North Korea, Thailand and Oman took advantage of the absence of Asia's elite to storm clear in their World Cup qualifying groups with victories Tuesday. With the top seeds across the eight joint Asian Cup qualifying groups sitting out the sixth matchday, the region's unfancied sides boosted their chances of grabbing one of the 12 places on offer for the next stage of the Road to Russia 2018. North Korea is close to doing so after Jong Il-gwan struck a 15th minute penalty for a 1-0 home win over Yemen to leave the twice World Cup qualifier four points clear of Uzbekistan in Group H with only three games remaining. In Muscat, Oman dispatched India 3-0 to move three points clear of favorite Iran at the top of Group D. Iran entertained Japan in a friendly that finished 1-1 after Yoshinori Muto cancelled out Mehdi Torabi's opener for the host. Perennial qualifier South Korea was 3-0 winners over Jamaica in another friendly. With Japan in Tehran, Singapore took the opportunity to move level with the four-time Asian champion at the top of Group E after a sketchy 2-1 win at home to Cambodia, which scored its first goal of the campaign through Sos Suhana. Singapore coach Bernd Stange was left surprised at the criticism of his side, which has aspirations of taking one of the four best runner-up places that will mean qualification for the next Asian Cup and third stage of World Cup qualification. "Why are you not able to be happy that we have 10 points?," the German told reporters who questioned why the team made hard work of the result. Thailand is keen not to leave anything to chance and it ramped up the pressure on favored Iraq in Group F by claiming a 3-0 away in Vietnam to open up a five-point gap in the pool, which has been reduced to four teams following Indonesia's suspension by FIFA for political interference. Kroekrit Thawikan hit a stunning long-range swerving opener before an own goal by Tien Thanh just before the hour mark made the game safe for the visitors, with Theerathon Bunmathan completing the scoring in Hanoi by finishing a neat team move. Thailand faces Taiwan next month before what is sure to be the decisive clash away to former Asian champion Iraq in Tehran in the battle for top spot in the group. Southeast Asian rivals Malaysia grabbed its first World cup qualifying away win in 14 years when it edged East Timor 1-0, its opening victory in Group A. There was no first point of the campaign for lowly Bhutan, however, with Hong Kong's Siu Ki Chan heading the only goal in the 89th minute winner to move the visitor clear of China in second place in Group C. Leader Qatar routed Maldives 4-0. The victory maintained Qatar's five point cushion at the top of AFC Group C. And it means it now requires just two more victories at most to automatically progress from the group into the next round of qualification. In other results: Turkmenistan edged Guam 1-0; Kyrgyzstan blanked Bangladesh 2-0; Bahrain beat Philippines 2-0; Jordan downed Tajikistan 3-0; Syria humbled Afghanistan 5-2; and Kuwait draw with Lebanon 0-0.
