half Fulham comeback to win 3-2 and move into the top half of the English Premier League Tuesday. Tuncay's 12th-minute, close-range header was followed by strikes from Abdoulaye Faye and Mamady Sidibe before halftime to give Stoke a 3-0 lead. But Fulham substitute Clint Dempsey set up Damian Duff to pull one back in the 61st and the American striker got on the scoresheet himself with a spectacular dipping strike in the 85th from outside of the area. But Fulham couldn't produce an equalizer in snowing conditions. Stoke moved up to 10th in the standings, three points and a place behind Fulham after 20 matches. The first leg of both Leauge Cup semifinals have been postponed because of heavy snow and extreme weather in northern England. Blackburn was due to host Aston Villa Tuesday, while Manchester City was to play Manchester United Wednesday. Japan, Australia well set World Cup qualifiers Japan and Australia plan to secure their places at the 2011 Asian Cup Finals Wednesday as the scrap to make the grade enters a crucial phase. Japan will make if through if it picks up a point against Yemen in Sana'a, a match that was under threat of being called off following the attempted bombing on Christmas Day of a US-bound airliner. Japan decided to go ahead with the game and coach Takashi Okada has included 13 uncapped players in his 19-man squad. Bahrain is likely to join them in the Finals in Qatar from Group A with Milan Macala's men playing the already-eliminated Hong Kong at home, with a victory enough to secure its berth. Pim Verbeek's Australia travels to Kuwait looking for the win that will assure it of a place at the January 2011 showpiece. But it won't be an easy ride with the Kuwaitis upsetting the Socceroos 1-0 when they clashed in Canberra last year. In the other Group B clash, Indonesia has home advantage against Oman and needs a win to keep alive its slim hopes of qualifying. It has three points from its four games so far, one less than Oman and four adrift of Australia and Kuwait with only the top two from each group qualifying. Indonesia caoch Benny Dolo said he will stick to the same formation despite not getting the results he hoped for. “We will still maintain our 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 formation which we have been using all this while,” said Dolo. Uzbekistan has already qualified from Group C with the second berth between United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, who play each other. UAE is firmly in the driving seat with home advantage and a 5-0 victory against Malaysia when they last met a year ago. They need a point to qualify but coach Srecko Katanec is taking nothing for granted. With Syria already through from Group D, the onus is on China with three points against the Syrians in Zhejiang enough to book their place in Qatar. Vietnam still has a slim chance of progressing from the group, but victory in Lebanon is essential. Group E is more finely balanced with Iran on seven points, Singapore on six, Bryan Robson's Thailand on five and Jordan a point further adrift. Singapore has a home fixture against Iran while the Thais must beat Jordan to stay in the hunt.
