an Asian Cup qualifier with North Korea last November.
Jordan lead Group One on goal difference after thrashing Laos 5-0, captain Badran Al-Shaqran netting a brace in Amman.
In Tashkent, Anvar Soliyev struck a 79th-minute equaliser as Uzbekistan salvaged a 1-1 draw with resurgent Iraq in Group Two.
The United Arab Emirates seized the initiative in Group Five, beating Thailand 1-0 at home while North Korea snatched a late 1-1 draw away to Yemen in Sanaa.
Tajikistan beat Kyrgyzstan 2-1 in a clash between the two former Soviet republics in Bishkek and Bahrain defeated visiting Syria 2-1 in the other Group Six match.
The next round of qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany takes place on March 31.
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