Saudi Arabia and Iran shared the spoils in their opener of the final round of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers with a 1-1 draw at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh on Saturday. Saad Al-Harthi put the Saudis ahead in the first half before the Spanish Osasuna's midfielder Javad Nekounam canceled the Saudi lead few minutes from close. With this result, both sides shared the second spot in Group B behind North Korea which beat UAE 2-1 at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Both coaches missed some of their key players. Iranian midfielder Mehdi Mahdavikia was suspended from the squad by coach Ali Daei while Saudi Arabia national coach Nasser Al-Johar kept the 2007 AFC player of the Year Yasser Al-Qahtani on the bench until the last 20 minutes of the game. Both teams shared the possession without any threat on their goals. After 20 minutes, Iranian Javad Nekounam blasted a long free kick which was denied by Saudi goalkeeper Mansour Al-Najae. In the 29th minute, Saad Al-Harthi put the Saudis ahead after he connected Abdullah Shuhail's cross to the right side of Mehdi Rahmati. After the goal, Saudi Arabia controlled the rest of the first half and Faisal Al-Sultan almost doubled the lead in the 45th minute but his attempt just missed the target. Iranian players stormed Saudi area after the break and frustrated the Saudis. In the 49th minute, Mehrzad Madanchi of Iran drove inside the Saudi box on a solo but he shot the ball straight into the hands of Al-Najae. Iran launched several attacks on the Saudi goal. In the 60th minute, Mohammed Al-Shalhoub sent a free kick to the right of Rahmati who brought off a good save. As the Saudi players began to lose their control on the game, Javad Nekounam headed the ball in for a late equalizer in the 82nd minute. Saudi Arabia flies on Sept. 10 to Abu Dhabi to play UAE in the second match. In Group A, Qatar beat Uzbekistan 3-0 in Doha. The goals were scored by midfielder Majdi Siddiq, striker Majed Mohammed and midfielder Talal Al-Balushi. In another match, Japan beat Bahrain 3-2. NZ on top New Zealand sealed the top spot in the Oceania World Cup qualifying competition with a 3-1 win over New Caledonia in Noumea on Saturday. It advances to a two-leg playoff against the fifth-placed team from the Asian preliminaries late next year for a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. __
